You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iCloud back up

I bought 200 GB iCloud storage. Now I am trying to back up my photos on this extra storage, as I have about 60 GB in photos and videos. However, the backup is never completed and I don’t know what else to do. I can’t update my iOS because I don’t have enough phone storage, so I need all the photos and videos to be on my iCloud instead. Any advice?

iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on Sep 12, 2021 10:00 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 12, 2021 11:31 AM

SONIACAROLL wrote:

...I don’t have enough phone storage, so I need all the photos and videos to be on my iCloud instead. ...

Neither iCloud Backup nor iCloud Photos will accomplish that but iCloud Photos Optimize storage may help.


iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photos turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 12, 2021 11:31 AM in response to SONIACAROLL

SONIACAROLL wrote:

...I don’t have enough phone storage, so I need all the photos and videos to be on my iCloud instead. ...

Neither iCloud Backup nor iCloud Photos will accomplish that but iCloud Photos Optimize storage may help.


iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photos turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.

iCloud back up

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.