Deleting photos off iPhone, keeping on iMac

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27 points

Deleting photos off iPhone, keeping on iMac

I've read a number of threads on this, but still am unsure of the behavior in Big Sur.

I keep a huge Photos library file on my local drive in Photos, with all of my pictures. This is what I want to maintain as the master storage of all my photographs.

I do not use iCloud for photos.

I DO use My Photo Stream to pull in 30 days of photos on other devices.

I have synced my phone photos to the Mac, and now have 4700 pictures I'd like to delete from the phone. Previous to Big Sur I would have used Image Capture to copy them (as a backup) and then delete them. That option seems to be gone.

How can I delete them just from my phone, while leaving them on my iMac?

Thank you for all help.

Posted on Sep 22, 2021 6:30 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 26, 2021 5:52 AM in response to derring do

derring do,

We appreciate the clarification you gave, as it sounds like we were each interpreting ‘sync’ in a different manner. No worries though.

If you have either downloaded the pictures from My Photo Stream to the Photos app on your Mac or transferred them, and videos, using these steps in Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch or Transfer images in Image Capture on Mac - Apple Support then you are safe to delete the pictures either on your iPhone directly or from the My Photo Stream section of the Photos app.

If you’re asking how to use Image Capture to delete the images from your device in macOS Big Sur, the second link there indicates that if you click the Action button (three dots in a circle) in the toolbar in Image Capture, you’ll be able to either deselect “Keep originals” or select “Delete after import” (the option available depends on the type of device you connected).

Let us know if that answers the question.

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Answer 2

AnnieL2

Community Specialist

Sep 23, 2021 11:50 AM in response to derring do

Hello derring do,

We understand that you’d like to remove some synced photos from your iPhone.

What you can do is unsync them. From what you’re describing it sounds like you’re syncing the pictures using Finder. The sync process does not remove the pictures from your Mac, it just puts a copy of the picture on your iPhone. By unsyncing the pictures they will be removed from your iPhone, but not from the source which is your Mac.

The following article has some steps to stop syncing Sync your photos manually using the Finder

We do understand the desire to be sure you've got a backup. As the master storage for your photos, be sure you have a backup of your Mac. Here's the different ways to do that How to back up your Mac

Let us know if this leaves or raises any questions.

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Answer 3

derring do Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 23, 2021 2:48 PM in response to AnnieL2

Thank you, I appreciate your response.

I am still not clear on the behavior of the Photo Stream, versus syncing with a cable.

All of my photos come from the iPhone. It syncs to Photos on my iMac through Photo Stream, where it copies the photos (?) This is then where I keep the master copy, which is backed up via Time Machine. I never want iCloud involved with my photos. The original stays on my camera roll, and 1,000 photos sit in the camera roll at any time on the phone.

In the past, Photo Stream would not transfer video files, so I used a cable to do so. I would then use Image Capture to copy the pics to a different directory, and delete them off the phone.

Basically, I want to recreate this behavior now under Big Sur.

I take pictures and video on the phone. I want them in Photos on my iMac. I then want to delete the photos off my phone, without affecting the Photos library on the mac. And I don't want any missing pictures, like what used to happen when you told iPhotos to delete the pictures off the phone.

Any help very much appreciated.

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