Backing up ALL photos without syncing

I am looking for a way to back up all photos from iOS device (iCloud), but without syncing the contents.

The aim is to keep each and every photo ever taken, without having it deleted from the backup even if I delete it from the iOS device.


WdMycloud did have such a feature, but support is now ending, so this cannot be used anymore.


Any ideas?

iPhone SE, iOS 15

Posted on Feb 4, 2022 8:24 AM

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4 replies

Feb 4, 2022 8:52 AM in response to Burgomatic

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: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


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.

Feb 4, 2022 9:55 AM in response to Burgomatic

I did misunderstand that you want both iCloud Photos plus another option at the same time.

Google Photos (and other cloud services) have options where you can keep photos in their cloud even if deleted from the phone. I have seen some references to having both iCloud Photos and Google Photos on at the same time and if that works it would do what you describe -- but I have not tried that myself.

Feb 4, 2022 10:51 AM in response to Burgomatic

Greetings, If you have Microsoft Office you already have access to a cloud storage account, it’s called OneDrive. It will give 1 tb of storage for each of your devices. I use it to automatically upload photos from my IPhones Gallery as they are taken. You can also save file documents, save music files, create folders, share with others, etc. Hope this helps. Cheers ☺️

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Backing up ALL photos without syncing

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