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how can I delete photos off of my device to free up phone storage but keep it in iCloud Photos?

I have iCloud storage available but my device storage is full. How can I keep my photos in iCloud Photos but delete them off of my device to free up that storage? Help articles say the picture/video will be deleted off all devices, but it doesn't clarify if it will remain in iCloud.

iPhone 14 Pro

Posted on Mar 26, 2023 9:31 AM

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1 reply

Mar 26, 2023 9:59 AM in response to Kirbilynette

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 the following Apple article for more information: 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.



how can I delete photos off of my device to free up phone storage but keep it in iCloud Photos?

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