iCloud vs iPhone Storage

Hey there hwilliams10,

Sounds like you really enjoy taking photos. A great way to maximize your ability to keep photos on your iPhone when utilizing iCloud Photos is to take advantage of the Optimize Photos option. If that's not something you already do, it'll greatly decrease the storage footprint of photos on your device. To check that, go over to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Photos and there will be an option called 'Optimize iPhone Storage'. If that isn't checked, you can check it, and this will store the full versions of your photos within iCloud and store a local copy that is smaller and will take up much less space. This, along with other ways to optimize both photo and video storage, can be found on the Manage your photo and video storage page.

To your second question, iCloud isn't a storage service, it is a syncing service, so if you sync photos between your iPhone and iCloud, deleting an item at either location will also remove it from the other, however, if you can utilize the above method, you'll likely retain plenty of storage to use your iPhone like normal. If you still run into storage issues after that, this page will take you through other options for optimizing your iPhone storage to lessen the burden of your storage. How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad

" How iOS and iPadOS optimize storage

If your device is low on storage, it automatically frees up space while installing an app, updating iOS or iPadOS, downloading music, recording videos, and more.

To make more storage available, your device may also remove items that can be downloaded again or aren't needed anymore. This includes things like apps that you don't use and the local cache for files in iCloud Drive. Your device also removes temporary files and clears the cache on your device."

The above is helpful info from that link to get you started. If you need anything else, please post back to this thread.

Have a great day!

Be well.