Can I upload images from my iPhone to the iCloud (allowing me access to them on my MacBook Air), but then delete them off of my iPhone? If the pictures are deleted off my phone will they be deleted from every device or will they remain in my iCloud/laptop?
MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)
iCloud Photos is a syncing service. If you turn on iCloud Photos on both the iPhone and the MacBook Air, all photos on both devices will sync with iCloud and with each other.
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.
iCloud Photos is a syncing service. If you turn on iCloud Photos on both the iPhone and the MacBook Air, all photos on both devices will sync with iCloud and with each other.
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.
Photos and iCloud storage
