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Can I delete photos from my phone and not have them deleted from google or I cloud?

I’m out of storage with I cloud. Can I delete photos from my phone and not have them deleted from google or I cloud

iPhone 11, iOS 16

Posted on Jul 11, 2023 12:14 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 11, 2023 1:25 PM

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.


Google Photos does have options where you can delete photos from an iPhone and have them remain on Google Photos website. The following may help: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128843?hl=en&ref_topic=6128848&sjid=16453979294353439682-NA&co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&oco=0

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 11, 2023 1:25 PM in response to Rtstorage

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.


Google Photos does have options where you can delete photos from an iPhone and have them remain on Google Photos website. The following may help: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128843?hl=en&ref_topic=6128848&sjid=16453979294353439682-NA&co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&oco=0

Can I delete photos from my phone and not have them deleted from google or I cloud?

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