You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

bluerodakino Author

Level 1

4 points

Preserving photos on iCloud after resyncing iPhone

Hi – I'd like to delete all my photos from my iPhone after uploading/syncing them to iCloud. The instructions state I have to disable iCloud photo sharing from my iPhone before deleting the photos on my device. However, once I do that (sync photos to iCloud < disable sharing < delete photos from device) and then enable iCloud photo sharing/ syncing won't my iCloud mirror my device? In other words, will I lose all my photos previously saved in iCloud when turn iCloud sync back on? If the answer is yes, then what's the recommendation to safely store photos? My iPhone storage is at capacity. I have a 2T iCloud storage.

Thx!

iPhone X

Posted on Aug 31, 2023 4:55 AM

Top-ranking reply

Limnos

Level 10

418,693 points

Posted on Aug 31, 2023 4:58 AM

You are correct about the issue with iCloud syncing photos if syncing is turned on.

The best solution is to transfer the photos to a computer and then to a location that is not part of iCloud. Ideally also have them on a backup drive so if the computer fails you don't lose them.

July 2021 post by a Community Specialist

icloud + phone storage - Apple Community

It sounds like you want to remove the photos from your iPhone, but keep them on your MacBook Air.

What you can do is export the photos on your Mac to a different place on your Mac or an external drive. Use these steps to complete this: Export photos, videos, and slideshows from Photos on Mac - Export photos, videos, slideshows, and memories in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Then you can delete the photos from your iPhone. This will remove the photos from your Mac in the Photos app. However, you will still have access to the photos where you exported them to.

View in context

Preserving photos on iCloud after resyncing iPhone

Similar questions