Can I keep all of my photos and videos in my iCloud and delete them off my phone?

I would like to have all of my memory and everything backed up on my iCloud, like a memory card without having it on my phone and slowing my phone

Posted on Dec 9, 2023 6:41 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 9, 2023 6:45 PM

No you cannot delete the photos from your iPhone and only keep them on iCloud. I understand that you need to create some free space on your iPhone. I would recommend that you try the following:


You have purchased 👉 iCloud Storage from Apple where you create and save your iPhone backups and synch (Not Store) your Messages, Photos, Contacts, Calendars, Notes and Reminders. Note that iCloud Storage is NOT an extension of storage capacity of your iPhone.

Having said that, you can choose to Optimize Storage on your iPhone for all the Photos. What this action will do is store your original quality photos on iCloud and a small size photo on your iPhone. This takes up less space on your iPhone while maintaining the actual size on iCloud. This will free up space on your iPhone while making good use of iCloud. If you would like to try this then open Settings ➡️ Photos ➡️ Optimize iPhone Storage : Ensure that this option is chosen and has a checkmark on it.


Axel F.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 9, 2023 6:45 PM in response to Lynkin93

No you cannot delete the photos from your iPhone and only keep them on iCloud. I understand that you need to create some free space on your iPhone. I would recommend that you try the following:


You have purchased 👉 iCloud Storage from Apple where you create and save your iPhone backups and synch (Not Store) your Messages, Photos, Contacts, Calendars, Notes and Reminders. Note that iCloud Storage is NOT an extension of storage capacity of your iPhone.

Having said that, you can choose to Optimize Storage on your iPhone for all the Photos. What this action will do is store your original quality photos on iCloud and a small size photo on your iPhone. This takes up less space on your iPhone while maintaining the actual size on iCloud. This will free up space on your iPhone while making good use of iCloud. If you would like to try this then open Settings ➡️ Photos ➡️ Optimize iPhone Storage : Ensure that this option is chosen and has a checkmark on it.


Axel F.

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Can I keep all of my photos and videos in my iCloud and delete them off my phone?

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