icloud photos

Question

icloud photos

Is there a way to save up photos to icloud photos without those photos having to sync wtih your devices with signed into that apple ID? Background --> I still want my device stored photos to back up to icloud. I have a bunch of old family photos that I have backed up / saved up to idrive but idrive (more or less) does not display photo thumbnails or let you add notes or info to those photos so it is difficult to navigate and find photos you are interested in. Photo in icloud would be better as it displays thumbnails but I don't want it to sync with my old ipad as it doesn't have a lot of memory. Not sure what would happen there.

Posted on Dec 27, 2023 12:56 PM

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

FoxFifth

Level 10

480,233 points

Dec 27, 2023 1:12 PM in response to jeffreyfromroyal oak

There are two options to not have iCloud Photos use storage on your iPad.

One is to not turn on iCloud Photos on the iPad. Whether or not photos sync with iCloud and with other devices is a choice on each device. To turn it on, see: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

If it is already turned on in the iPad and you want to turn it off, see: How to turn off iCloud Photos - Apple Support

The other option if you want to have iCloud Photos turned on in the iPad is to use the Optimize Storage option on the iPad to reduce the amount of space that the photos take. See the following from Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support

Cloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. To save storage space on your device, you can turn on Optimize Storage.

If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them.

If you turn on Download Originals, iCloud Photos keeps your original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and on your device.

Answer 2

Dec 27, 2023 1:11 PM in response to jeffreyfromroyal oak

You cannot choose which photos you want to sync in iCloud. With iCloud for photos turned on, all photos will be synced to the device. You do have the option to use Optimized Storage on your old iPad, which will help manage storage by only saving low quality thumbnails on the device until a higher quality is needed for printing or viewing. It will then attempt to download the higher quality version from iCloud.

icloud photos

Similar questions