Jdfoster1 wrote: but iCloud shrinks everything right. Thank you for taking the time read and respond!
On the iPhone's Photos settings, you can choose "Optimize Storage." This works by keeping only smaller images (since the phone has a small screen) on the phone while iCloud continues to keep the full sized images. When you need the full size, for printing or for editing, for instance, then the iPhone will download the original from iCloud. So you get the best of both worlds-- more storage when you just want to view the pictures, but full sizes when you need them.
But they still take up space. If you run out of room on your phone, even with "optimize" checked, then you won't be able to take more pictures, and iCloud can't help with that.
And keep in mind that iCloud keeps all the pictures on all the devices the same. If you add a picture on any one device, the picture gets added on all the rest. That's cool. But if you delete a picture on any one device, the picture gets deleted on all the rest! Be careful! Luckily, resetting the phone isn't the same as deleting a picture from within Photos.
If you're nervous, turn off iCloud on the to-be-wiped iPhone for a day and watch what happens on iCloud. You'll see that nothing changes. Then wipe the phone.
