Why can’t I delete photos and videos from my iPhone to free up space but keep them in iCloud to search for them, view them and download them whenever I want them?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
You can do that. iCloud Photo Library is designed for this scenario. Here's how to set it up:
This will ensure that it keeps only low resolution thumb-nail versions of the pictures on your iPhone. The full resolution file will be kept in iCloud. They will be retrieved on-demand, e.g. at the time you look at photos they will be downloaded. iCloud will automatically manage this process for you maximizing free space on your device :-)
You can do that. iCloud Photo Library is designed for this scenario. Here's how to set it up:
This will ensure that it keeps only low resolution thumb-nail versions of the pictures on your iPhone. The full resolution file will be kept in iCloud. They will be retrieved on-demand, e.g. at the time you look at photos they will be downloaded. iCloud will automatically manage this process for you maximizing free space on your device :-)
Mjhard wrote:
Well I guess what I’m saying was that they shouldn’t be two different things, why bother even paying for storage if it’s only really as good as what you have locally on your device or thereabouts - Apple surely can do better and more here
It is a syncing service, not a storage service. Optimized storage gives you the best of both worlds for photos by syncing the photos across all devices while still getting the device space saving benefit of cloud storage. This is done by only saving a smaller thumbnail photo on your device until a higher resolution photo is needed for editing or printing. Not only is it for syncing your photos across other devices, but also syncs Messages, Browsing History, Safari Bookmarks, Notes, Reminders, and Contacts to name a few.
You certainly do not need to pay for extra iCloud space if:
If you are just looking for a cloud storage service where you can offload files to the cloud, then you would be looking for a service such as DropBox. That is a cloud storage service that does not sync any data across devices.
Optimized photos will help to ease storage by only saving the low resolution photos on your device. The use for iCloud is for syncing photos, which is much different than an external cloud storage service. They are simply 2 different things.
Well I guess what I’m saying was that they shouldn’t be two different things, why bother even paying for storage if it’s only really as good as what you have locally on your device or thereabouts - Apple surely can do better and more here
Mjhard wrote:
Well I guess what I’m saying was that they shouldn’t be two different things, why bother even paying for storage if it’s only really as good as what you have locally on your device or thereabouts - Apple surely can do better and more here
This is the type of service Apple has chosen to offer. I'm sure they are well aware that there are other types of services they could be offering. Why they choose not to is something no one participating here would know.
Apple doesn't read here for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know what you'd like to see here:
Why can't I delete photos from my iPhone and save them in iCloud?
