Can’t sync photos & iCloud on iPad

Pictures that have been sent from a computer to an iPad or iPhone are expected to be temporary, while the original picture files are stored on the sending computer. So these "From My Mac" pictures can't be edited, deleted, or synchronized with iCloud Photos.

If you can't find the original files on your computer, you can save these pictures to the Files app on the iPhone. The Files app can actually use an external drive, so you could save all those pictures directly to an external drive like a thumb drive (slow, cheap) or a solid state drive (fast, expensive.) An alternative is to use the Files app to connect to iCloud Drive, and save the picture files there. That's rather more convenient, but it may require extra iCloud space for a while. Then when you connect to iCloud Photos, the temporary picture files will be erased, but you can re-import them from either the external drive or iCloud Drive.

If you use iCloud Drive, then those pictures will be there twice, at iCloud Drive and at iCloud Photos. So once you're convinced that all the pictures are in iCloud Photos, you can delete them from iCloud Drive to save iCloud space.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you need more…

Fredymac wrote: "What I meant to say was that I was trying to save space on my iPad by moving the photos that reside on my iPad to iCloud.

Right. iCloud doesn't work that way. iCloud Photos isn't a storage service. iCloud is a synchronization service. iCloud is designed to make all the pictures available on all the connected devices. When you engage iCloud Photos, for instance, then the Library on that device is kept exactly the same as the iCloud Photos Library. So, for instance, if you take a picture with your iPhone, it is added to the iPhone's Photos Library, copied to iCloud Photos Library at iCloud.com, and then copied to the Photos Library on each of the other devices that you have connected. If you delete a picture on your Mac, then that picture is deleted at iCloud and on all the other devices. So you can't think of iCloud Photos as a full backup service, since it backs up mistakes. And it isn't separate storage, because whatever is at iCloud.com is also on your iPad, iPhone, and Mac. They are all kept the same.

With iCloud, you can use Optimize Storage on a Mac, on your iPhone, or on your iPad.  If you set a device to "Optimize Storage,"on your iPad, then Photos may store only smaller images on the iPad and rely on iCloud to keep the full sized images. This is great, since with the lower resolution images you can scan through pictures very quickly, and they look great on the screen. So, if Optimize is chosen, and you want to edit a picture, Photos will reach out to iCloud to get a full sized image for you to work on. It's the same for printing or anything that demands the full picture. Your optimized Library may take up less than 20% of the space of a fully downloaded Library.

So if your objective is to free up space, then you must turn on iCloud Photos, and you must turn on Optimize Storage in the iCloud Photos settings.



Also, you say, "I am trying to turn on iCloud photos to free up space." But iCloud Photos won't free up space on your iPad unless you use "Optimize Storage."  If you set your iPad to "Optimize Storage," then Photos may store only smaller images on the iPad and rely on iCloud to keep the full sized images. This is great, since with the lower resolution images you can scan through pictures very quickly, and they look great on the screen. And, if Optimize is chosen, and you want to edit or crop a picture, Photos will reach out to iCloud to get a full sized image for you to work with. There may be some delay, of course. It's the same for editing or printing or anything that demands the full picture. Your optimized Library may take up less than 20% of the space of a fully downloaded Library. On my iPhone, Photos takes up way less than 10% of the space it uses on my Mac. 

“Can’t sync photos & iCloud on iPad: I am trying to turn on iCloud photos to free up space on my iPad Gen 9, iPadOS 26.2. When I try to turn on photos in iCloud, I get the message ‘Photos synced from Finder will be removed. Syncing Photos via Finder is not supported when iCloud Photo is turned on. 1461 photos will be removed. Remove Photos or Cancel’ Help please, thanks”

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NOTE: My iPhone User Tips Provided Below Apply to to iPads as well

Caches may have intensely uploaded. So, clear them.

Troubleshooting iPad Storage:

Internal storage cannot be upgraded. It is what it is. So, the maximum internal storage capacity never increases, even if you upgraded your iCloud plan. Learn More here: What's the Difference Between Device Storage and iCloud Storage? Apple Support

So, what to do...

Clear Space Using my User Tips:

• How to Clear Space from your Mobile Device, and What to Clear: - User Tip
• How to Clear "System Data" in your iPhone's Storage - User Tip