My iPhone is not syncing with iCloud despite optimized storage and paid subscription

It doesn't matter how much storage you pay for in iCloud. iPhone storage is fixed at purchase. There's no way to add memory to an iPhone.

Open Settings > General > iPhone Storage - how much space is available there? You can also see what is using the most space there.

Let's check your iCloud Storage as well. Open Settings > Tap your name at the top > Tap iCloud - how much storage is used out of how much total?

veselina145 wrote:

I have 15GB free of 50GB on icloud, 100GB free of 256GB on my iPhone. Photos take like 90% storage of all GB used. Only the photos and drive are using iCloud space. I have 8k pics and 1.5k videos

It's pretty clear with 8K photos and 1.5K videos added to the fact you have used 35GB of your iCloud storage, means you need more than 15GB to sync all the media you want to sync. Videos take up a LOT of space. You'll either need to offload some of your media content somewhere else, like Dropbox, Carbonite, Google Photos, Amazon Photos or buy more space in iCloud. Personally, I not only sync everything with iCloud (I have a 200GB Plan), but I also use Carbonite, One Drive and Amazon Photos as redundant places to keep all my memories.

veselina145 wrote: … iCloud says it’s full and can’t sync

Wow!-- that wasn't in the original post!

It may be that you have a corrupt Library or corrupt files in your Library. Videos are often the reason for problems like that. Finding a problem video on an iPhone can be laborious.

15 GB isn't much to work with, but you might try saving a set of videos to Files, deleting them from Photos, and re-synching. If you can instead offload those videos to an external drive plugged in to the phone, then you can save and delete them all to see if syncing works. If so, you could then re-introduce them in smaller batches and see where the disruption happens.

When saving your videos, you may want to choose Export Unmodified Originals. Usually there aren't many edits to lose with iPhone videos.

Let us know what you do…

needsupporthelp12 wrote: …I still have no storage on it???

As lobsterghost1 says, it would help to have more information. The thing is, if your iPhone storage is full, then there may not be enough room to move files around to take advantage of optimizing. With a full iPhone, things get very slow, and even deleting pictures can become impossible.

Settings > General > iPhone Storage, my phone says 58 GB used of 128 GB. What does yours say? What on your phone uses the most storage? How many pictures do you have? How much storage does Photos use?

You will probably have to get some room before much can be done. Look at apps and, especially, app data, and see what you can dump.

veselina145 wrote:

I have storage on both iCloud and my iPhone and still iCloud says it’s full and can’t sync

If you are out of space in iCloud, you can't sync. So you'll need to rent more space in iCloud, which you can do as explained in this link --> Buy iCloud+ or upgrade your current storage plan - Apple Support

veselina145 wrote: I have storage on both iCloud and my iPhone and still iCloud says it’s full and can’t sync

"have storage" isn't very meaningful. You need at least 10% of your storage to remain free for things to work properly. I had asked several questions that you didn't answer:

Settings > General > iPhone Storage, my phone says 58 GB used of 128 GB. What does yours say?

What on your phone uses the most storage?

How many pictures do you have?

How much storage does Photos use?

In addition, how much free storage do you have at iCloud?

veselina145 wrote:

I have 15GB free of 50GB on icloud, 100GB free of 256GB on my iPhone. Photos take like 90% storage of all GB used. Only the photos and drive are using iCloud space. I have 8k pics and 1.5k videos

I just reread this and something else comes to mind. You say you are only syncing photos (I assume videos) with iCloud. That means that anything else you aren't syncing, such as messages, notes, etc., are not being synced with iCloud. These items, which also take up space would then be included in a backup, which is what your phone is trying to do, but can't. This further supports why you are unable to sync. You simply don't have enough space in iCloud to sync (backup) all the other data you would need to sync with iCloud.

Simply said, when you backup which is actually sync in iCloud terms. You can't selectively choose only certain things to be backed up. Backups are all or nothing. You're getting nothing because you don't have enough space.

There's almost always only one reason one can't sync and that is because the amount of data you want to sync exceeds the amount of space you have in iCloud.

You can contact Apple Support who may be of more help to you. You can call Apple (in the US) at 800-MY-APPLE or you can visit your closest Apple Store Genius Bar for in-person help.

I didn't explain that well. The amount written of the pics and videos is the total. I have about 2k which doesn't want to sync. I am aware of the space videos take and I offload them regularlly. I also have a way to keep the important moments. It is not what I can't resolve. I don't understand why the message about 'iCloud storage full' keeps appearing and preventing me to sync.

Actually, I've already tried that and the advisor checked and looked for tech mistakes etc. He didn't find any problem nor with my account nor with the iCloud or my iPhone. He said that there's is not a legit reason for that. I was 20 minutes on the phone with him. Now to me it's starting to look like an issue which can't be resolved unless someone really digs deep into it. Anyway, I thought it might be helpful to ask here if anyone knows something or have dealt with that problem before.

veselina145 wrote:

Actually, I've already tried that and the advisor checked and looked for tech mistakes etc. He didn't find any problem nor with my account nor with the iCloud or my iPhone. He said that there's is not a legit reason for that. I was 20 minutes on the phone with him. Now to me it's starting to look like an issue which can't be resolved unless someone really digs deep into it. Anyway, I thought it might be helpful to ask here if anyone knows something or have dealt with that problem before.

I'm sorry. I honestly don't know if anyone here can help you. I can say that if it was me and my device told me I couldn't sync because I didn't have enough space in iCloud, I'd just spend the money and get more space. That would just make this a non-issue. That's me though.......

I have storage on both iCloud and my iPhone and still iCloud says it’s full and can’t sync

I have 15GB free of 50GB on icloud, 100GB free of 256GB on my iPhone. Photos take like 90% storage of all GB used. Only the photos and drive are using iCloud space. I have 8k pics and 1.5k videos