Cannot figure out iCloud and Photo Stream

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Level 1

4 points

Cannot figure out iCloud and Photo Stream

OK, I am totally confused by iCloud/Photo Stream, etc.

My iPhone (5c, version 8.0.2) is constantly telling me I'm almost out of storage. Fair enough, I got the smallest one there was, and am kicking myself for it. Anyway, I am trying to figure out if my photos are actually uploading to iCloud so I can delete them from my phone, and I can't figure it out.

If I go to icloud.com and sign in, it doesn't show me my photos. When I am on my phone, if I delete photos, it says they will be deleted from my Photo Stream on all devices. Well, I don't want that, because I want to keep my photos, I just don't want them on my phone anymore.

When I look up articles related to this online, they all talk about the Camera Roll, and how you can delete photos from the Camera Roll without deleting them from the Stream...But it seems to me that Camera Roll has been done away with, because I do not see the words "Camera Roll" anywhere on my photos or camera anymore. It used to show that, when I first got the phone, but now it does not.

So how do I know that my photos are actually being backed up to iCloud, so I can delete them from my phone? How do I delete them from my phone without deleting them from iCloud and the Stream? Or, if I can't delete them just from my phone, and have to delete them from my Stream, how do I know they are now in iCloud? I just can't figure this out.

I have everything on my phone set so that it backs up to iCloud. Under Settings -> Photos & Camera, I have My Photo Stream turned on. Under Settings -> iCloud, I have iCloud drive and Photos turned on.

I have read that in the newest version of the OS, there is this iCloud Photo Library...But I can't update my phone to the newest version because there isn't enough room.

See my dilemma here? Driving me nuts.

iPhone 5c, iOS 8.0.2

Posted on Jan 5, 2015 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

FoxFifth

Level 10

468,843 points

Jan 5, 2015 8:41 AM in response to kambrielle

Photo Stream was not designed to be cloud storage. It is intended to be a method to transfer photos from one device to another. There is more information on Photo Stream in My Photo Stream FAQ - Apple Support

Note in particular the following quote from that link:

Does using My Photo Stream substitute for using iCloud Backup or iTunes to back up my photos?

No. Photos in My Photo Stream are saved on the iCloud server for 30 days. To save or back up these photos, you must save them from My Photo Stream to your iOS device. Select the photos and choose Share > Save Image. You can then back up your photos using iCloud or iTunes.

Note that backing up to iCloud or iTunes will not result in photos that are viewable or downloadable by themselves. The backups save the phone contents in a format that is only intended for use in doing a complete restore of the phone.

iCloud Photo Library might be an option, but as you noted it requires iOS 8.1 or later. And since it is still in beta, I personally would not trust it as the sole location of any photo I valued.

Some options I can think of to free up space:

Transfer some photos to a computer. That gives you a verifiable copy on another device (and you can also then do a backup of that computer).

Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or Windows PC - Apple Support

If you don't want to do the transfer that way, another option would be to use a 3rd party app such as http://www.photosync-app.com to transfer them to a computer and to possibly later transfer back.

Transfer some photos to a 3rd party service such as Flickr. I don't have any personal experience with that so can't help much with that option.

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Answer 2

jcwntr00

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2015 1:44 PM in response to FoxFifth

I'm in the same boat. had a bunch of photos I put into photo stream, thinking it was my icloud photo storage so I deleted them from my camera roll. My phone, however, is set to backup my phone to icloud account every night so I thought I was safe. But I recently updated my phone and cant find my photos anywhere. Did I lose them forever? 😟

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