Why is iCloud photo sharing using phone capacity?!

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Level 1

10 points

Why is iCloud photo sharing using phone capacity?!

My spouse and I use iCloud photo sharing all the time. We both take photos and videos of our kids and events and put them in our shared albums so we both can view. Then we delete them off of our phone to save space. But we both have been getting the message, on our phones, that our storage is full and can't take pictures. We have discovered in Settings>About, that those photos and videos are taking up our phone's capacity! If the pics are in the cloud, and not on our phone, why are they taking up phone space!?

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.1.3

Posted on Apr 7, 2015 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

AKRBTN

Level 6

8,311 points

Apr 7, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Isis1311

Go to Settings-Photos and Camera. Is Optimize iPhone Storage checked? If you've got Download and Keep Originals checked, then you're keeping a copy of all your photos on the phone as well as in the Cloud.

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Answer 2

Isis1311 Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 7, 2015 11:38 AM in response to AKRBTN

I do not have that for an option. We are using iCloud Photo Sharing. I put my photos in a shared album and then delete them off my phone. I only have 14 photos and no videos on my camera roll. Yet, when I go to Settings > General > About, it says my phone has 9,304 photos and 511 videos! 0 bytes of available space!

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Answer 3

May 4, 2015 4:26 PM in response to Isis1311

I Was having this same problem. I was deleting photos and videos and still getting messages that my storage was full. When I read your post about going to settings> general > about, I looked there too. I had hundreds of videos on my phone according to "about" that I knew I had deleted. That's when it occurred to me, they were taking up space in my "recently deleted" album. Once I emptied the album, the problem was solved. I don't think it was iCloud sharing after all, just an oversight on my part. Hope this fixes your problem too.

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Answer 4

Isis1311 Author

Level 1

10 points

May 4, 2015 6:23 PM in response to dst091013

Thank you for your response. But, I was also emptying my recently deleted folder as well. I think those numbers was a glitch for me because once I updated to the latest iOS, those numbers went down to what they should be. BUT, iCloud photo sharing is still using my phones storage. When I go to settings>general>usage>manage usage>photos>shared photo stream is using a few GB. And when I add photos or videos to a shared photo stream, that number goes up.

I don't understand why photos and videos in the "cloud" are using up my storage.

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