How can I remove all the pictures that are stored on my iPhone 6, yet still be able to view them from my phone? I normally backup to iCloud, but also have backed up to iTumes. I need to free up some space and the pictures/videos use a lot of my space. I appreciate any help/suggestions I might get. Thank you.
iPhone 6, iOS 8.3
The best solution is a combination of the new Photos and iCloud Photo Library. It allows for storage of all originals on iCloud, makes all images accessible on the phone, but uses only as much storage as is available for it.
Take a look here
The best solution is a combination of the new Photos and iCloud Photo Library. It allows for storage of all originals on iCloud, makes all images accessible on the phone, but uses only as much storage as is available for it.
Take a look here
Thank you very much for your response. Am I correct in believing that if I delete my photos on my iPhone, they will be saved in iCloud as well as iTunes since I also use that for backup purposes. Along this line, I notice on my phone that I have photo's that have been downloaded to the phone after backing up to iTunes, so I'm thinking I'm missing a setting somewhere that I can change so it won't download all the photo's stored in iTunes when I sync my phone. Obviously I'm in a learning process. Thanks again. :-)
The Photos/iCloud Photo Library does not work on the principle of deleting photos from your device once they are uploaded to iCloud. The way it works to conserve storage is to "optimize" your local library size. This means that although all images are "accessible" and "visible" on your iPhone, most will be just tiny thumbnails, with only some stored at larger sizes (usually the most recent ones, favorits, and those you recently topped to see at screen size). In other words, the library size is managed dynamically - if you have a lot of free storage it will keep more large sized-images; if you need the storage for other things, the local library size will be reduced.
The other - very critical to understand - part of the Photos/iCloud Photo Library use it that everything will be synced with everything else. If you Edit a picture on one device or computer, the edits will be almost-instantly reflected on all your other devices. This includes Deleting. If you delete a photo anywhere, it is deleted everywhere, so be careful. To avoid an irreversible "accidental" deletions, Apple added a Recently Deleted album, where the deleted items will remain for 30 days before being forever trashed. Just in case you change your mind....
Your current issues result from how complicated and unpredictable it is to manage what's where using iPhoto and iCloud (note this is not iCloud Photo Library) sharing/syncing works. Also note that syncing via iTunes does not actually download and backup images. For that you need to import your images to iPhoto. The images that are synced between iPhone and iCloud are those in the camera roll and My Photo Stream, which are limited to 1000 images or 30 days old, whichever is larger. I know, very complicated, hence my recommendation to switch to Photos and iCloud Photo Like Barry, unless your library is so large that it requires additional storage capacity that you can't afford.
You can read more about iCloud Photo LibraryLibrary here:
iMore has a very detailed, well illustrated article on iCloud Photo Library:
Rysz, I just can't thank you enough for the great explaination concerning this question. Very clear and understandable and I appreciate that. Thanks again, I certainly appreciate the time you spent writing this. Best to you.
Glad to be of help!
Since you mentioned you're new to this, I'll make one last recommendation...
On your iPhone you have an iBooks app. Log into it, go to the Store section and search for iPhone User Guide by Apple. It's free and very handy. You don't even have to read it from cover to cover, just brows thru it. This will give you a better understanding of what the iPhone can do and you'll know where to go if you want to know more about a particular function or issue.
Enjoy!
Storing pictures to free space on iPhone 6
