iCloud photo eating up my iPhone storage!

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tonyofla1976 Author

Level 1

12 points

iCloud photo eating up my iPhone storage!

Apologies if there is already a thread on this. i've searched for items relating to this topic but can't specific answers.

Here's my problem, and question. I have a 64gb iPhone+ and use iCloud photo. I love the service but I'm getting concerned at the amount of space photos on my phone are starting to take up. I have approx 10,000 photos in my iCloud photo library. My understanding is that iCloud automatically manages storage on different devices, only storing thumbnails to maximise storage - I have opted for this in settings. However, I see my phone storage is gradually and dramatically being eaten up by photos. My total photo storage on my phone is now 12.7GB , it just kept going up and up gradually. Is there any way that I can set a limit on photo storage? I assume not since iCloud photo is supposed to automatically manage it? Before starting to use iCloud photo I used to periodically back up my photos and delete them off my phone. I love using iCloud photo and don't want to turn it off but if it keeps eating my phone storage I'll have to have a rethink .

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.1

Posted on May 31, 2015 3:59 AM

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Answer 1

tonyofla1976 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 31, 2015 1:55 PM in response to tonyofla1976

now I wonder if installing the Google Photos app this week is causing my big photo storage jump? Google Photo is uploading photos from my phone. It seems to be accessing my iCloud photos. I assume Google Photos it isn't uploading thumbnails. So is it downloading them at full resolution in order to upload them them to Google? In any case my photos storage on the phone is now a massive 14GB and growing!

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Answer 2

tonyofla1976 Author

Level 1

12 points

Jul 2, 2015 3:56 AM in response to tonyofla1976

an update on this problem. I recently did a compete restore of my phone and recovered a lot of storage. I was delighted to see that my photo library had come down from 11GB to 2gb. However, once I reinstalled other photo apps, like Flickr and Google Photo, they started once again to upload all my photos. My iCloud photo library rapidly increased from 2bg to 17gb! Looking at the storage graph in iTunes it shows my photos still at around 2gb but the OTHER segment is around 15gb. If I check storage on the phone, it shows that Photos is 17gb. So what I have concluded after all this is that photo apps (like Flickr) when set to back up photos from phone go through the whole library and download or decompress my total Photo library in order to upload it? Is anyone else having an issue with this or has had experience of it?

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Answer 3

May 31, 2015 4:39 AM in response to tonyofla1976

Don't worry too much about it, optimisation is smart it will save more space, the more you need it, if you aren't running out of space the photos will be optimised less. I have around 20,000 photos and they take up a little over 4 GB.

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Answer 4

tonyofla1976 Author

Level 1

12 points

May 31, 2015 4:51 AM in response to Winston Churchill

thanks for reply. 4GB for 20,000 sounds great. I got around 16GB free storage left on my phone - hope it starts to shrink them down before free space goes down much further. It just seems to be growing at a rather alarming rate at the moment!

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Answer 5

GeoffT44

Level 1

21 points

Aug 5, 2015 1:49 AM in response to tonyofla1976

I have exactly the same issue. I have a 64GB iPhone 6 and my Photo Library is currently showing 30.2GB! When plugged into iTunes it shows just 5GB of Photos but 25GB "Other". I thought at first that I shouldn't worry, that the photos on my phone will be optimised less because I have more space available but the storage just goes up and up.

I also have Flickr and Google Photos set to back up so your suggestion about them downloading full versions of pictures to back up may well offer an explanation but what's the answer? Do I remove the backup options for Google Photos and Flickr and then restore my iPhone? Seems a shame as I really enjoy the Google Photos stuff.

I am not too techie so would welcome some advice.

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 6

Oct 20, 2015 10:19 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Hey, Winston, I'm glad this worked for you... but it sure hasn't worked for me! As far as I can tell, the 'optimization' is dumb as rocks—or somehow the device library configuration is corrupted, or the configuration is just plain wrong.

What I am seeing is that my device is completely choking and doesn't have any space left, and yet it keeps trying to get more stuff off of the iCloud. It's like a binge eater reaching for just one more cupcake...

Yes, I have it set on 'optimize photos on device'.

Basically, these 'feature' is utter crap at the moment.

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Answer 7

Oct 25, 2015 4:09 AM in response to Tor Lundgren

It works just fine, if it's not working for you, it's something specific you have done. Perhaps you didn't let it finish something before you changed the settings, perhaps you are trying to use other photo apps like the OP that require full resolution versions, it's hard to say, especially when you just jump into someone elses thread like this without giving details of what you have done.

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Answer 8

Oct 27, 2015 7:55 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Nope! It doesn't work for large libraries—let's say 100+ GB—and devices with not a lot of storage left—let's say 2-4GB of free space. This I have confirmed in my discussion with the genius at the apple store, who I will add, had had the exact same experience.

As for 'jumping' into someone else's thread... well, maybe people often like to hear that a) other people have had the same problem and b) that there is (or isn't) a solution.

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Answer 9

Oct 28, 2015 3:20 AM in response to Tor Lundgren

As for 'jumping' into someone else's thread... well, maybe people often like to hear that a) other people have had the same problem

Unfortunately, that's exactly what it is, the OP states they have 10,000 photos that take 12 GB, that's not 100 GB+.

If you were referring to a library that was similar in size it might be of some relevance, but you are talking about something around 1,000% larger. I'm not sure what limitations there are to optimisation but clearly there has to be some realistic limit, fitting 10,000 photos on a 64 GB phone seems a reasonable expectation from the OP to me, fitting 100 GB + into 2 GB is a totally different expectation, whether it's realistic or not I don't know, but one thing is for sure it's significantly different situation to that noted by the OP.

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