How to sync and keep photos on Mac, but delete from iPhone?

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Level 1

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How to sync and keep photos on Mac, but delete from iPhone?

Hello,

My wife just purchased her first iMac yesterday and we are still trying to sort everything out. What we want to do is have all of the photos on her iPhone sync to the Photos app on the Mac in the high quality resolution format. Obviously, the HDD on the Mac is much larger than the iPhone, so we want to keep everything there, and only select photos remain on the iPhone.

However, once Photos on the Mac has all of the photos synced across, we want to delete most of them off the iPhone to free up space to take new photos. We do NOT want the delete to "sync" the the Mac and delete from the Photos app. We want to keep all of the photos on the Mac.

How can we achieve this, ideally wirelessly so we don't have to keep plugging in the iPhone.

I believe (unless I am misunderstanding) if we enable the iCloud Photo Library, it will attempt to keep all of the photos in sync on all devices. Meaning once we delete the photos from the iPhone, it will then delete from iCloud and from the Mac? Is that correct?

Posted on Jul 2, 2015 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,784 points

Jul 2, 2015 12:53 PM in response to basleyb

Connect the iPhone to your Mac via USB and open Image Capture. Select all of the photos on the iPhone and either import directly to the Photos library or to a folder on the Desktop. One you have the photos safely on the hard drive you can select which photos in Image Capture to delete off the iPhone.

If you upload to a folder just drag the folder onto the Photos icon in the Dock to import them to the library.

if we enable the iCloud Photo Library, it will attempt to keep all of the photos in sync on all devices. Meaning once we delete the photos from the iPhone, it will then delete from iCloud and from the Mac? Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

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Answer 2

basleyb Author

Level 1

20 points

Jul 2, 2015 2:23 PM in response to Old Toad

Thanks. Will give that a try. We do have the Photo Stream of whatever it is called running, and we do see some of the photos already in the Photos app. Do you know if we delete photos from the iPhone, would that then delete the photo from the Mac? I think Photo Stream is different from iCloud Photo Library, isn't it?

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,784 points

Jul 2, 2015 2:26 PM in response to basleyb

Yes. The Photo Stream is different from the iCloud Photo Library. However, the My Photo Stream is not the same as the Shared Photos streams. You'll want to use the Shared Photo Streams if you want them to be in there permanently or until you remove them by choice.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,651 points

Jul 2, 2015 2:32 PM in response to basleyb

I think Photo Stream is different from iCloud Photo Library, isn't it?

Yes, Photo Stream is different from from iCloud Photo Library, but it will depend on your iOS version on the iPhone, what will happen, if you delete from My Photo Stream. If you delete from My Photo Stream on a device with iOS8, it will delete from all devices syncing with My Photo Stream, because iOS8 does no longer keep the Camera roll and My Photo Stream separate.

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Answer 5

Aug 6, 2015 2:24 PM in response to Old Toad

What about a "Delete after importing" checkbox in Photos app? Neve used it - though expect it to keep phptos on Imac and have it deleted on the iPhone. No? What will happen with iCloud Photo Library photos then?

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

215,784 points

Aug 6, 2015 3:19 PM in response to Alejandro_64

If you have the iCloud Photo Library enabled on your devices then you do not need to connect the iPhone to your Mac and import into Photos. It's done automatically in the iCloud Photo Library.

If you delete any photo from your iPhone or Photos library that photo will be deleted from the iCloud Photo Library on all your devices. With iCPL it's all or nothing.

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,651 points

Aug 7, 2015 2:53 AM in response to Alejandro_64

What about a "Delete after importing" checkbox in Photos app? Neve used it - though expect it to keep phptos on Imac and have it deleted on the iPhone. No? What will happen with iCloud Photo Library photos then?

That checkbox is not available, if iCloud Photo Library has been enabled on the device you are importing from.

You cannot delete photos from the device after importing them, if you are using iCloud Photo LIbrary. The photos are not stored on the device, only mirrored there from iCloud.

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