Upload photos without storing them in iOS devices

Where are these photos stored right now? On a computer? Is so, then upload from computer to icloud then you will have access to all photos from iOS devices but you don't have to store any of them on the iOS device.

UGADog wrote:

.... you will have access to all photos from iOS devices but you don't have to store any of them on the iOS device.

Uunfortunately that's not correct.

With iCloud photo enabled, you cannot delete a photo on one device without deleting it from every device that uses iCloud photo library. In order to save space on your mobile devices (and indeed your Mac if you wish to do so) turn on optimisation for photos on these devices (settings > photos & camera > optimise storage on your mobile device and Photo preferences > optimise storage on your Mac)

Optimisation is dynamic, it reduces the resolution of your photos as and when needed, so you may not notice it occurring at first. However when it is needed, it is very effective and users have reported libraries being optimised to much less than 10% of their original size in some cases. My own library is about 9% of its original size on my phone.

I Have an identical problem. I want all photos from my MacBook Air On the iCloud and the macbook itself. I want my iOS photos to go to the cloud as well but I don't want the photos sent from the MacBook to the cloud to download to my phone. Here is a screen shot of what's going on since I signed up for 200GB to ibackup my photos. This is going to fill up my iPhone. 8900 photos on my iPhone is not what I want....

It reduces it to 60% because that's all it needed to, as I say it's dynamic, mine is 9% of its original size, others have reported there's has been reduced even further.

Are you saying that dynamic optimization is able to reduce the photo size to store all photos regardless of library size? I don't think that's the case unless it is able to be reduced to a preview only (which would require an internet connection to view the photo in more detail). My wife's phone is experiencing the same thing. So in summary, are you saying (hypothetical example)....if you have 4GB of free memory on your iPhone and optimization is selected, that you will be able to view a 200GB photo library stored in the cloud?

I really think there is an optimization limit and the ability to view all photos is dependent on library size and memory available on your phone. Lets say there is 1TB worth of photos in the cloud, I don't think optimization would allow all photos to be displayed (regardless of how much they are reduced) on a phone with a few GB of free memory.

I'd love to be wrong, so please, if I am educate me.

Bear Hunter wrote:

I don't think that's the case unless it is able to be reduced to a preview only (which would require an internet connection to view the photo in more detail).

That's ok by me, you think how you want to think, but that's exactly what happens.

You do need an Internet connection to download the original when you select a preview in order to see it in more detail.

Bear Hunter wrote:

I really think there is an optimization limit

I couldn't disagree, there's bound to be a limit if you wish to take things to the Nth degree, but I suspect you are just being argumentative and don't wish to join in, so can we just leave it that I don't disagree with you.

Winston, I'm with you and I'm not being argumentative. Just trying to understand what the constraints and limitations are when it comes to library size in the cloud and available memory on the phone, because it doesn't seem to be published anywhere. The only reason I chimed in is because I am experiencing this issue on my wife's phone. I know my settings are correct on both the phone and Mac. I have several years (early photos dating back to 2001) that are not visible unless I drill down and click a "blank" picture and it downloads. Just trying to understand how Apple manages large libraries when there is limited memory (phone).

If you have blank images, something is wrong, it's not due to optimisation.

I don't know what the limitations are and suspect they can't really be defined accurately. Video is optimised to a single frame so in theory a 10 GB movie could occupy 4 KB, so different mixes of video and photos would yield different results. but I've seen people with 200 GB libraries report they can run an optimised library on their phone.

Interesting, her iCloud library seems to download/optimize to a certain point then quits leaving early years mostly blank with a few scattered images visible. There is approximately 20,000 images that are rendered properly. Her phone was recently restored/updated and network settings reset. These early photos in question were never on her phone, so there is something going on with the "download". I do know she is a few hundred MB short of being full (memory-wise).