iCloud photos upload

Question

Level 1

0 points

iCloud photos upload

Hi there

I'm a bit confused about where my photographs are stored and how to free up space on my iPhone. I subscribe to extra iCloud storage space and have activated automatic upload of my photo library. I have also chosen 'Optimize iPhone Storage' and have got the photo stream switched on.

When i set all of this up, I was under the impression that any photographs taken on my iPhone would automatically be stored in my iCloud, not on my iPhone. However, the photographs and videos are still taking up a huge amount of space on my phone, and I am unsure of whether to delete them as i don't know whether they are uploaded or not.

Can anyone shed any light on how this works, and how i can safely free up space on my iPhone?

Thanks!

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4.1

Posted on Sep 2, 2015 1:49 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Winston Churchill

Level 10

122,487 points

Sep 2, 2015 4:57 AM in response to pinkapple

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.

Reply

Answer 2

pinkapple Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 2, 2015 6:08 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thank you very much for your reply, that helps clear things up a little. So, to clarify, when I take a photo using my iPhone, the original photo remains stored on the iPhone, it just shares it with other iCloud devices? What about older photographs that I have on iPhoto, on my iMac? Are their originials still stored on the iMac, and then shared with devices once uploaded to cloud?

Many thanks!

Reply