Why iPhone full when I have plenty of space on iCloud

Question

Level 1

9 points

Why iPhone full when I have plenty of space on iCloud

Hello,

Please can some one help me?

I specifically bought extra room for my iCloud to back up all my pictures, videos, whatsapp chat history, well just about everything you can put there. I did this on purpose since my iPhone 6 Plus has only 16 GB of memory.

Still I have a full iPhone all the time an I am forced to free space and throw away pictures and videos. While I still have 20 GB free on my iCloud. I don´t understand why my phone remains full when it should suppose to put everything in the cloud and free up space in my phone. I checked and double checked all settings and I think or am pretty sure these are correct.

Please I´d appreciate any comments, advice and help.

Thanks,

Mark

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.4.1, iMac 27 inch

Posted on Sep 6, 2015 10:06 AM

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Answer 1

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Sep 7, 2015 6:25 AM in response to Markbeekmans

it is the same on every device,

just cause you back up computer it does not mean info is removed from computer, does it?

Same with the phone. Just cause you backed up the phone, only you can remove data from it.

Now it gets worse.

You backed up your computer, then you deleted that info that you backed up.

Next time you backup deleted data is not there to backup anymore, right?

So if the old backup is gone (and icloud only keeps fresh backups)

Your data is gone as well.

So what you are trying to do is not done that way.

The way it is done, you import your pictures and videos to a computer and then remove them from iphone.

That gives you space on the phone.

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Answer 2

Markbeekmans Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 7, 2015 6:28 AM in response to fromsouth

Thanks for your answer. I can back up the pictures and videos from the phone to my computer but the whole idea of iCloud was to have them available at all times from anywhere and device independent. Bit like dropbox, or another cloud like service. I want them physically stored there so I can access them if and when I need them. Not physically on my computer only or my iPhone only. That´s the whole point of iCloud isn´t it?

So my question is how to accomplish this? To have the pictures and videos in the cloud and not locally in my phone. Is that posible? And how?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

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Answer 3

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Sep 7, 2015 8:02 AM in response to Markbeekmans

No problem.

Precisely the way you intended to do that(keeping them optimized), but in the same time making sure, that before you add new pictures the old are uploaded to iCloud and optimized on device. Which means good wifi connection, sometimes we do not realize that in travels. It is actually quite possible that you already achieved some of that and your picks are in iCloud - did you check icloud.com?

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Answer 4

Markbeekmans Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 8, 2015 5:00 AM in response to fromsouth

I uploaded all my pictures to the Cloud, check regularly and make sure that all is up to date. Nevertheless the pictures or Fotos app in my iPhone still has more than 1,5 GB occupied. Why is that? I want that storage space free and occupying the cloud. I only want to browse my pictures and when I need some I want to download them from the Cloud. That was the whole plan and idea. I don´t understand why Apple makes things so complicated. I am currently uploading my entire library in Flickr. These guys seem to get it right. I regret very much buying more iCloud space since I am not really taking advantage of it.

I must be doing something wrong, not sure maybe best to go to an Apple store maybe hey can help me out.

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Answer 5

fromsouth

Level 5

4,945 points

Sep 8, 2015 5:39 AM in response to Markbeekmans

You are not doing anything wrong, you can not (by design) with iCloud completely remove pictures on the device. You can optimize your pictures size to reduce amount of space they take on the device by going to settings - iCloud - photos and under photo library.

If optimizing is not what you want - you can call apple and get refund, or just turn off iCloud storage subscription for next month.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201318

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