Question about iCloud Photo Library

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Level 1

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Question about iCloud Photo Library

Hi Everyone,

I am wondering if my Macbook or iPhone is stolen and the person is able to log in to the device, are they able to wipe my photo's including my iCloud photo library? The reason I think they can is because if you delete a photo from your phone or mac, it deletes from your iCloud photo library as well. So basically if they go in and delete the photos in my device, there goes my iCloud back up of them?

Also if I did a remote wipe of the device from iCloud.com, will erasing all those originals on the device also erase them from iCloud Photo Library?

This is concerning because it would totally defeat the purpose of having an iCloud back up so I hope I am wrong!

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 9:24 PM

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Answer 1

Rysz

Level 8

44,391 points

Oct 8, 2015 10:04 PM in response to JellyDino

You should always have a backup of your important documents.

Your devices should be protected with passcodes, passwords and Touch ID, if available. iCloud is also password protected.

When images are deleted from Photos / iCloud Photo Library, they are actually put in a folder called Recently Deleted. They will be held there by Apple for 30 days. That should be more than enough time to recover them.

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Answer 2

Oct 9, 2015 2:36 AM in response to JellyDino

Ideally you should have a back up of your photos, you can do this usually via a computer, you should not rely on iCloud photo library, it is a sync service not a back up, whilst deleted photos will remain in a deleted photo album for 30 days, you cannot recover photos after 30 days and you can also delete photos from the deleted album which deletes them permanently.

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