bkford

Q: Deleted photos from iPhone also delete from Photos on Mac

I gave my granddaughter a new MacBook for Christmas (she had a PC before). She figured out how to get all the photos from her iPhone into the picture library on her Mac (sorry, not sure what it is called--). But now, if she deletes a photo on her phone, it also is deleted from the library on the Mac (she likes to keep the storage space freed up on the phone but obviously wants to save the photos on the Mac). I am trying to help her resolve this issue. Help?

iPad Air, iOS 8.1.1

Posted on Jan 5, 2016 9:44 AM

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Q: Deleted photos from iPhone also delete from Photos on Mac

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  • by mamanerd,Solvedanswer

    mamanerd mamanerd Jan 5, 2016 8:38 PM in response to bkford
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 5, 2016 8:38 PM in response to bkford

    She must have activated Icloud Photo Library, which in fact does move all of her pictures into the apple cloud and makes it available to all devices. When you are using items in a "cloud", they are no longer just on the device, so deleting a picture from any device deletes it from the cloud and thus from all devices.

    That is the way it is designed.

     

    When you setup the icloud photo library, you have an option to OPTIMIZE IPHONE STORAGE and this significantly reduces the storage space on the iphone In my case,  17gb of photos in the cloud photo library currently take up only 1.8 gb on the iphone when optimized this way.

  • by bkford,

    bkford bkford Jan 5, 2016 8:39 PM in response to mamanerd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 5, 2016 8:39 PM in response to mamanerd

    Then what is the suggested option for saving photos on the Mac but deleting them from the iPhone?

  • by mamanerd,Helpful

    mamanerd mamanerd Jan 6, 2016 6:31 AM in response to bkford
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 6:31 AM in response to bkford

    Change just the iphone back to NOT using the icloud photo library, then just import to the computer from the Iphone and delete the pictures from the phone that are not wanted there. The mac will still see all the photos.

     

    Later, if they get a larger capacity phone, then switching back to the Icloud Photo Library on the Iphone (optimized for iphone to save space) will let them see all the pictures on any device.

  • by bkford,

    bkford bkford Jan 6, 2016 6:36 AM in response to mamanerd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 6:36 AM in response to mamanerd

    Very helpful information. So I understand she is to uncheck the Photo Library from her phone, check to minimize, but since I know nothing about a Mac, can you tell me how to, or what you mean by,  "import the photos to the Mac" so that the Mac will then "see them." Also, can a Mac use One Drive as a place for the camera upload going forward, and on her iPhone, once the photo library is unchecked, can she check Photo Stream? Thank you for your patience with my lack of knowledge.

  • by mamanerd,

    mamanerd mamanerd Jan 6, 2016 6:53 AM in response to bkford
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 6:53 AM in response to bkford

    OneDrive is a microsoft product, not the best choice for a Mac. It is good for viewing pictures on an Iphone from someone else's Windows 10 machine, not so good if you have a Mac.

     

     

    She can use Dropbox certainly to automatically save photos into, then on the Mac, she can move photos from Dropbox into Photos.

     

    Or she can turn on PhotoStream and her Mac will see those automatically, and have them available for her to view or import. (but if she's turned on Icloud Photo library, she may need to choose to turn it off, or photostream may not be usable).

     

    Importing into a Mac can be done anytime by plugging in the phone and letting Photos "import" the photos. This is the method used before cloud storage and dropbox and photostream became available.

  • by bkford,

    bkford bkford Jan 6, 2016 7:06 AM in response to mamanerd
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    Jan 6, 2016 7:06 AM in response to mamanerd

    Yout are being so helpful. I am figuring out strategies for those in my family who have PC's, like myself. I think maybe One Drive may be the way to go for us, because though we all use Dropbox, we are all at the point of having to pay for extra storage, which may be what we do. I am trying One Drive since late last night, and I do like it (would only use it as a way to auto backup iPhone photos and would go in periodically and delete unwanted photos), but I haven't read yet about how MUCH free storage it offers, and I hear what you are saying about my granddaughter and her MacBook.

     

    She does have Dropbox, but I think hers may be limited on how much storage she has left. But the reason I asked about importing is that I was thinking it might require a physical connection between her phone and her MacBook, and the thing is, there is no cable with the new MacBook. Hers is the new gold one, and very expensive. There is no USB port, and there is no way to physically connect the phone unless, I assume, she purchases a cable. But, I'm seeing among the options you list that she could use Dropbox as an auto backup, and then "move" (like cut or copy and paste?) the photos into "Photos" on the Mac. Is there a place called "Photos" on the Mac that is separate from the iCloud Photo Library (sorry she is across the country from me right now, so I can't look at it--I am in MO and she is in WA). So, if that is the case, she may only be viewing her photos on her Mac right now through the iCloud Photo Library and not looking at the location called "Photos"... One other question (this time)...if she turns on PhotoStream, where does she go to see those automatically on the Mac? Thank you again for holding my hand through this. I have spent two full days trying to solve this problem.

  • by mamanerd,

    mamanerd mamanerd Jan 6, 2016 10:06 PM in response to bkford
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 10:06 PM in response to bkford

    the traditional way to import is to plug a cable in from phone to computer, and there is, beside the multiport adaptor, a cable which does just the usb-c to usb so she could, with this $19 cable, plug her Iphone into this cable using her standard iphone-usb cable and import the pictures into the "photos" app. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJ1M2AM/A/usb-c-to-usb-adapter

     

    When I mentioned getting files from dropbox, she would have dragged the files from the dropbox folder into the Photos App, not a place but an application.

     

    I do see where One-drive app is available for the iphone and can auto-import.... mine is "hung" at the moment "finding new photos". I believe if she has subscribed to office 365, she gets a terabyte of storage. If she has an email with Hotmail/Outlook.com, she gets 15gb of free storage. One caveat.... one drive does not act like dropbox with many file utilities, it is a special connection that mimics a folder, but many programs that use normal folders don't quite work with the one drive interface. In addition, I had uploaded several gb of pictures (luckily I made a copy and didn't just MOVE them into one drive) and when I went back later, a lot of the important wedding photos showed corrupted. I tried several things to "redownload" them to my computer, but that never worked. I had even "removed them" and tried to reset it up on the pc, but the redownloaded photos also showed as corrupted, though I could see them on my phone. I understand it gives you more space, just not sure I trust it all that much. (my photos are finally going into one-drive from my phone, but i can't tell how it determined which ones to upload, as I have 11000 on my phone, and it only has uploaded about 1900 and says it's complete.

     

     

    Photostream is a special apple online storage "pipeline" that iphones and ipads can use and macs not using "icloud photolibrary" can use and the photostream shows up automatically as another album in the Photos app separated by date, like Photostream august 2015, etc. However, after you convert a device to using the Icloud photolibrary, it no longer recognizes photostreams. The problem with photostream is that there was a maximum number of photos (1000) and time (30 days) that it would keep these.

     

    My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing limits - Apple Support

     

    Bottom line, i'd get the cable and import photos weekly into the Photos app. then remove from phone ones she isn't interested in keeping on the phone. And wait until she has a phone with enough capacity to turn on the Icloud PhotoLibrary when she has a phone with about 5gb free.

  • by bkford,

    bkford bkford Jan 7, 2016 10:55 AM in response to mamanerd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2016 10:55 AM in response to mamanerd

    TThank you so much.  Will get the cable. Makes perfect sense.