Deleting photos off of phone but not off of cloud

It is NOT a storage space. I don't think it's marketed correctly. And few people seem to really understand it.

Yeah it is. What is is not, is an "alternative" to device storage space. I think tens of millions do understand that.

It isn't storage as defined by you. To state it isn't storage is silly.

Sharing docs across devices is not super necessary in my world

That may very well be. However, that's what the iCloud Photo Library does and how it is clearly positioned.

but storing cherished photos year after year is super important.

It is clear iCloud is not the product for you then. Or for the others in the thread. There are other cloud providers who are offering services that meet your needs.

It's competetive out there and Apple will need to step up their game to stay ahead.

Let them know you are worried about their viability going forward here...

>>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Matthias Truetzschler wrote:

I have the same question but not yet found an answer, could you please tell me if you reveived a satisfactory answer?

Thank you kindly !

If you are using iCloud Photo Library to share all of your entire photo library among all of your devices, and you have a large library and a device that doesn't seem to have a lot of memory, then even Optimizing your photos isn't going to prevent you from running out of space on your iOS device evenutally.

You can keep iCloud Photo Library turned on on your Mac, make sure that it is set to Download Originals to the computer, and make sure that Photo Stream (and Photo Sharing, if you wish) are all set up in your Preferences in your Photos App.

Then, on your devices, turn off iCloud Photo Stream (this will remove all photos except your current Photo Stream Photos from your device) as long as you have Photo Stream turned on. You can also have Photo Sharing turned on.

Now, you have a complete Photo Library stored in iCloud that you can access via iCloud.com, and which you can do editing and updating on via iCloud.com or via your Photos app on your Mac.

In addition, you have a complete Photo Library stored on your Mac that you can use to sync selected photos back to your iOS devcies as you wish:

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes using Wi-Fi - Apple Support

Because you have Photo Stream turned on, all of your new photos will upload to your Mac, and will subsequently upload to iCloud Photo Library.

You will still have to import your new videos to your Photos app since they are not contained in Photo Stream:

PHOTO IMPORT IOS TO MAC/PC

If you ever decide that you want all of your photos accessible via your iOS device again (or you get one with a larger capacity), all you have to do is turn on iCloud Photo Library, which then gives you access to that library.

Cheers,

GB

Well, if you deleted them within the last 30 days, you can recover them from the Deleted Photos album.

You should be importing all of your photos to a photos app on your computer or by uploading them to an archival cloud service like Dropbox or Flikr.

If you want to import and have a complete library on your computer (that you can then also back up to an external drive for safekeeping), then here are the instructions:

PHOTO IMPORT IOS TO MAC/PC

Cheers,

GB

You haven't been ripped off. You are simply misinformed. If you want to save your photos and get them off your phone, then you should import them to your computer: PHOTO IMPORT IOS TO MAC/PC

iCloud has never been advertised or has claimed to be an archival service. iCloud is a sharing service. Its primary function is to share data among any and all devices that are signed into the same iCloud account.

If you want an archival photo services, then Dropbox, Flikr, or possibly Google Photos would take care of those needs, if you wish to archive in a cloud service rather than on your computer.

Cheers,

GB

Carriecojaye wrote:

So, what is the solution. ...what is the storage solution that keeps all image data for future recall and enables one to be able to delete their devises.

The good old-fashioned way (and the way I use it) - by importing your photos to your photos application on your computer. Your computer is where you store your photo library, and then you back up your computer (every computer system has a backup capability). Then, you selectively sync which photos and albums you want on your phone.

When you want the ones you sync'd to be deleted, you simply sync again, and remove the photos and albums you no longer want there.

So, you end up with a phone that has:

A Camera Roll: which is all of the current photos that you have taken on your phone and which you have not manually deleted or have not automatically deleted at the end of an Import (I don't ever automatically delete my photos at the end of an import - I cull my Camera Roll manually)

A Photo Stream: if you have Photo Stream turned on, then any device or computer signed into that same iCloud account with Photo Stream turned on will share the last 30 days worth of new photos taken from all devices

Sync'd Albums: Any albums that you have created in your Photos application that you sync'd to your device will show up as well on that device. These can only be deleted by "un-syncing" them

With this approach, you have complete control over how many photos are on your device at any given time.

I have a Mac and use the Photos app, so I also have Photo Stream set up to import photos to my Mac automatically, so I only have to actually perform an Import when I want to get my videos imported to my Photos Library on my Mac.

I have never used iCloud Photo Library. I do use the other iCloud services like iCloud Drive and the sync services for Contacts, Calendars, Notes, etc., as well as using iCloud for creating backups of my devices.

PHOTO IMPORT IOS TO MAC/PC

Keep your photos safely stored and up to date on all of your devices - Apple Support (see the "Sync your photos manually with iTunes")

Cheers,

GB

Sorry, but 1800 people is a drop in the bucket. Agreed, iCloud can be confusing, and especially since many people come to use it with the assumption that it works a certain way for Photos, in particular.

No one seems confused about Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Notes that are in iCloud, and which will get updated across the board from any device or computer.

But that is what iCloud is for all services under it with the exception of iOS device backups. For everything else, iCloud is a syncing/sharing service:

iCloud Deconstructed | Communities

And it's not like that is the only option you have available for managing photos on your various systems and devices. You can not turn on iCloud Photo Library, and keep your photo library on your computer. Then import your photos from your iOS device to that library. Then you could delete to your heart's content, since the library on your device and on your computer wouldn't be the same library.

If you have a Mac, you can actually set it up so that your photos are imported to your Mac Photos library automatically via Photo Stream (Photo Stream does not count against your iCloud Storage). Videos won't get to the Library that way, they still have to be imported, but Photos do.

You can then use the Sync function with iTunes to sync back selected albums and photos to your device.

Or, you can use iCloud Photo Sharing (sharing service), to send yourself selected photos from your Photo Library, which would then display in your Shared Albums on your iOS device. These do not count against your iCloud Storage.

So, you have several options available. Seems like a rather big huff about something that is versatile enough to support most requirements. That you are upset that you did not know how iCloud works and were disappointed to find out that it is not an archival virtual storage drive is unfortunate. But, now you know, so you can take advantage of the various options available to you - including purchasing an Android, if that is what you feel will alleviate the situation and make things better.

Best of luck,

GB

Here is a User Tip I wrote about iCloud that explains the various services that iCloud provides. Photos is but one of them.

In the most basic sense, you probably would want to use iCloud for your Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, & Notes. Those are automatically sync'd to iCloud as you add or update them on your iOS device. And if you use iCloud for Windows, you would have access to them there, and you always can see them, and have the option to restore them if needed via iCloud.com on any computer.

Also, you should be backing up your device regularly in case of accidents, or in case your device is stolen or lost. With a backup, you can restore a new phone (or if you were to get your phone back but it was erased, for example) to look exactly like your phone did when the backup was made. And you can set iCloud backups to be automatic, so that you always have a current copy. Any time you plug your phone in to charge it, and the Lock screen is on (i.e., you are not using the device, but it is turned on), and you have a Wifi connection, the phone will be backed up (up to once every 24 hours).

And I almost forgot the most important reason - so you can turn on Find My iPhone which engages the Activation Lock on your device and allows you to access it remotely if it is connected to the internet:

iCloud: Find My iPhone overview

Here's the User Tip:

iCloud Deconstructed | Communities

Cheers,

GB

Avalot Anatra wrote:

I'm utilising icloud but i've noticed that I can't download my pics to my computer anymore via itunes to save them before deleting them on the phone. Any suggestions? or do I have to stop using the cloud?

That's correct; you cannot download them via USB. But you can log in to https://icloud.com, click on photos, and download them from there. If you have a Mac, turn on Photos in System Preferences/iCloud and they will automatically be downloaded to the Photos app on your Mac. From there, if you don't want to use Photos to manage them (it uses a proprietary format) you can export them to JPEG using the app. For Windows, get the iCloud for Windows app (Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support) and you can view and download them from it.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

There is a way to delete photos on your phone but keep them in iCloud. it is a one-time thing, however. Turn off iCloud photos. You can then delete photos from your phone and they will remain in iCloud. If you turn Photos back on they will all come back, however. Leaving

You can also get iCloud for Windows from Apple. It will let you access anything you enable in iCloud on your phone on your Windows PC.

Finally an answer that I could use for anything 🙂

Thanks Lawrence.

Here is how to remove the FULL PHOTOS from the phone and download the THUMBNAIL versions to free up a lot of space.

I did this on my 64GB iPhone 6S Plus on iOS 11.1.2. I had 28GB of photos on it. Before I had approximately 55GB used space and after I had only 27,7 GB used space 🙂 So I almost got all of the 28GB free.

You probably need a paid iCloud with 50GB or more storage.

Do this on you own risk ! Take care of reading every step.

You should only do this on a wifi connection as it will download and upload a lot of data.

1. Optional: Install and Sync all photos to google photos. So you have a second backup of all your photos. You never know what can go wrong. See somewhere else for a howto on that. I like to have two copies of all my backups, so I choose google for the second.
2. Go to https://www.icloud.com/#photos and check that all photos that are stored on your phone also are stored here. If not, then find out why and fix it !!
3. If all photos are on iCloud. Turn off "iCloud Photo Library" in Settings/Phone on your iPhone. To the next question it asks, if it should "download" or "remove" the photos that are in iCloud. Select "remove". It then removes all the photos that already are stored as thumbnail on your phone.
4. All photos that are on your phone now, are the ones that are stored as full versions. We must remove them to get the phone storage free.
5. Go to the "google photos" app. Select three stripes in the top left and select "free up space". Choose to remove all photos it has synced. That removes all full photos from the phone. Have patience, it takes some time. Just leave the app open and phone alone. (If you choose to not use google photos app, find another way of deleting all photos on you phone)
6. Then go to the apple Photos app and remove "Recently deleted photos" from the photo app. All the pictures we just deleted are there now, so phone space is still not free. Have a lot of patience here 😉
7. When all deleted pictures are gone, reboot the phone . And you have a phone with a lot of space 🙂 In my case 26,9GB used space of 64GB (before 55GB).
8. Turn on "iCloud Photo Library" in settings/Photos again. Important !! choose "optimize iPhone storage" (it is default)!
9. Now the phone will download the Thumbnail versions of all photos and you will have more free space on the phone.

In my case after finishing downloading the thumbnail versions it had used 27,7GB of 64GB. So it now uses 800MB instead of the 28GB photos had used before 🙂

Good luck 🙂

Christian

Wow, a little condescending are we? Quite frankly I too had this question, and I too thought the same thing, that the iCloud was primarily for storage and NOT just for syncing with other devices. In other words, I thought JCers response was quite informative and very relevant! I suspect that there are many others that think the same way. Going forward I will have to re-think my options to freeing up space on my iPad. I welcome any suggestions from the community as to thoughts on how to do this. I don't have a MAC or PC to transfer photos to so I do rely on some sort of cloud storage. Either that or delete some photos. Maybe apple can look at this issue and develop something that allows users to delete photos from any device while keeping them in a virtual storage.

Oh and to your comment to JCers, maybe you should stop being condescending and realize that your comments are senseless and useless to the dialog!

I to have this question Hnicholes,

Have you found any answers, I have bought extra storage thinking that that would help and it seems to be a waist of money, as my phone is now full and when I try and delete my photos from my phone it says that it will also delete them from the icloud account; I was under the impression that that is why you buy the extra storage so that you can delete from your phone it in icloud.

Does anyone else have any ideas.

Please help, I am not happy about this.

Thanks Marg

Sorry, Marg. Your impression of why we buy extra iCloud storage is mistaken. Extra storage can be useful for several things (device backups, documents and data including Pages and iBooks, mail, and yes, photos in your library). However, as you have noticed, iCloud Photo Library works hard to make sure that all of your devices and the central library have the same photos and videos.

If your photo library is using too much space on your phone, you can enable "Optimize iPhone Storage" in Settings > Photos & Camera. Then the phone will keep every photo, but if your phone gets full it will reduce the resolution of the phone's copies until you need the full resolution of a photo (e.g., to edit it or to blow it up to view details). For example, my photo library is currently using less than 1/3 of the space on my phone as on iCloud (which always keeps the full resolution), and only half that much on my iPad Air (which has less hardware storage).

Great discussion, unfortunately after giving up due to frustration quite a while back I have to revisit this problem as my iPad is almost full and I am now constantly warned of this. Photos are optimised in settings, but that compression has reached its end game it seems.

I can't help but wonder what Apple thinks users are supposed to do with the many photos and videos that will inevitably build up in iCPL after years of owning iOS devices. It seems that it is expected that a compressed (optimised) copy of every photo and video you have ever kept will be stored on every iOS device you own. In time, the compression (optimisation) will reach its zenith and unless you start deleting photos and videos from iCPL, all storage in every iOS device you own will be full, rendering the devices of little use.

That's the point I have now reached. I can no longer record a GarageBand track on my iPad because I am told storage is full. However I can't free up the memory on the iPad by deleting photos without losing them for all time. This situation still has me completely baffled and frustrated.

I am thinking the only solution is to transfer all the photos from iCPL to another cloud service that operates as a true cloud storage service and then downgrade my iCloud storage plan as it's a waste of money. If anyone has a more elegant solution I would love to hear it. Thanks

That's not helpful that provides little value, which is why people are frustrated that we are paying money for a service that provides little value. Where google photos is free and i can store as much as I need. Instead, the iCloud should all me to store my pics there and manage the pics in the iCloud. Instead of having to use other storage. Apple cloud is a rip off because it doesn't provide the value it needs to.

I too have been struggling with storage space on my devices. The iCloud confusion could be addressed with a more effective communication with consumers on the front end. It is NOT a storage space. I don't think it's marketed correctly. And few people seem to really understand it. Sharing docs across devices is not super necessary in my world but storing cherished photos year after year is super important.

I've decided to take the time to move my 4GB of photos and videos to a 'permanent' storage space (probably google photo)and remove them from the cloud.

It's competetive out there and Apple will need to step up their game to stay ahead.

Good luck to everybody on this thread. You can't always get what you want... but if you try... you just might find you can get what you need.