iCloud Photos Confusing!

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Level 1

10 points

iCloud Photos Confusing!

So not to long ago I switched to an iPhone from an android. I used google photos to back up my photos and want to use iCloud photos to back up my photos now. I downloaded and uploaded all my pictures and videos last night from my google photos to my iCloud photos. All the photos I had uploaded to the cloud were showing on my phone and taking up space. I don't want the photos on my actual device I just want to be able to view them like you can in google photos and download if need be so they are not taking up space. So today I decided to delete all the images off my phone and they deleted from the iCloud also. What the heck am I doing wrong? Yes all my stuff was on the cloud. I double checked last night by going on icloud.com and viewed them online from my windows PC.

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.2

Posted on Jun 15, 2016 3:55 PM

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Answer 1

FoxFifth

Level 10

475,455 points

Jun 15, 2016 4:19 PM in response to buckmoney

You aren't doing anything wrong -- that is how iCloud Photo Library is designed to work. iCloud Photo Library is designed to sync photos among devices. If you turn on Settings > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photo Library on your phone all of your photos will be synced to iCloud and to any other device where you have turned on iCloud Photo Library. Any photo you delete will be deleted from iCloud and from all other devices. You can reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Settings > iCloud > Photos > Optimize iPhone Storage.

More information: iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Rysz

Level 8

44,455 points

Jun 15, 2016 4:24 PM in response to buckmoney

buckmoney wrote:

... want to use iCloud photos to back up my photos now.

iCloud Photo Library is not a backup service. It's a syncing service that matches all actions, including adding and deleting, and editing to all your other devices and computers.

If you only want cloud storage for backup, use services such as Dropbox, or Google Photos.

Otherwise, you can read these:

Photos User / Help guide

https://help.apple.com/photos/mac/1.0/?lang=en

iMore has a very detailed, well illustrated article on iCloud Photo Library:

http://www.imore.com/how-use-icloud-photo-library-ultimate-guide

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Answer 3

Jun 15, 2016 4:18 PM in response to buckmoney

With iCloud Photo Library enabled, you cannot delete a photo on one device (or at iCloud.com) without deleting it from every device that uses iCloud photo library (and iCloud.com). 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.

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