Delete Photos Just Off iPhone, Not iCloud

You gave your permission when you agreed to iCloud's terms, but you failed to read and understand how iCloud works. Permission is not needed for iCloud to operate as advertised.

You can not delete any photo from the iCloud Photo Library without deleting the locally cached copies.

colleenjc44 wrote:

Agreed!

You can agree all day long, but that is not how iCloud Photo Library works. If you want to store your photos someplace where they are not on your device, then you can import them to your computer, or you can use a service like Dropbox or Flikr which are designed to store and archive photos.

iCloud is designed to share all photos across all devices that are using iCloud Photo Library. So, new photos get added to the Library immediately, edited photos can be seen in their edited format on all devices once the editing is complete, and deleting photos results in those photos getting deleted from the Library and reflected across all devices. That is how it works, and what it is intended to do. If you are not interested in sharing and automatically syncing all of your photos across all devices, and having access to the entire Library from anywhere, then iCloud Photo Library is not for you.

Find another solution that meets your specific needs.

GB

if i delete photos in icloud ... how can i retore it??

A deletion is a change.

iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

Just saying.

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.

iCloud photos works exactly as Apple describe it.

helpful. thank you

Could you please tell us what it does that isn't like Apple says?

And what if you already have photos on the phone that you want to save, but want to take off the phone to make room for more?

No need to do any of that if you have photo stream enabled.

Yes! Apple, move on, it's been years since this has worked.

If you don’t need the extra iCloud storage just cancel it.

YES!! I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR SO LONG. APPLE CARES MORE ABOUT STUPID FACIAL RECOGNITION THAN BASIC EASE OF USE. GRR

For what you want to do, you need a different cloud based solution such as Dropbox, OneDrive, or Flicker.

Perhaps a reflection of the current political climate?

It makes no sense to offer a paid service that prohibits the user from the ability to delete data on their device. Period.