Photo library - bit of a mess.

Question

Level 1

9 points

Photo library - bit of a mess.

Hi

I have an iPhone 6 plus with 9.3.2 (136F69), a iMac with 10.11.5 and an Ipad Pro with 9.3.2 (136F69). I have somehow managed to get 13,000+ photos on my iPhone taking up 26gb+ of the phone (it's 64gb capacity). I want to have all my photos on my iMac (& backed up via Time Machine) and Cloud and just the ability to use the cloud to view photos on the phone as and when required. I adjusted the setting on the iPhone for photos via Cloud settings to be:

iCloud Photo Library is selected
Optimise iPhone Storage is selected
Upload to my Photo stream is selected
Upload burst photos is not selected
icloud Photo sharing is selected
(I have the same setting on the iPad)

I thought this might resolve the issue but the photos are still on the phone 😕

How do I ensure I have all the photos on my iMac and the Cloud but easily delete the ones stored on the the iPhone? I have managed to copy all from the phone to my iMac hard-drive.

If I delete from the iPhone (is there an easy way to delete without selecting the 13,000 individually?) and then import into Photos on the iMac from the copy i made to the iMac hard-drive (assuming deleting from iPhone will also delete from the Cloud) would that work?

I have looked for an answer but haven't seen anything that suggests how this could be done. Any help would be most appreciated as I have gotten myself in a bit of a mess 😟

Thanks Shakey

iMac 21.5, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jul 19, 2016 11:42 AM

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Answer 1

razmee209

Level 10

199,308 points

Jul 19, 2016 4:08 PM in response to Shakey64

Shakey64 wrote:

Hi

I have an iPhone 6 plus with 9.3.2 (136F69), a iMac with 10.11.5 and an Ipad Pro with 9.3.2 (136F69). I have somehow managed to get 13,000+ photos on my iPhone taking up 26gb+ of the phone (it's 64gb capacity). I want to have all my photos on my iMac (& backed up via Time Machine) and Cloud and just the ability to use the cloud to view photos on the phone as and when required. I adjusted the setting on the iPhone for photos via Cloud settings to be:

iCloud Photo Library is selected

Optimise iPhone Storage is selected

Upload to my Photo stream is selected

Upload burst photos is not selected

icloud Photo sharing is selected
(I have the same setting on the iPad)

I thought this might resolve the issue but the photos are still on the phone 😕

How do I ensure I have all the photos on my iMac and the Cloud but easily delete the ones stored on the the iPhone? I have managed to copy all from the phone to my iMac hard-drive.

If I delete from the iPhone (is there an easy way to delete without selecting the 13,000 individually?) and then import into Photos on the iMac from the copy i made to the iMac hard-drive (assuming deleting from iPhone will also delete from the Cloud) would that work?

I have looked for an answer but haven't seen anything that suggests how this could be done. Any help would be most appreciated as I have gotten myself in a bit of a mess 😟

Thanks Shakey

iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support any changes you make on one device will also reflect on the other devices.

My Photo Stream FAQ - Apple Support photo stream I believe is the same way.

Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Jul 19, 2016 4:20 PM in response to Shakey64

All photos in iCloud Photos are replicated on all devices that share that iCloud Photos library. If this is not what you want you cannot use iCloud Photos.

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Answer 3

Shakey64 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 20, 2016 2:37 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi Lawrence

Thanks for the reply (& Razmee).

I guess I didn't understand the way the iCloud workd when I made settings. I had assumed that all photos were in cloud and that if I wanted them I'd download from the optimized version (thumbnail). Now that I understand how it works I am trying to sort my mess. I have a copy of my library from my phone on my iMac hard-drive, If I delete from the iPhone (is there an easy way to delete without selecting the 13,000 individually?) and then import into Photos on the iMac from the copy i made to the iMac hard-drive (assuming deleting from iPhone will also delete from the Cloud). Would that work?

BTW from my perspective it would be great if you had an option to have all in the cloud available to draw down from any device but with one device (an iMac in my case) designated as the the master where you could delete etc. That surely is a more effective use of the cloud as a storage solution - i.e. not storing in cloud and multiple devices?

Regards

Shakey

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Answer 4

Jul 20, 2016 3:22 AM in response to Shakey64

I don't like the way iCloud Photos is implemented, either. So I use upthere.com and Google Photos, both of which work the way you described. The photos are kept in the cloud, and are only downloaded when you view them.

The easiest way to delete them from the phone is to simply turn off iCloud Photos.

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