Renegade50
Level 1 (9 points)
iCloud

Q: I'm 19 year old tech junkie--yet still confused about the Cloud. Help please?

I still don't understand how the iCloud Photo Library works. You turn it on and viola! It syncs to your iCloud and you can access those photos wherever and on whatever you want as long as you're logged into the same iCloud on the other iDevice. Cool, I can dig it. NOW, everyone says if you delete the originals from the camera roll, you'll lose it from the iCloud too. So how come I can delete it from my phone yet I can still access the synced photos from www.icloud.com and then enable it to sync to my iPhone? And when I do enable iCloud Photo Library on my iPhone, photos that were in the cloud years ago gets synced to my iPhone even though those photos weren't ever taken on that iPhone! Pretty cool but do those synced photos actually download and take up space on my iPhone or is it like just a gateway to iCloud where I can view what's stored in the cloud? Is it a loop hole? Or can I now take pics on my iPhone and never have it take up storage again because of this phenomenon? WHEW! Thank you

 

Kristof

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 10.0.2

Posted on Oct 13, 2016 7:47 AM

by gail from maine,Solvedanswer
gail from maine gail from maine
Level 7 (27,086 points)
iCloud
A:

Basically, when you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, then as you stated in your first post, you can "access those photos wherever and on whatever you want as long as you're logged into the same iCloud on the other iDevice". The part you left out was and have iCloud Photo Library turned on.

 

So, if it is not turned on, then you see a Camera Roll, and you can do anything you like to any photos on your device, and they only affect the device.

 

Once you turn it on, however, it then syncs with the iCloud Photo Library. And anything you do to the photos anywhere, are updated everywhere - edit, add, delete. And yes, it then downloads all photos in the iCloud Photo Library to your device. It takes up memory. You have the option to "Optimize Photos" which will store them in a a compressed format. Also, when you have it turned on, you no longer will see a Camera Roll album. You see "All Photos" instead.

 

iCloud Photo Library is a sharing service, not an archival service.

 

Here are a couple of support articles that lay it all out:

 

iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

 

Get help with your iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

 

Cheers,

 

GB

Posted on Oct 13, 2016 8:07 PM

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Renegade50

Q: I'm 19 year old tech junkie--yet still confused about the Cloud. Help please?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 13, 2016 7:54 AM in response to Renegade50
    Level 9 (51,447 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 13, 2016 7:54 AM in response to Renegade50

    The photo library in iCloud is the repository of your pictures, all devices (connected) view the same thing, so it looks like they sync, but they don't. Whats difficult to understand?

     

    Camera Roll has nothing to do with it.

  • by Renegade50,

    Renegade50 Renegade50 Oct 13, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 13, 2016 9:32 AM in response to Csound1

    I don't have any other devices connected that's the thing. If I enable iCloud Photo Library and the pics show up on my iPhone, are they actually taking up space again or what? You didn't really answer that.

  • by Renegade50,

    Renegade50 Renegade50 Oct 13, 2016 10:21 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 13, 2016 10:21 AM in response to Csound1

    Let me break it down to you what happens:

     

    1. I take a picture, it goes to camera roll. Physically on device now. Also the new camera roll photo is synced to iCloud photo library so it's in the cloud.
    2. I turn off iCloud Photo Library, all the cloud photos disappear from my photo app but the single camera roll photo remains.
    3. I delete the camera roll photo from device and recently deleted section. Now photo app is completely empty, no pics or videos.
    4. I reenable iCloud Photot Library and all the iCloud photos show up in photo app again including the camera roll photo I took but none of the pics are under "camera roll" so therefore it's not on the iPhone taking up physical space.

    Is this normal? I have 154 photos and videos in photo app but since it's not taking up any space whatsoever on my iPhone.

  • by Eric Root,Helpful

    Eric Root Eric Root Oct 13, 2016 8:07 PM in response to Renegade50
    Level 9 (74,238 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 13, 2016 8:07 PM in response to Renegade50

    Yes, because you did the deletion when not syncing, the pictures remained in iCloud. Resume syncing, they download again.

  • by gail from maine,Solvedanswer

    gail from maine gail from maine Oct 13, 2016 8:07 PM in response to Renegade50
    Level 7 (27,086 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 13, 2016 8:07 PM in response to Renegade50

    Basically, when you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, then as you stated in your first post, you can "access those photos wherever and on whatever you want as long as you're logged into the same iCloud on the other iDevice". The part you left out was and have iCloud Photo Library turned on.

     

    So, if it is not turned on, then you see a Camera Roll, and you can do anything you like to any photos on your device, and they only affect the device.

     

    Once you turn it on, however, it then syncs with the iCloud Photo Library. And anything you do to the photos anywhere, are updated everywhere - edit, add, delete. And yes, it then downloads all photos in the iCloud Photo Library to your device. It takes up memory. You have the option to "Optimize Photos" which will store them in a a compressed format. Also, when you have it turned on, you no longer will see a Camera Roll album. You see "All Photos" instead.

     

    iCloud Photo Library is a sharing service, not an archival service.

     

    Here are a couple of support articles that lay it all out:

     

    iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

     

    Get help with your iCloud Photo Library - Apple Support

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by Renegade50,

    Renegade50 Renegade50 Oct 13, 2016 8:08 PM in response to gail from maine
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 13, 2016 8:08 PM in response to gail from maine

    Thank you for your thorough explanation. It's exactly what I needed.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Oct 13, 2016 8:09 PM in response to Renegade50
    Level 7 (27,086 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 13, 2016 8:09 PM in response to Renegade50

    You are most welcome! Glad I was able to help

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB