How do I temporarily turn off device and iCloud syncing

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Level 2

222 points

How do I temporarily turn off device and iCloud syncing

I am going to spend the next month in a remote house with expensive satellite internet access.

I will have my iPhone on which I will be taking lots of photos, and my MacBook on which I will be creating a lot of files.

I'd like to temporarily turn off all background iCloud syncing activity whilst in the house, like Photos and file syncing, until I am within range of free wifi in the nearest town, when I will turn it back on.

Is there a simple way of achieving this without losing photos and documents from my devices and iCloud?

Thanks.

Posted on Jun 26, 2017 9:51 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 26, 2017 10:00 AM in response to IanMetz

Just turn off wifi until you are where you want to use it, photos won't upload over a cellular data connection. In regard to iCloud Drive, just don't put the documents into the iCloud Drive folder until you are connected to wifi.

The alternative (so that you can continue to use wifi at your remote house) is to disable iCloud Drive and iCloud Photo Library until you are in the company of good wifi, but you then might find it takes a good while before it catches up with itself.

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Answer 2

IanMetz Author

Level 2

222 points

Jun 26, 2017 1:12 PM in response to Winston Churchill

I've got 20,000 photos and videos and they won't fit on my 256GB phone or my 256GB MacBook... looks like I'm just going to have to use the internet sparingly, another hole in Apple's offering (like not being able, as far as I am aware, to download selected iCloud docs to devices as per Dropbox). No connectivity, no docs.

I'd love to spend an hour with an Apple person, there is just so much their software lacks that others have nailed.

Thanks tho.

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Answer 3

IanMetz Author

Level 2

222 points

Jun 26, 2017 10:04 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thanks - I'll need constant wifi/internet on both devices, I'm just trying to avoid heavy data, so email and calendar syncing are fine.

However, I don't want to lose files or photos from my devices by turning off syncing, and it's unclear whether this will happen.

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Answer 4

Jun 26, 2017 10:26 AM in response to IanMetz

If you have optimised photos and documents, you'll be given the opportunity to download the full size versions before turning off syncing, if you don't have optimisation enabled, you shouldn't have a problem just turning the services off.

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