Stop download, keep upload

Question

Level 1

8 points

Stop download, keep upload

Hi, So I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to stop my iCloud from downloading all of my pictures onto my phone from all devices but not disable it completely so my phone keeps uploading pictures. On my macs I have pictures saved from my parents and my girlfriend in addition to my own and I'm fine with those being on my iCloud, that's why I pay for the 50GB storage! But I don't want all 7000 pictures on my phone, and I only want the ones on my phone that I actually take/save on my phone.

Is there a trick to doing this, or do I just need to leave iCloud disabled on my phone and upload them manually?

I also use a 2014 mac mini and a 2012 MacBook pro

iPhone 7 Plus, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Sep 1, 2017 9:32 AM

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Answer 1

YakovM

Level 3

852 points

Sep 1, 2017 9:38 AM in response to jholum

You can switch to the “optimized” mode on your iPhone (Settings → Photos). In that case, the phone will upload pictures to iCloud as usual, but only store small-sized thumbnails locally. When you tap a thumbnail, the original photo in full resolution will be downloaded.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Sep 1, 2017 11:40 AM in response to jholum

If you only want the pictures taken by your phone on the phone, you need to stop syncing the iCloud Photo Library. The iCloud sync is an all or nothing sync.

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Answer 3

jholum Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2017 10:17 AM in response to YakovM

But will it do that for all 7000 pictures? I only want the ones on my phone I took a picture of. It doesn't bother me if the original is stored on there or not

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