I would like to use iCloud to move Videos and Photos that are taking up a lot of space on my iPhone and iPads.
Thusfar I seem to have only been able to create a shared album which then proceeds to sync to the other devices.
It's very simple, I'd like them up in iCloud and nowhere else.
How do I accomplish this?
Thank you!
iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 11.3
You cannot use iCloud as an archiving service; it is a sync service. Everything in iCloud is replicated on all devices that share the iCloud ID. You need a different solution for archival storage. Examples are dropbox, box.com, upthere.com, google photos, shutterfly, etc. See also: A Beginner’s Guide to Backing Up Photos - The New York Times
You cannot use iCloud as an archiving service; it is a sync service. Everything in iCloud is replicated on all devices that share the iCloud ID. You need a different solution for archival storage. Examples are dropbox, box.com, upthere.com, google photos, shutterfly, etc. See also: A Beginner’s Guide to Backing Up Photos - The New York Times
Let me rephrase. It makes perfect sense that iCloud Photos works EXACTLY the same way as iCloud Contacts, iCloud Calendar, iCloud Notes, iCloud Reminders, iCloud Keychain, iCloud News, iCloud Safari. It would NOT make sense if iCloud Photos worked differently from every other iCloud service. None of these are archiving services. There is no reason that iCloud photos should be different from every other iCloud service.
You CAN move videos and photos to iCloud. If you do they will be replicated on every other device that is logged in to the same iCloud ID, as well as to https://icloud.com. EXACTLY the same way as moving a contact to iCloud; It will be replicated on every other device logged in to the same iCloud ID as well as to https://icloud.com.
Whether it makes sense to you or not doesn't matter; that is the way it works, and the way Apple intended it to work. There are dozens of archiving services on the Internet; iCloud is not one of them.
raji wrote:
Yes and this has never made any sense to me.
If you think a moment, it makes perfect sense. iCloud is a sync service. If you enable any function it syncs that function to all devices that share the Apple ID: Contacts sync across devices, and if you delete from one device it will delete from all. Likewise for calendar entries, notes, reminders, Safari bookmarks, News settings, Siri, Keychain...and Photos. If Photos worked differently from all the others it would be inconsistent with the sync model.
Bottom line is that iCloud offers photo sync services only. It does not offer archival storage.
You can use something like Google or Dropbox for cloud based ar hival storage. Or transfer them to a hard drive on your computer.
raji wrote:
Yes and this has never made any sense to me.
I pay for iCloud, but it doesn't offer likely the single most requested function, "move all the Videos and Photos on my device to the cloud"
I did have to use Amazon Prime Photos to alleviate this in the past but that has it's own issues
The plain fact is Apple got out of the online archival storage years ago with the demise of MobileMe and iDisk. They created iCloud clearly to serve as volatile storage only, for users to sync content between devices. There are other companies that offer similar non-archival cloud based storage systems so it’s hardly unprecedented.
But Apple also (now, with iCloud) explicitly assumes no responsibility for archiving your important data. That burden is entirely on users/owners of the data. It was clearly a conscious business shift in what they offer when they decided to kill off MobileMe.
“D. Back up Your Content
You are responsible for backing up, to your own computer or other device, any important documents, images or other Content that you store or access via the Service. Apple shall use reasonable skill and due care in providing the Service, but Apple does not guarantee or warrant that any Content you may store or access through the Service will not be subject to inadvertent damage, corruption or loss.”
Well, actually, iCloud Drive does offer archival storage ... for documents, etc. Photos are in a different class.
UPDATE - Yes, actually a sync service as Lawrence indicates ... I mean an archival service in that the documents are not necessarily stored on the iOS devices if they have not been recently accessed, but they remain easily available to access on the devices.
Learn the details of iCloud Photo Library here. Do all the research - I am not saying this will place your photos in iCloud "and nowhere else" - it's not very simple.
Thanks for the tip - I will try the iCloud Photo Library and Optimize iPhone Storage setting again and report back
But the last time I did, the net effect was just filling my iOS devices with everything everywhere....
Fingers crossed...
Yes and this has never made any sense to me.
I pay for iCloud, but it doesn't offer likely the single most requested function, "move all the Videos and Photos on my device to the cloud"
I did have to use Amazon Prime Photos to alleviate this in the past but that has it's own issues
iCloud Drive is sort of halfway. Yes, you can save documents in it, but if you open a document even once on your phone it will continue to sync all updates to it. And if you delete a document from your device it will delete it from iCloud Drive.
Lawrence Finch wrote:
iCloud Drive is sort of halfway.
Yes, I basically concur with your analysis. I think there may be some long (~30 day) expiration time, where if you do not open a document for this period, the device behaves as if the document were not opened on it at all. But regardless, I think your conclusion is exactly right.
to iCloud Drive from your devices, for paying customers.
That you pay is irrelevant.
iCloud does not do what you want or need it to. If this displeases you, stop paying and find another service as has been suggested.
Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://apple.com/feedback
Let me rephrase.
It doesn't make any sense that you would not be able to move videos/photos to iCloud Drive from your devices, for paying customers.
Using iCloud to ARCHIVE Movies/Photos
