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Want to know if I can erase photos from my gallery if I have them backed up to iCloud?

Want to know if I can erase photos from my gallety will I still be able to retrieve them from the cloud if I have them backed up? I only use my phone nothing else.

Posted on May 26, 2018 7:34 AM

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Posted on May 26, 2018 7:59 AM

No. iCloud Photo Library is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photo Library is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to that iCloud Photo Library. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photo Library turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.

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May 26, 2018 7:59 AM in response to A.lapastora

No. iCloud Photo Library is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photo Library is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to that iCloud Photo Library. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.


Another way that photos may be on iCloud (if you don’t have iCloud Photo Library turned on) is via a backup of an iOS device. The only thing you can do with a backup is use it to restore a device or set up a new device. The contents of backups are not viewable at iCloud.com and if you delete a photo from a device it will not be included in future backups and will be lost.

Want to know if I can erase photos from my gallery if I have them backed up to iCloud?

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