Importing photos when using iCloud

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Level 1

4 points

Importing photos when using iCloud

When I have "iCloud Photos" option turned on on my iPhone, iOS offloads the originals to iCloud and stores smaller versions on my phone to save storage space.

However, when I want to back these photos up to my mac using the Photos app, it doesn't detect the photos that have been offloaded. I have to view the photo on the iPhone, tap "Edit" and then it actually downloads the photo to my phone. I can then unplug the iPhone from my mac and then plug it back in again and Photos detects the photo so it can be imported.

Surely this is a bug and isn't by design? Am I missing something here?

Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 17, 2018 1:41 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

195,151 points

Aug 17, 2018 4:22 AM in response to grantjames

I've turned iCloud Photo storage off on my mac because my photo library is too large to fit in the free tier, otherwise the iCloud option would be ideal.

You could use a new, empty Photos Library on your Mac to sync the photos and videos with iCloud Photo Library. Keep this library small, so it is only showing photos and videos that you also want to to see in iCloud and on your iPhone. Move the photos you import this way to a larger library that is not syncing with iCloud Photo Library. I am keeping a smaller library on my Mac to sync with iCloud and larger archive libraries with all other photos on an external drive.

See this page on how to create a new library and how to switch between libraries:

https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/create-additional-libraries-pht6d60b524/m ac

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

195,151 points

Aug 17, 2018 2:09 AM in response to grantjames

Surely this is a bug and isn't by design? Am I missing something here?

It is by design. When you connect your iPhone to a USB port to import the photos from your iPhone, the Mac can only see the photos in the camera roll of your iPhone. The photos in iCloud cannot be downloaded from the iPhone, because they are not on the iPhone, until you download them to the camera roll.

If you are using iCloud Photo Library on the iPhone, use iCloud Photo Library to download the photos to your Mac from iCloud.

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Answer 3

grantjames Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 17, 2018 2:12 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for your response. I understand what you're saying but it seems like a design flaw to me. Using iCloud photo storage should be seamless so if a photo looks like it's "on" my device, then I should expect to be able to import it on my mac, even if the full resolution version is living in iCloud.

I've turned iCloud Photo storage off on my mac because my photo library is too large to fit in the free tier, otherwise the iCloud option would be ideal.

I think for now I'll just have to turn on the option to "Download and Keep Originals" in the Photos settings on my iPhone. That way I'll still be able to easy import them on my mac for backup purposes and I'll also have the photos sync between my iPad and iPhone.

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Importing photos when using iCloud

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