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iCloud storage

l’m trying to view all of what has been stored in my iCloud?

I’m mostly concerned about being able to access the pictures that have been backed up and stored off of my phone.

I want to delete a lot of them from my device, but I want to make sure that they have been backed up and saved, so I can view them at a later date.

iPhone X, iOS 12

Posted on Jul 1, 2019 3:45 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 1, 2019 4:17 PM

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


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.


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.


On an iPhone or other iOS device, iCloud is designed to be viewed by using the apps on the device (e.g., the Files app for iCloud Drive, the Photos app for iCloud Photos, the Notes app for notes, etc.).


You can also use an internet browser on a computer and log into icloud.com.


Also note that while you can view synced data as described above, it is not possible to view the contents of an iCloud Backup. You can only use the backup to do a full restore of a device or to setup a new device.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 1, 2019 4:17 PM in response to Alstare5

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


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.


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.


On an iPhone or other iOS device, iCloud is designed to be viewed by using the apps on the device (e.g., the Files app for iCloud Drive, the Photos app for iCloud Photos, the Notes app for notes, etc.).


You can also use an internet browser on a computer and log into icloud.com.


Also note that while you can view synced data as described above, it is not possible to view the contents of an iCloud Backup. You can only use the backup to do a full restore of a device or to setup a new device.

iCloud storage

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