You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: donnalee122
donnalee122 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

is there a way to upload photos that are taken on my iPhone to iCloud and then delete the image from my iPhone but still have the image in the cloud?

How can I upload photos that are taken on my iPhone to the cloud and then I want to delete the image from my iPhone but I want the images to still be accessible to me from the cloud. I'm trying to downsize and get rid of old photos that I would like to access someday but I don't want to take up space on my iPhone with these images.


iPhone 8 Plus, iOS 13

Posted on Dec 3, 2019 3:57 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: FoxFifth
FoxFifth
User level: Level 10
471,741 points

Posted on Dec 3, 2019 4:02 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


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.


View in context

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: FoxFifth
FoxFifth
User level: Level 10
471,741 points

Dec 3, 2019 4:02 PM in response to donnalee122

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


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.


Reply

is there a way to upload photos that are taken on my iPhone to iCloud and then delete the image from my iPhone but still have the image in the cloud?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up