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.

How do I know if my photos are definitely in iCloud?

My iPhone X is out of storage. I have plenty of storage and iCloud it is the photos that I’m worried about. I don’t want to erase anything and I just want to make sure that I don’t lose them if I do.

iPhone X, iOS 13

Posted on May 10, 2021 9:52 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 10, 2021 11:02 AM

If you have iCloud Photos turned on in your phone, you can use an internet browser and log into www.icloud.com and go to the Photos app and see the photos there. But that does not mean that you can delete them from your iPhone. 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: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


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 Photos 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.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 10, 2021 11:02 AM in response to End2008

If you have iCloud Photos turned on in your phone, you can use an internet browser and log into www.icloud.com and go to the Photos app and see the photos there. But that does not mean that you can delete them from your iPhone. 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: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


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 Photos 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.

How do I know if my photos are definitely in iCloud?

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