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User profile for user: NoBite
NoBite Author
User level: Level 1
28 points

Navigating iCloud Photos Across iPhone and iPad

I have upgraded my iCloud plan and have enabled iCloud Photos on my iPhone and iPad. The iPhone has finally uploaded all pictures to the Cloud and my iPad is nearly finished doing so. My understanding is that now all photos on either device will show up in the Cloud and are now available on both devices. I also selected "Optimize iPhone (and iPad) Storage" on my devices.


I have a few questions.


  • Are the photos now on my iPhone and iPad still their original resolution?
  • Somehow I should be able to access ALL the photos from iCloud. But, how do I do this? The number of photos showing on my iPad, for instance, does not appear to have changed although I had thousands more on my iPhone.
  • Going forward, will my all future pictures I take with my iPhone or perhaps download on my iPad automatically be synced with iCloud?
  • If, in order to optimize space on my iPhone, a lower resolution image is kept on my iPhone while the higher resolution image is in iCloud, how do I access the higher resolution image?


Thanks for anyone who can address these questions! I am trying to be proactive as Photo Stream goes away shortly!

iPhone XR, iOS 16

Posted on Jun 28, 2023 9:43 AM

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User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 7
23,963 points

Posted on Jun 29, 2023 7:33 AM

To answer the first and last question:

  • Are the photos now on my iPhone and iPad still their original resolution? Probably not. The system will manage the photo size stored depending on its needs and space available. You may be viewing a full resolution photo one day, but later it could be replaced with the lower resolution one at any time.
  • How do I access the higher resolution image? While there is no button to tap that downloads the full resolution photo, if you zoom in on the photo or tap the Edit button, the system will download a higher resolution photo. You have no control over how long that higher resolution photo stays on your system.


If you have storage space on your iPhone and your iCloud Photo storage is not too large, then the Keep Original option may be better for keeping the high resolution photos.

Things to Consider before using Optimise … - Apple Community


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 7
23,963 points

Jun 29, 2023 7:33 AM in response to NoBite

To answer the first and last question:

  • Are the photos now on my iPhone and iPad still their original resolution? Probably not. The system will manage the photo size stored depending on its needs and space available. You may be viewing a full resolution photo one day, but later it could be replaced with the lower resolution one at any time.
  • How do I access the higher resolution image? While there is no button to tap that downloads the full resolution photo, if you zoom in on the photo or tap the Edit button, the system will download a higher resolution photo. You have no control over how long that higher resolution photo stays on your system.


If you have storage space on your iPhone and your iCloud Photo storage is not too large, then the Keep Original option may be better for keeping the high resolution photos.

Things to Consider before using Optimise … - Apple Community


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Navigating iCloud Photos Across iPhone and iPad

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