How to reduce iPhone Photos storage to match iCloud Photos

Question

How to reduce iPhone Photos storage to match iCloud Photos

For context, I currently have iCloud+ (2TB) with my family plan. According to that, I only take up 12.85 GB of storage in Photos. However, according to my iPhone storage, Photos takes up 47.27GB of my 128GB storage.

How do I reduce my Photos storage amount in my iPhone to match my iCloud storage? Is that even possible?

Please help, as my phone has practically become useless now that I am unable to do anything due to a lack of storage. I can't even sync my photos. Should I just wait and let it restore itself?

Posted on Nov 24, 2025 10:37 PM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

100,275 points

Nov 25, 2025 4:44 AM in response to penguinlover18

It could be that the difference is photos that were syncd from a computer to your phone in the past.

They are not accessible for deletion ("orphaned") without restoring the phone from the daily backup, however those photos would then be lost.

Just ensure that iPhone, Settings, [tap your name], iCloud, Photos is set to sync this iPhone and optimise iPhone storage is turned on. You will eventually lose any "orphaned" photos.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

100,275 points

Nov 25, 2025 4:47 AM in response to penguinlover18

PS orphaned photos can be identified as they have no trash can delete button.

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