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how can I delete a photo from my iPhone and not iCloud?

how can I delete a photo from my iPhone and not iCloud?

Posted on Feb 27, 2021 9:59 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 27, 2021 10:05 AM

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 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

Feb 27, 2021 10:05 AM in response to Apenagosc

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 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.

Feb 27, 2021 10:14 AM in response to Apenagosc

You can hide the photo; in Photos, use select and select the photo and then (confusingly) Share and then Hide


As stated in the reply above, you have one copy, synchronized across iCloud.


You can copy the photo to local storage or to a file on iCloud Drive or elsewhere, then delete the iCloud copy.


You can back up iCloud before deleting: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support

how can I delete a photo from my iPhone and not iCloud?

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