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Storing Photos in iCloud

How do I move all of my photos from my phone into iCloud photo storage? I want the space/storage on my phone, but everything I read says if I delete a photo on my phone, it will be deleted from the cloud as well. I need step by step instructions for this.

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Jan 16, 2023 10:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 16, 2023 10:11 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 the following Apple article for more information: 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.



3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 16, 2023 10:11 AM in response to CaliGreenGirl

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 the following Apple article for more information: 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.



Jan 16, 2023 10:19 AM in response to FoxFifth

Thank you for the help! I was looking into Google One(Photos), Dropbox, and iDrive for 3rd party. I was worried about security and also ease of use between the 3 options. I don't mind paying, but I am not sure which of the three would be the easiest to use with a Apple products such as iPhone, iPad, and a MacBook. Any thoughts/suggestions?

Storing Photos in iCloud

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