How to free up iPad storage by moving large videos to iCloud while keeping shortcuts in Photos or Home Screen?

You can move the off onto iCloud Drive or One Drive, but there's no way to keep a link in the Photos app for them once they are moved out of the Photos App.

You can if using iCloud Photos, turn on Optimize Storage, and it will automatically reduce the file size of the video locally while keeping a full quality version on iCloud when space is required.

Also, whenever it is played, it will be downloaded to the iPad and use up the same amount of storage space.

click here ➜ Manage your photo and video storage - Apple Support

You can add a Files Widget to the Home Screen, that points to a folder in iCloud Drive if you really want to.

click here ➜ Add, edit, and remove widgets on iPhone - Apple Support

When you add the widget, select the first option for size and tap on done, then tap and hold on the widget to get the edit menu, tap on edit widget, tap on Location, and scroll down to the Pick a Folder entry, and tap on "Folder", then tap on Choose a Folder, and navigate to iCloud Drive and select the folder that contains the video, and then tap on "Open" at the tap right. Then tap outside the dialog box to save it. The widget will refresh and show the contents of the folder.

That's the closest you can get to a shortcut on an iPhone home screen, to a file in iCloud Drive.

It will download the file to the device before it plays it, yes.

I'm not sure what you want to do with some shortcut thing, but a video in Photos can certainly be saved to iCloud Drive (Share into iCloud in the Files app) and deleted from Photos. It will need some storage space since the video will be in two places on the iPac until you delete it from Photos. Once in iCloud Drive, the iPad may remove this video, leaving a link. When you click on the link, the video will be loaded onto the iPad for viewing-- if there's room.

Is that what you need?

louie1101 wrote: … On your first comment, if I move or i guess its share to iCloud in Files app - i assume i need to turn off some sync before I delete it locally so it doesnt sync locally and from iCloud? thank you sir

You could let it delete from iCloud Photos and use it from iCloud Drive, only. There's hardly any point in having the video in both places. Either way, Photos or Files, the video has to be local while it's playing. If you have Optimize Storage, the video will be removed when it's not needed. iCloud Drive may take up less room, but it's less transparent inspiration than iCloud Photos.

I think there's risk, here, though. Weird things can happen when you're low on storage. Moving a file in and out requires extra "turn-around" room. Getting less than 10% free storage might cause the video to load but not play, maybe, or even make it hard to offload it, again.

You'll have to test-- how long does it take to download the video, for instance?

I'm not sure what you really need to do, but you might consider an external storage device.

The iPhone does not work like a Windows PC at all.

If you move it to iCloud Drive from the Photos app on an iPhone, and then delete it from the Photos app, it won't affect the copy in iCloud Drive. Those are 2 separate locations, that aren't directly synced. The copy in iCloud Drive will be entirely separate to the copy in the Photos app.

If you turn on iCloud Photo Library from the Photos app settings, then that action syncs photos and videos to iCloud, but not to iCloud Drive directly. Deleting the video from Photos deletes it from iCloud too, but again this is not related to iCloud Drive.

I think you are entirely mixing up iCloud Drive, and the iCloud Photos sync option.

louie1101 wrote:

Lord! So there is iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos? iCloud Photos do *not* sit in the iCloud Drive? Confusing.

A little yes. iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos are just 2 of the many services and features found in iCloud. While both of them use iCloud storage, they are not connected or linked directly.

iCloud Photos uploads photos and videos to iCloud, but retains them within a dedicated "Photos app" section in iCloud which is not accessible from iCloud Drive, which is a different service / section of iCloud.

iPad we do have iCloud Photo Library sync on for Photos App - Where does this sync to ?

That syncs to iCloud, but is separate from iCloud Drive, which is just a container of independent files and folders.

So then is my best option - Turn off sync from Photos App to iCloud and just manually copy/paste videoA to iCloud Drive then delete the videoA from local Photos app?

If you want to move the file off of the device and not take space in Photos, and not duplicate the file by having it exist in both places, then yes. Moving the file to iCloud Drive and deleting it from the Photos app is the best option.