Chris Smit
Topical·4 minutes reading
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Ifyou're running out of iPhone storage, it is very likely that photos and videos will take up more space than necessary. We have already explained how to delete photos and videos from iPhone to save storage space. Doing this will also delete the photos from iCloud, freeing up cloud storage. But there may be cases when you want to delete photos and videos from iCloud while keeping them on your iPhone.
The good news is that you can delete photos and videos from iCloud. But first you need to understand how it works and make sure you have the right settings enabled or disabled.
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Understanding iCloud Photo Uploads
When you take a photo or video, it is uploaded to iCloud in two different ways. As a reminder, your Apple ID starts with 5 GB of free storage. This means that you can quickly fill that capacity if you sync your iPhone with iCloud.
First of all, you can choose to sync your iPhone's photos to iCloud. In this case, everything will be moved from the Photos app to iCloud, provided there is enough cloud storage.
Secondly, so do youMy photo streamoption, which contains only the last 30 days of photo content.
Below we explain how to delete photos and videos from iCloud and keep them on your iPhone.
How to delete photos and videos from iCloud
First you need to make sure that the above option is disabled. If you likeSync this iPhoneenabled, deleting iCloud content will also delete it from iPhone. It destroys the purpose of the action. Accidents can happen, so remember that they do30 days to rescuedeleted photos and videos from trash.
Go toInstitutionsapp, tickyour name, go toiCloud, and thusPhoto's. DeactivateSync this iPhonepossibility.
Log nu iniCloud.comFrom an internet browser, go toPhoto'sand delete the items you want to delete. You can log in on any device, be it an iPhone, Mac or Windows computer. Deleting photos and videos won't delete them from iPhone because the handset and your iCloud account aren't synced.
You can also delete photos and videos from itStream my photoson your iPhone without worrying about deleting them from iPhone storage. But, and this is important, deleting files from the Photos app also deletes them from My Photos stream.
Before you get started, you need to understand an important iPhone setting. It is calledOptimize iPhone storage. IfThread of lifeexplains that this feature moves your full-resolution photos and videos to iCloud to automatically free up storage space. This means your iPhone will keep smaller versions.
If you use the storage optimization feature, make sure you do not delete these original files. ActivateDownload and save the originalsoption to ensure that the high-resolution files are not deleted.
Boost iPhone and iCloud storage if you can.
New iPhones come with at least 128 GB of onboard storage. But you may already be experiencing storage issues if you're still using an older iPhone. When purchasing a new handset, you should consider purchasing sufficient storage space. That means upgrading to 256GB or 512GB if you take a lot of photos and videos.
The other thing that can help you deal with iPhone storage problems without deleting iCloud photos is to get more iCloud storage space. The basic iCloud Plus plan costs $0.99 and gives you 50 GB of data. The more iCloud storage you buy, the more space you have for photos and videos. You no longer have to worry about deleting files so often. The more storage space your iPhone has, the more iCloud space you need.
It's important to remember that you can't use iCloud to store photos and videos. It's a syncing service, meaning it mimics your iPhone's Photos app when the two sync.
But you can use iCloud Photos as an intermediary between your iPhone and computer to store photos and videos if you don't like connecting the devices with a wire.
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