iCloud Photos

TrivialArguer

Hi,

Ive about 15k photos and vids on my iPhone, and have run out of space. I want to get the 200GB iCloud deal but wanted to know will I lose all my photo albums (that are on it now) on my iPhone when I enable iCloud photos?

I read some conflicting posts online and am unsure.

Sad Professor

As far as I know your photo albums should be synced along with everything else, i.e. you shouldn't lose anything.

Be aware that after purchasing the 200GB you'll have to enable "optimise phone storage" in Photo setting and you won't be able to delete photos to free up space as doing so will delete them from the cloud as well. This isn't a problem but it goes against what many people are used to.

TrivialArguer

Sad Professor wrote: »

As far as I know your photo albums should be synced along with everything else, i.e. you shouldn't lose anything.

Be aware that after purchasing the 200GB you'll have to enable "optimise phone storage" in Photo setting and you won't be able to delete photos to free up space as doing so will delete them from the cloud as well. This isn't a problem but it goes against what many people are used to.

Thanks. Just bought the 200Gb option. Do you know if you can backup/upload photos to iCloud without backing up the entire phone to iCloud? I have iCloud photos enabled (with optimise storage) but they dont seem to be uploading to iCloud

Sad Professor

TrivialArguer wrote: »

Thanks. Just bought the 200Gb option. Do you know if you can backup/upload photos to iCloud without backing up the entire phone to iCloud?

Yes.

It's better to think of iCloud Photos as syncing with the cloud rather than backing up. If you delete the photos on your device they will be deleted from the cloud too.

I have iCloud photos enabled (with optimise storage) but they dont seem to be uploading to iCloud

It might take a while. Scroll to the bottom of the Photos app to see the progress and if it's paused for some reason.

TrivialArguer

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yes.

It's better to think of iCloud Photos as syncing with the cloud rather than backing up. If you delete the photos on your device they will be deleted from the cloud too.



It might take a while. Scroll to the bottom of the Photos app to see the progress and if it's paused for some reason.

Thanks.

1. When In the photos app and in the very left tab "Photos" (with the years, months, days it says "restore from iCloud paused", do you mean that?

2. I checked iCloud.com and theres 57K photos/vids uploaded. I was hoping my Photos would be optimized (as I checked that option) so Id have some space as Ive used 125GB of my 128GB storage on my iPhone, but I still have the same storage on my phone as I did before using icloud photos

3. Just to be cautious I think I should backup using my Windows PC. If I import all 60K pics/vids from my phone using the Windows photo app connected to my phone, will I end up getting the optimised version of some pics (and not the full res)?

Sad Professor

TrivialArguer wrote: »

Thanks.

1. When In the photos app and in the very left tab "Photos" (with the years, months, days it says "restore from iCloud paused", do you mean that?

Yes - it can pause for a number of reasons: if low power mode is enabled or wifi is off. If you can't resume try restarting the phone.

2. I checked iCloud.com and theres 57K photos/vids uploaded. I was hoping my Photos would be optimized (as I checked that option) so Id have some space as Ive used 125GB of my 128GB storage on my iPhone, but I still have the same storage on my phone as I did before using icloud photos

But it still hasn't upload everything, right?
Even when it's finished uploading, that space may not be instantly reclaimed. The OS usually only swaps out the high res photos as space is needed or running low.

3. Just to be cautious I think I should backup using my Windows PC. If I import all 60K pics/vids from my phone using the Windows photo app connected to my phone, will I end up getting the optimised version of some pics (and not the full res)?

[/quote]

I'm not sure exactly what would happen here. But it can't transfer high quality photos if they aren't on the device.

TrivialArguer

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yes - it can pause for a number of reasons: if low power mode is enabled or wifi is off. If you can't resume try restarting the phone.



But it still hasn't upload everything, right?
Even when it's finished uploading, that space may not be instantly reclaimed. The OS usually only swaps out the high res photos as space is needed or running low.

Thanks. Correct, it has some left to upload.

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'm not sure exactly what would happen here. But it can't transfer high quality photos if they aren't on the device.

I shouldve just used Windows photo app in the first place. I HATE cloud storage and apps!! :mad: