Help me understand the Cloud storage/Photos relationship on my phone.

August 31, 2024 5:54 AM

I know there is vast info about this online but the topic overwhelms me when I try to research it. I haven't had the mental bandwidth to grasp how the whole "Cloud" function works in relation to storing photos on an iphone so I'm hoping one of the good folks here can explain it to me in plain English and help me.

My situation is this: My daughter's iphone is now full of photos and I need to somehow get them off without losing them and create more free space. I know I can use image capture to copy the photos onto an external drive then delete them from the phone, but then she won't have access to them other than going to the external drive. And if I don't change the settings she'll just fill it up again.

I work with a Mac, I'm familiar with computers to a degree but I'm ignorant about some of these convoluted things Mac has implemented over the years. I understand that if you set it up correctly the Cloud saves the photos "somewhere" and you can access them as if they're on the phone but they're not actually there taking up memory .. is that a correct way to understand it?

How would you advise I deal with her current stash of photos and change the settings so that future photos are going to the Cloud and not occupying space on the phone's drive?

Thanks in advance!

posted by Liquidwolf to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

This is easy.

Settings => tap on your daughter's name at the top => iCloud => Photos

Turn on iCloud photos. It will automatically upload her photos to the Cloud, leaving behind a thumbnail that doesn't take up as much space. Whenever she wants to access a photo or video, it gets automatically download.

I believe everyone gets 5GB of iCloud space for free. If your daughter has more photos and videos than that, you'd need to purchase more storage space.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:59 AM on August 31 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Winnie the Proust

Ah ok thanks, but her phone will still be filled with all those current photos occupying space right? Even if I enable the iCloud and they go there aren't the originals still on the phone ?
posted by Liquidwolf at 6:04 AM on August 31

No, it's not just new photos. If you turn on iCloud photos all of her current photos will be uploaded to the cloud. Then iOS will automatically delete them (leaving behind a thumbnail) to free up space.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 6:21 AM on August 31

Apple has a web page here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/105061, that describes how cloud storage works. As suggested by Winnie the Proust, you will need to do the following:

1) On your daughter's iPhone, turn on "iCloud Photos". This will allow iPhone to save a copy of all your daughter's photos and videos on Apple's servers. (It may take a while for this to be completed, depending on your internet's speed.)

2) Turn on "Optimize iPhone Storage" on your daughter's iPhone. This will allow the iPhone to remove photos and videos once a copy has been saved in Apple's servers, thus freeing up storage on iPhone when required.

0) You may need to purchase more iCloud storage, if your daughter has more than 5 GB of photos and videos. (Apple only provides 5 GB of storage for free.) Do this before step 1 and 2.

I will recommend a fourth thing though: backup your daughter's photos and videos locally. On a Mac, create an account for your daughter. Turn on iCloud Photo, but do not turn on "Optimize Mac Storage". This will allow the Mac to also have a copy of all the photos and videos downloaded from Apple's servers. Next, back up this Mac's photo library to an external hard disk. (iCloud is also available on Windows, but you will need to install iCloud for Windows first.)
posted by applesurf at 6:24 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks , this is all helpful. Another question: After I enabled the iCloud I still see that the photos are taking up a large part of the storage section on the device. Why is that?
posted by Liquidwolf at 7:11 AM on August 31

There are a few possibilities, depending on what you mean by "a large part". First - iCloud Photos does take a fair amount of time to upload, dedupe, and replace the local copy of the photo on the phone with a thumbnail...like, much longer than you expect. So it's possible you just haven't waited long enough for it to sort itself out. Second - Optimize Phone Storage is a active process, and iOS will use space until it is needed, then clean space where it can...in your case, by removing more of the recent full-size photos and replacing with thumbnails. It's always working in the background, and it's possible that it just hasn't needed the space yet so is letting it linger. The algorithm that Apple uses to make these decisions is opaque but effective, just let it do its thing. There is a recency bias, where "new" photos are more likely to be full sized on-device, and iOS is always moving that needle depending on space needed.
posted by griffey at 7:36 AM on August 31

It's always working in the background, and it's possible that it just hasn't needed the space yet so is letting it linger.

I would also note that iCloud strongly prefers to sync old photos when the phone is 1. plugged in AND 2. connected to wifi.
posted by bcwinters at 7:39 AM on August 31 [2 favorites]

Yes, make sure the phone is plugged in and connected to wifi and then be patient. It doesn't do it immediately.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:07 AM on August 31

If you want to get space back quickly or find other ways to recover space, go to Manage Phone Storage in Setting. It will suggest thing to delete and settings to change.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:32 AM on August 31

Response by poster: Thanks for all the help everyone.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:53 PM on August 31 [1 favorite]

One more thing to keep in mind- iCloud is not a backup and should not be used as one. It syncs your files across devices but it doesn't keep incremental backups like a true backup product (meaning there is a risk of losing all your photos if they are accidentally deleted).

So she should really be using an actual backup method to keep the photos safe. Backing them up periodically to the external drive would work, and is a good idea. I do this once or twice a year with my photos. You can also turn on Google Photos, and enable the backup features.
posted by fern at 10:22 PM on August 31