How to turn off optimize storage in photos

I turned off optimized storage in photos on my iPad, not realizing it would also turn off on my iPhone. I need to turn it back on and cannot find a way to do so.

Can someone provide the steps?

I have the latest update on iPhone 13 mini.

iPhone 13 mini, iOS 18

Posted on Mar 8, 2025 02:52 AM

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9 replies

Mar 9, 2025 12:20 AM in response to LadySmith1994

There are two options shown:

  • Optimize iPhone Storage
  • Download and keep Originals


When you tap "Download and keep Originals", the "Optimize" will be disabled.


You may want to write feedback to Apple that the user Interface is confusing and it is not quite clear, that these two options are mutually exclusive and we have to tap the alternative to switch between these options to turn off one of them.


Mar 8, 2025 02:51 PM in response to LadySmith1994

LadySmith1994 wrote: Yes, but …

I think a point that léonie may have been making was that, since turning off Optimize on an iPad can't cause Optimize to turn off on a phone, then you should try to understand what happened.


But in any case, her advice:

On the iPhone with iOS 18 you can turn on the "Optimize Storage" in the "Settings > Your Apple Account > iCloud > Photos". Tap "optimize iPhone Storage".

is valid. Just turn Optimize back on for your iPhone, and leave it off on the iPad.


By the way, after you turn Optimize OFF on the iPad it may take a while for full sized pictures to load back on.





how do I reverse that? I don’t want to optimize storage in my photos.


Mar 9, 2025 09:41 AM in response to LadySmith1994

As léonie said, "When you tap "Download and keep Originals", the "Optimize" will be disabled."


So new originals will be kept, but that doesn't mean that all your full sized images will be immediately downloaded. Pictures already on your iPhone may continue without the full-sized originals until you force a download by editing each picture. You can check a picture by entering Edit mode and seeing if you have to wait for a download.



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How to turn off optimize storage in photos

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