How to stop Google Photos sync and keep photos on iPhone without losing them?

Question

How to stop Google Photos sync and keep photos on iPhone without losing them?

Hi there, I’m not tech savvy. My ph is an I-Phone 15 or XS. My google photos drive is out of storage. All my photos are trying to sync with google drive. But google drive is out of storage. The photo’s are there but are black boxes with a red cloud that has a line through it. I want to stop the upload and I want to keep my photos on my device and stop the sync. How do I do that without loosing all my photos. I can’t buy more storage. Thanks

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: photo’s that I can’t see with a red cloud that has a line through it. I want to stop the upload and I want to

Posted on Sep 12, 2025 05:44 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 12, 2025 06:06 AM in response to FrithCoolbear

I prefer to keep all local and/or cloud storage options (iCloud / Google / Dropbox / Amazon etc... Photos) separate because otherwise it gets confusing and out-of-hand very quickly.

I prefer to keep a local master archive copy and backups of all important images so a glitch or bug in those cloud syncs or my own dumb mistake will not be catastrophic.

Personally I have now set:

iOS/iPadOS Settings > Apps > Google Photos > Photos > Photo library access: None.

After doing that Apple Photos is disconnected from Google Photos but (unlike the page below says) you can still access Google Photos Collections and Memories by clicking their icons in Google Photos app or via a browser.

Also Disable Back Up & Sync in Google Photos app > Profile picture > Google Photos settings > Backup > Backup OFF so Google Photos does not nag about it.

This might also be a moving target and there are new iCloud <-> Google Photos sync options available and some of them work better or worse.

https://www.wikihow.com/Delete-Google-Photos-Without-Deleting-from-iPhone#

https://www.wikihow.com/Download-an-Image-from-Google-Photos-to-Your-Computer

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Answer 2

Sep 13, 2025 12:34 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks, that is helpful. In the meantime I think I’ve lost all the photos.

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