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How do I delete photos on my iPhone but keep them in iCloud?

How do I delete photos on my iPhone but keep them in iCloud. I’m afraid if all my photos get deleted on my iPhone, they will also delete in iCloud. I still want the new pictures to be uploaded in iCloud so I don’t want to turn the feature off.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Mar 31, 2021 2:54 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 31, 2021 3:21 PM

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.



1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 31, 2021 3:21 PM in response to mary_ap

iCloud Photos is a syncing service. Any photo you delete from a device where iCloud Photos is turned on will also be deleted from iCloud and from any other device connected to iCloud Photos. You can potentially reduce the storage space required on a device by turning on Optimize Storage. See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264


Apple does not currently offer cloud-only storage for photos. If that is what you want or need, you may want to explore 3rd party options such as Google Photos or Dropbox.



How do I delete photos on my iPhone but keep them in iCloud?

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