Downloaded videos and images do not stay downloaded

Question

Level 1

4 points

Downloaded videos and images do not stay downloaded

I am surprised by the amount of bugs I am finding in the latest iPad operating system. All I want to do is access my videos and images in the Files app, which have already been downloaded and synced, but I have to keep re-downloading them in order to view them. Why is this? Even though I have already downloaded them, time later, I have to do it again.

Now I see that there is an option to keep them downloaded, so I selected all the files, and chose that option. But then this resulted to a crash. I could not access the folders, nor files. So I restarted the system, and then I could. But the files were still be downloaded, and so that resulted to another crash. I restarted the system again, and this time, I selected all files, and stopped the downloading process. I had to do that a few times in order for the files to stop downloading. It’s inconvenient, but I guess downloading each file individually in order to access them is my only option.

This is all very unintuitive. Is there a way to work around this? I don’t want to have to download each file over and over in order to access them, since I have so many.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 18

Posted on Jun 21, 2025 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 24, 2025 06:56 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Richard.Taylor wrote:

Bleduc1 wrote: …I’m not sure how to find out how much free space I have available on my iPad

Settings>General>iPad Storage. Mine says 184.12 GB of 512 GB used. I don't use Optimize on my iPad, so most of that is Photos. Having the same stuff on my iPhone, its storage says only 42GB of 128 GB used, because it's Optimized. With 120 GB of Photos, I need to use Optimize on my phone to see them all. Optimize is cool, because you can see all the pictures instantly, since the screen sized images are local, but you can quickly get the full sized original if you need to edit or print.

Files' iCloud Drive's Optimize can't do what Photos' Optimize does, since "screen sized" Word files, or whatever, just doesn't make sense.

Oh my! I am glad you told me. It appears that my iCloud storage is very full, and it looks like I could use this Optimize. My Photos app seems to be what has the most storage, which makes sense, since I haven’t touched the photos since 2018. It sounds like it’s time to get rid of a lot photos and videos I no longer need.

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Answer 2

muguy

Level 10

90,260 points

Jun 21, 2025 01:39 PM in response to Bleduc1

The files app will always try to offload files to save space. If you wish to keep the file on your iPad, copy it to the On My iPad folder.

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Answer 3

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 21, 2025 06:05 PM in response to muguy

I thought I replied, but I’ll try this again. Thank you for your feedback. I did not know. I have another question regarding that. So I currently keep all of my files on the iCloud Drive. And I have an iCloud subscription for 2 TB. If I move my folders from the iCloud Drive to My iPad, will the two TB still work for that location? In other words, does the iCloud subscription refer to all locations, or just the iCloud drive?

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Answer 4

Jun 22, 2025 08:12 AM in response to Bleduc1

Bleduc1 wrote: …if I move my folders from the iCloud Drive to My iPad, will the two TB still work for that location? In other words, does the iCloud subscription refer to all locations, or just the iCloud drive?

iCloud Drive is separate from On My iPad. So you don't move the files, they are copied. And then they exist in both places -- at iCloud.com and on your iPad, using storage space in both.

Stuff in iCloud Drive in the Files app won't stay local to the iPad if there's not enough room. You didn't say how much free storage you have on your iPad, but the crashing may be caused because there's just not enough room. It might be worse when you try to copy the files from iCloud Drive, where they can offload to provide more room when you need it, onto On My iPad where that permanently suck up space.

iCloud Photos is an option specifically for images and videos. iCloud Photos can save space by keeping only smaller, screen-sized versions of pictures and holding the full sized files at iCloud.com for when they are needed for editing.

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Answer 5

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 23, 2025 06:52 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Richard.Taylor wrote:

Stuff in iCloud Drive in the Files app won't stay local to the iPad if there's not enough room. You didn't say how much free storage you have on your iPad, but the crashing may be caused because there's just not enough room. It might be worse when you try to copy the files from iCloud Drive, where they can offload to provide more room when you need it, onto On My iPad where that permanently suck up space.

iCloud Photos is an option specifically for images and videos. iCloud Photos can save space by keeping only smaller, screen-sized versions of pictures and holding the full sized files at iCloud.com for when they are needed for editing.

Thank you for your response. I agree that the Photos application could be a good way to view photos and videos.

I’m not sure how to find out how much free space I have available on my iPad, but I have 3/4 space available for iCloud storage (554.8 GB used out of 2 TB). So I don’t believe that lack of free space would be the reason for the crashes.

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Answer 6

Jun 23, 2025 07:11 AM in response to Bleduc1

Bleduc1 wrote: …I’m not sure how to find out how much free space I have available on my iPad

Settings>General>iPad Storage. Mine says 184.12 GB of 512 GB used. I don't use Optimize on my iPad, so most of that is Photos. Having the same stuff on my iPhone, its storage says only 42GB of 128 GB used, because it's Optimized. With 120 GB of Photos, I need to use Optimize on my phone to see them all. Optimize is cool, because you can see all the pictures instantly, since the screen sized images are local, but you can quickly get the full sized original if you need to edit or print.

Files' iCloud Drive's Optimize can't do what Photos' Optimize does, since "screen sized" Word files, or whatever, just doesn't make sense.

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Answer 7

Jun 24, 2025 09:37 AM in response to Bleduc1

You should keep at least 10% of your storage free, so no more than 230 GB used. You have way, WAY more storage in apps than I do-- are you really sure you're using all those?

I have well over 100 GB of pictures but, because I use "Optimize Storage" on my iPhone they take up less than 10% of that, so Optimize is a good way to go.

Do simple things first, though. You may need increased storage just to delete large files.

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Answer 8

Jun 24, 2025 02:01 PM in response to Bleduc1

Bleduc1 wrote: … save the rest to iCloud Drive.

That's not a thing. Maybe you should see this:

Understanding iCloud Drive - Apple Community

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Answer 9

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 24, 2025 01:39 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

I agree. I am gonna go delete most of the files I no longer use any more, and save the rest to iCloud Drive. Then I’ll take a look at the Optimize Storage feature.

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Downloaded videos and images do not stay downloaded

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