question about importing to mac to clear up iphone storage (specifically related to icloud backup)

Question

question about importing to mac to clear up iphone storage (specifically related to icloud backup)

hello, so here's my little dilemma:

went to a concert, and took a bunch of videos and photos, and it took up the rest of my iphone storage, so i decided to manually import all of it to my mac. i connected the usb-c cable, went to photos, clicked import, all of it. then, after that was done, i went to my iphone and deleted the videos and photos from the concert off of it so i could have my storage back. but then i thought: if i delete them, won't they delete off of my mac and icloud too, since they're all synced? so, i paused icloud syncing on my photos app on my laptop, then turned off sync to icloud for photos in mac settings, and so the imported media is just sittng in my mac, without the risk of being deleted because of the whole icloud backup thing.

but then, i thought, since i deleted it from my phone, and i turned off icloud syncing so my mac won't delete the photos and videos either, that means the "original" photos and videos are now taking up storage on my mac, and they aren't going anywhere, right? so wouldn't that mean that if i turn on icloud syncing again, it'll just upload my videos and photos to icloud, and i'll get the low-res copies on my iphone again? like, it'll assume it's new media on my mac and want to upload that to icloud and update my other devices, instead of knowing it's deleted footage from my iphone and wanting to delete it so it'll sync with my iphone. but honestly, i'm not sure if that's how that works.

so, my question is, am i okay to turn icloud syncing with photos back on again, or am i stuck with having that turned off on my mac now because it'll delete all my photos and videos that i manually imported from my iphone?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jul 27, 2025 11:34 PM

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Answer 1

muguy

Level 10

90,338 points

Jul 28, 2025 12:35 AM in response to _julialeandro

None of what you describe concerns an iCloud backup. Rather, you’re describing iCloud photo sync (not a backup). If sync is enabled on your devices, iCloud will keep everything in sync (new pictures, deleted pictures, albums, etc). If you disable sync it “breaks” the connection for that device. Later, if you reenable sync, everything in iCloud will sync again to the device. Items is a good idea to retain a backup of your photos and other important data as well using Time Machine (or similar) on your Mac at the very least.

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Answer 2

Jul 28, 2025 07:46 AM in response to _julialeandro

_julialeandro wrote:… took up the rest of my iphone storage,

This is very bad. If you have less than 10% of your iPhone storage left, then you really can't predict what will happen when you delete things, interrupt things, or whatever. Optimize Storage can't really work without space to work. You need to get rid of stuff. Look at apps and app data-- that can often be deleted even when the storage is limited. You may need to delete the apps' data, as well, since that's what uses the most storage.

i connected the usb-c cable, … won't they delete off of my mac and icloud too,

iCloud synchronization and USB transfer are incompatible. If you are connected to iCloud, Finder won't allow USB transfer. If you re-connect to iCloud, some pictures may be in danger of being deleted.

What do you see at iCloud.com? Are all your pictures in Photos at iCloud? This is important. I don't understand from what you said just what pictures are on the Mac; what are still on the iPhone; and what pictures are at iCloud.com. Is it 100% at each place?

How much free space (percent) do you have on your Mac? on your iPhone? at iCloud?

without the risk of being deleted because of the whole icloud backup thing.

As muguy said, iCloud Photos isn't a backup service.

So, get 10% free space on the iPhone first. Same with the Mac. Then tell us what you see at iCloud and on the Mac and on the phone.

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Answer 3

Jul 28, 2025 07:17 AM in response to muguy

i don't have time machine set up, and it won't let me, either.

would maybe moving those photos onto my desktop in its own folder work? so then i can turn on "save to icloud" for photos on my mac back on again?

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