Can’t activate iCloud Photos

Question

Level 1

4 points

Can’t activate iCloud Photos

Hello everyone! I have the iPhone 14 256gb. I’ve recently bought a subscription for iCloud 50gb. I have about 200gb photos and videos saved on my iPhone and I wanted to buy the iCloud, so that I can free some storage. But when I try to activate the synchronisation, the pop-up appears and it says that I need to increase the iCloud storage because I don’t have enough free space on my iCloud for all of my photos and it won’t let me turn it on. What can I do to save at least these 50gb of photos to iCloud and leave the other part on my phone?

Posted on Nov 29, 2025 10:38 AM

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Answer 1

muguy

Level 10

91,148 points

Nov 29, 2025 11:28 AM in response to xwtbix

That's not how iCloud works. It is not extra device storage and does not offload only a portion of your device content. iCloud is primarily a. synchronization service.

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Answer 2

xwtbix Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 29, 2025 11:13 AM in response to muguy

I just wanted to sync only 50gb of photos and leave the 150gb on my phone. That’s weird that I can fill up the iCloud with info and then keep the new photos on my phone without buying bigger storage, but at the same time can’t save the part of my photos to iCloud when there’s more of them on my phone.

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Answer 3

muguy

Level 10

91,148 points

Nov 29, 2025 10:58 AM in response to xwtbix

You can only sync what you have space for. If you wish to sync 50GB, you’ll first need to delete photo storage above that. You can’t put 200GB into 50 any more than you can put 2L into 1

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Answer 4

Katana-San

Level 10

80,821 points

Nov 29, 2025 11:05 AM in response to xwtbix

Hello~ I addition to *muguy’s* information…click on below and review…

What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage? - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

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