Delete photos from iPhone, keep on iPad?

rainbowcat

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I know how to transfer photos, but I want to actually delete them from my 16G iPhone6, but keep the photos on my iPad and Mac. Short of buying a lightning/USB flashdrive, is there a way to do this? Next iPhone I buy will be 128G for sure...
 
badshoehabit

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How are you sharing your photos with the other devices - iCloud or PhotoStream? If you have PS switched on, photos sync to other devices when uploaded to your Mac. I don't use iCloud for photos but can advise if you sync with PhotoStream (PS).

With PS your images will be retained in Photos on the Mac and and stay there unless you decide to delete. They will be stored in PS on your iPad. You can select any or all within PS on your iPad and add to any album (or create a new album) on the device. They will be stored in that album until you delete them manually.

iCloud works differently and if you remove any photo from any device, it will be deleted from all. I'm sure someone will be able to tell you a workaround.
 
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rainbowcat

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badshoehabit said:
How are you sharing your photos with the other devices - iCloud or PhotoStream? If you have PS switched on, photos sync to other devices when uploaded to your Mac. I don't use iCloud for photos but can advise if you sync with PhotoStream (PS).

With PS your images will be retained in Photos on the Mac and and stay there unless you decide to delete. They will be stored in PS on your iPad. You can select any or all within PS on your iPad and add to any album (or create a new album) on the device. They will be stored in that album until you delete them manually.

iCloud works differently and if you remove any photo from any device, it will be deleted from all. I'm sure someone will be able to tell you a workaround.
Click to expand...

Thank you badshoehabit!

I don't use iCloud. When I delete photos from my PhotoStream there is no choice. All I see is "this photo will be deleted from PhotoStream on all your devices". The photo will stay in the album on my iPhone, but if I try to delete the photo from Camera Roll, it deletes it from the albums I have it in, even if the album is on my iPad or iMac. I seem to be stuck with having 7gigs of photos on my Camera Roll, which doesn't free up any space.
 
chscag

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Turn off Photostream, offload your Camera Roll photos to your Mac via Image Capture and store them separately from the Photos library. After that, you can turn Photostream back on if you wish to maintain sync with your iPad and Mac for any new photos you take.
 
badshoehabit

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rainbowcat said:
Thank you badshoehabit!

I don't use iCloud. When I delete photos from my PhotoStream there is no choice. All I see is "this photo will be deleted from PhotoStream on all your devices". The photo will stay in the album on my iPhone, but if I try to delete the photo from Camera Roll, it deletes it from the albums I have it in, even if the album is on my iPad or iMac. I seem to be stuck with having 7gigs of photos on my Camera Roll, which doesn't free up any space.
Click to expand...

I've never experienced what you describe about Camera Roll. However, to save photos from Photo Stream on your iPad,
Open Photo Stream
Tap Select (top right)
Choose Select All or Use your fingertip to choose images you want to save - a smooth scroll across and diagonally down will select dozens in seconds
Tap Add to
Choose album or create a new one

Your photos are then preserved on the iPad and you can delete from your phone.

IMG_2179.jpg
IMG_2180.jpg
 
Last edited:
Rod

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Great answer Sue, this subject confuses so many people.
 
badshoehabit

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Thanks. Added pix since you commented: see the story of my life - cats, dogs, food!
 
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rainbowcat

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Thank you all! I must be doing something odd, because even though I create and save albums, whenever I try to delete a photo from Camera Roll on my iPhone, it informs me that it's going to delete the photo from everywhere. Am ordering a 64 gig iPhone flashdrive, so at least I have back up when the iPhone threatens me with total deletes!
 
badshoehabit

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Checked on my iPad and don't get that message. If I delete from Photo Stream it says will delete from Photo Stream on all devices. But Photo Stream is temporary and the master library is on my MBP.
 
ferrarr

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Photo Stream and Camera Roll, are different things. You can delete from Photo Stream, they will still be in a separate location.
 

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