Photos and iCloud

[Simol]

I store about 50gbs of photos on the cloud. When i want to view photos on my phone, they are downloaded to my phone. I now have 4.5 gbs of photos on my phone that i would like to return to the Cloud. How do i do this?

 

[IWT]

It would help us a lot if you would be kind enough to tell us which boxes are checked on your iPhone when you go in to:

Settings > Photos

checked or not checked? - iCloud Photo Library?; My Photo Stream?; iCloud Photo Sharing?

Depending on your response, we can advise. BTW it is not a case of "returning photos to the cloud" so much as removing what you have downloaded.

Ian

 

[Simol]

Hi Ian. Everything is ‘On’ except upload bursts.

 

[IWT]

Simol

Sincere apologies. Somehow I missed your reply.

My wife had a similar problem when she inadvertently checked the iCloud Photo Library on her iPhone 7 and............. so many photos downloaded.

What I had to do was uncheck that setting. Don't be alarmed by the dire warning that the end of the universe is nigh if you do this.

Then the tedium really starts. After the unchecking, I had to manually remove all the photos.

Then, I discovered that I could have done this in a oner - always find out afterwards, eh!

Attach your iPhone via USB to your Mac - I'm presuming you have one - if not, it's the manual method.

Once attached, open Image Capture, found in Applications > Image Capture.

This will open a window, where on the left, you will see your iPhone. Click on this and all your photos will populate the screen to your right. Select all (Command + A), then "Delete". And they are removed from the iPhone.

BTW, if you have a Mac, it's best if you open the Photos app, go into its preferences > iCloud and check the iCloud Photo Library. This ensures that you have a copy of your entire library on the Mac as well as in the Cloud.

In fact, you might wish to copy your iPhone's pictures to the Mac if they're not already there, before the "uncheck and delete process" detailed above.

Ian

 

[Simol]

Thanks Ian. Will try this...and yes I do have a Mac.

 

[Simol]

Hi Ian,

I have 2892 pictures on the phone. The image capture process works and I set the delete in motion but there are so many photos it appears not to be deleting any! Any thoughts on speeding up the delete process?

 

[IWT]

Hi again, Simol.

I assume you selected all (Cmd + A).

If so, it's time that is your enemy. Of course, one must be reasonable. If your images are not deleted within a few hours, then there is a flaw in the process, somewhere.

You could start over and delete them in batches just to reassure yourself that they are deleting.

The fact that Image Capture recognises your iPhone and displays the almost 3000 pictures, testifies to the methodology being correct.

Keep us posted, please.

Ian

 

[Rod]

iMazing also does this task very well, not that I am suggesting purchasing a paid for app just for this process but I too recently deleted 450 photos from my wife's iPhone and iMazing was very fast.

 

[Simol]

Yep! The delete facility worked by leaving the phone and MacBook on over night! Had look at iMazing but didn't need it.
Many thanks for the support and guidance.

 

[IWT]

Hi Simol

That's great. Well done, and a pleasure to help.

Ian

 

[Rod]

Also if you leave My Photo Stream switched on I Photo settings all of your iPhone photos will appear in photos on your Mac so you can delete them with impunity on your phone. Although I always Chech that they are there before deleting.