Please explain icloud photo library to me like i'm an 8 year old, because i'm having trouble!?!

[theleescott]

one more thought, i take a photo, it syncs to icloud photo library, how to delete it from device without also deleting from icloud? there's no option???

 

[Nolander07]

one more thought, i take a photo, it syncs to icloud photo library, how to delete it from device without also deleting from icloud? there's no option???

You can't. It's all or nothing. I think the main point of IPL is for the convenience of taking a photo, editing it, placing it in an album, and it is the exact same on your other devices. Apple just didn't explain this well. I don't think it's meant to be a separate cloud storage service, but maybe I'm wrong.
Also, I think that once your phone, etc. starts running out of space it automatically starts "optimizing" photos to free up space. Again, I may be wrong though.

 

[McTagh]

I must be eight years old too, because your explanation of how it works was how I thought it was supposed to work, too!

 

[mark-d]

Quick question

If I enable iCloud photo library then my full res photos go to iCloud and my device retains optimised photos.

What if I want to email, IM etc a photo to someone from my device. Am I only able to email them the optimised copy?

 

[Tartarus]

Quick question

If I enable iCloud photo library then my full res photos go to iCloud and my device retains optimised photos.

What if I want to email, IM etc a photo to someone from my device. Am I only able to email them the optimised copy?

My understanding is that the full photo gets downloaded to your iPhone before editing, sharing or otherwise interacting with said photo.

 

[mark-d]

My understanding is that the full photo gets downloaded to your iPhone before editing, sharing or otherwise interacting with said photo.

Thank you. That would be ok.

I can see the benefit to saving space but I'd still like the opportunity to send full res photos.

Looks like it'll work for me then

 

[Ledsteplin]

one more thought, i take a photo, it syncs to icloud photo library, how to delete it from device without also deleting from icloud? there's no option???

iCloud is a back up option. It backs up what is currently on your device. It's not like Dropbox. So if something happens to your device, the photos are there in iCloud. If you want pure storage where you can delete the photos from the device, upload them to Box or Dropbox.