[iMore Question]

I am trying to delete photos from my iphone but when I do, those photos are removed from my iCloud Photo Library as well. I was hoping that iCloud Photo Library would keep the photos so that I can free up space on my phone and but still have access to the photos via iCloud.

[warcraftWidow]

It doesn't seem to work that way.

[SwitchBeach]

Use an alternative service such as OneDrive.

[Originalloverman]

I too wished it worked that way, the only thing that worked for me was backing up your photo stream on your computer, I could access those photo on my computer even when I delete them from my phone. But I do fine I get some duplicates on phone. Man I miss my 32 gig

Posted via the iMore App for Android

[Chrisy]

The photo management on iPhone is confusing and redundant at times. I just learned that all photos are saved in Camera Roll. I had Photo Stream enabled and this contained duplicate of my photos.

It's strange that even when you create folders, and move photos from the Camera Roll to that new folder, the original stays I'm the Camera Roll and just makes a copy in the new folder. I would like the photo management to be more like BlackBerry. I don't need several copies of the same photo I. My phone.

I finally disabled Photo Stream because I don't have any other iOS devices which I need to sync with. This deleted the Photo Stream photo. So that's a start.

Them I made specific folders and moved photos into them, but I still have the original copy saved in the Camera Roll. I don't want that.

Now I read iOS 8 changed things up again! Argh. I would love a proper file manager similar to BlackBerry. C'mon Apple!

[Originalloverman]

The photo management on iPhone is confusing and redundant at times. I just learned that all photos are saved in Camera Roll. I had Photo Stream enabled and this contained duplicate of my photos.

It's strange that even when you create folders, and move photos from the Camera Roll to that new folder, the original stays I'm the Camera Roll and just makes a copy in the new folder. I would like the photo management to be more like BlackBerry. I don't need several copies of the same photo I. My phone.

I finally disabled Photo Stream because I don't have any other iOS devices which I need to sync with. This deleted the Photo Stream photo. So that's a start.

Them I made specific folders and moved photos into them, but I still have the original copy saved in the Camera Roll. I don't want that.

Now I read iOS 8 changed things up again! Argh. I would love a proper file manager similar to BlackBerry. C'mon Apple!

I agree with you completely

[mikeo007]

The photo management on iPhone is confusing and redundant at times. I just learned that all photos are saved in Camera Roll. I had Photo Stream enabled and this contained duplicate of my photos.

It's strange that even when you create folders, and move photos from the Camera Roll to that new folder, the original stays I'm the Camera Roll and just makes a copy in the new folder. I would like the photo management to be more like BlackBerry. I don't need several copies of the same photo I. My phone.

I finally disabled Photo Stream because I don't have any other iOS devices which I need to sync with. This deleted the Photo Stream photo. So that's a start.

Them I made specific folders and moved photos into them, but I still have the original copy saved in the Camera Roll. I don't want that.

Now I read iOS 8 changed things up again! Argh. I would love a proper file manager similar to BlackBerry. C'mon Apple!

So a couple of clarifications:

First, you're not actually creating folders, you are creating albums. When dealing with iOS Photos, you can't think in terms of old fashined files and folders.

Second, there are no "copies" of your photos. Your photo can appear in multiple albums on your phone, but there's still only one copy of the photo (it only takes up space on your phone once).

The only place on your phone that photos physically exist is the Camera Roll. Any other album that you see the photo in is merely a pointer to the original photo in the camera roll.

The only exception to this is the Photo Stream when you are using multiple iOS devices. which is it's own independant storage and cannot be placed in albums. Photostream is normally just an album like others, but when you have multiple devices there can also be pictures in photo stream (from your other device) that aren't in camera roll. These photos can't be put in albums though.

[qbnkelt]

So a couple of clarifications:

First, you're not actually creating folders, you are creating albums. When dealing with iOS Photos, you can't think in terms of old fashined files and folders.

Second, there are no "copies" of your photos. Your photo can appear in multiple albums on your phone, but there's still only one copy of the photo (it only takes up space on your phone once).

The only place on your phone that photos physically exist is the Camera Roll. Any other album that you see the photo in is merely a pointer to the original photo in the camera roll.

The only exception to this is the Photo Stream when you are using multiple iOS devices. which is it's own independant storage and cannot be placed in albums. Photostream is normally just an album like others, but when you have multiple devices there can also be pictures in photo stream (from your other device) that aren't in camera roll. These photos can't be put in albums though.

Great explanation!!!!!! I'd been trying to think of a way to think of it but you nailed it. Thank you.

[Chrisy]

Yes, I understand how it works. I don't find it to be an efficient method. I would to be able to name photos and move the original to a folder or album. Whatever you want to call it.

Just something that can be improved upon in my opinion. I don't necessarily want one original and also the copy on my phone. The Camera Roll gets excessively disorganized as a catch all. But that's just me. I like to label and organize and reduce clutter and redundancy.

[Ledsteplin]

I'm steering clear of iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Photo Stream. I'm using Box, Dropbox and OneDrive. Much easier and less hassle.


Sent from CrapaTalk on my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5.

[wbeard385]

I use shared folders myself. Easy to organize, photos stay synced between iPad and iPhone. The photos are easily accessible for sharing via email, text or whatever and it allows me to delete from camera roll and turn photo stream off :-p


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jason Luckett]

You can use "Image Capture" to delete photos from your iPhone's Camera Roll. Launch Image Capture from Spotlight, connect your phone, select all, then delete. This works for me by clearing the camera roll, but leaving photos already in the Photo Stream untouched on all devices, including the phone. Good luck!

[Abbyzahugmonster]

how do i do that?

[Abbyzahugmonster]

how do i back up my photo stream on my computer?

[lucius 1]

i have the same problem, i do not see the point of having 50 gigs of icloud memoery, while my phone only has 12. I can not delete files from the phone without deleting them from icloud. It just makes icloud a very pointless idiotic function...Idiocy in its pure form.

[Ledsteplin]

i have the same problem, i do not see the point of having 50 gigs of icloud memoery, while my phone only has 12. I can not delete files from the phone without deleting them from icloud. It just makes icloud a very pointless idiotic function...Idiocy in its pure form.

The extra iCloud storage is mainly if you have more than one device on the same iCloud account. And many have more than 12 gb. I store all my photos in Box and Dropbox. I have about 2.2 gb of my free iCloud storage space available.