Deleting files downloaded from iCloud from iPad without deleting them from iCloud
I am using iOS 9.0.2. I have several large video files on iCloud Drive. In order to view those files on my iPad or iPhone, I have to download the file to the device. Once I have finished viewing the video and try to delete the file from the device, I get a message saying that, if I delete the file from the device, it will also be deleted from iCloud Drive as well and will no longer be available to any of my devices. I cannot figure out a way to just delete the file locally on the device. These file take up a lot of storage space on the device. It seems that the whole idea behind cloud storage is that files don't have to reside on your device; but, if deleting them from the device removes them from iCloud as well, it makes iCloud pretty useless for video files. Dropbox does not seem to have this problem and begins playing videos almost instantaneously, apparently without being fully downloaded.
I contacted Apple Support; but they weren?t very helpful. It seemed to puzzle them as well. One tech had me hold for several minutes and finally came back to say that the files would eventually delete themselves if I didn?t view them after a while. After several weeks, this self-deletion is yet to happen. Regardless this seems to be a silly way to handle local device deletions. If I delete a video I bought from Apple from my iPad, it?s still available from Apple and can be viewed on other devices. But this doesn?t seem to be the case with videos I put onto iCloud Drive myself. This is even more discouraging because I?m paying Apple $10/month for a TB of cloud storage. It seems that iCloud Drive doesn?t have the flexibility of Dropbox.
Am I missing something? Is it possible to delete iCloud-stored files locally on the device without also deleting them from iCloud?
Thanks.
I am using iOS 9.0.2. I have several large video files on iCloud Drive. In order to view those files on my iPad or iPhone, I have to download the file to the device. Once I have finished viewing the video and try to delete the file from the device, I get a message saying that, if I delete the file from the device, it will also be deleted from iCloud Drive as well and will no longer be available to any of my devices. I cannot figure out a way to just delete the file locally on the device. These file take up a lot of storage space on the device. It seems that the whole idea behind cloud storage is that files don't have to reside on your device; but, if deleting them from the device removes them from iCloud as well, it makes iCloud pretty useless for video files. Dropbox does not seem to have this problem and begins playing videos almost instantaneously, apparently without being fully downloaded.
I contacted Apple Support; but they weren?t very helpful. It seemed to puzzle them as well. One tech had me hold for several minutes and finally came back to say that the files would eventually delete themselves if I didn?t view them after a while. After several weeks, this self-deletion is yet to happen. Regardless this seems to be a silly way to handle local device deletions. If I delete a video I bought from Apple from my iPad, it?s still available from Apple and can be viewed on other devices. But this doesn?t seem to be the case with videos I put onto iCloud Drive myself. This is even more discouraging because I?m paying Apple $10/month for a TB of cloud storage. It seems that iCloud Drive doesn?t have the flexibility of Dropbox.
Am I missing something? Is it possible to delete iCloud-stored files locally on the device without also deleting them from iCloud?
Thanks.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram