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Can you shed any light on why I have iCloud sync on but my iPad is only showing 7gb storage of photos, but my phone has 30gb? I’m not complaining, the iPad is only 64gb, just not sure why it’s doing it that way
Absolutely no idea there. Mine is showing the same on all devices.
 
Can you shed any light on why I have iCloud sync on but my iPad is only showing 7gb storage of photos, but my phone has 30gb? I’m not complaining, the iPad is only 64gb, just not sure why it’s doing it that way
It takes time to optimize the storage, to expedite you can turn off the "Sync this iPhone" option in Photos tab in iCloud on your iPhone, wait few moments and then turn it on again. You can also turn on the "Optimize iPhone Storage" option in Photos tap in iCloud to keep the iPhone photo storage optimized to low 7GB.
I have around 220GB of Photos+videos in iCloud but iPhone/iPad local photo storage is always around 7GB.
 
It takes time to optimize the storage, to expedite you can turn off the "Sync this iPhone" option in Photos tab in iCloud on your iPhone, wait few moments and then turn it on again. You can also turn on the "Optimize iPhone Storage" option in Photos tap in iCloud to keep the iPhone photo storage optimized to low 7GB.
I have around 220GB of Photos+videos in iCloud but iPhone/iPad local photo storage is always around 7GB.
The optimised storage was already on, I didn't activate it today, that's why I'm confused mainly.
 
The optimised storage was already on, I didn't activate it today, that's why I'm confused mainly.
"Optimise Storage" will only act when space is required.
Basically, turn it on and stop thinking about it. Your phone will not run out of space.

From the Apple website: "With Optimise Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos will be kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions will be stored in iCloud. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud, you can store as many photos and videos as you want."

I don't see any basis for the 7GB comment. Your phone will free up space as and when it needs it. If it currently uses 30GB is because it can (i.e. you have enough space).
 
"Optimise Storage" will only act when space is required.
Basically, turn it on and stop thinking about it. Your phone will not run out of space.

From the Apple website: "With Optimise Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos will be kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions will be stored in iCloud. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud, you can store as many photos and videos as you want."

I don't see any basis for the 7GB comment. Your phone will free up space as and when it needs it. If it currently uses 30GB is because it can (i.e. you have enough space).
Thanks for clarifying. Although, my iPad also has space - over 20gb remaining, so why is it only using 7gb?

I'm not worried about device space, I have over 100gb remaining on my phone. It's more that I don't want to be perpetually upgrading iCloud storage just for photos. Although I've solved that now, I've exported albums to keep offline on my Mac.

Still, it's confusing me that my iCloud storage hasn't reduced as a result - it's freed up 15gb from my Mac, shouldn't it be similarly reflected in iCloud because deleting from Photos on one device removes them from the cloud?
 
I pay for 200gb of iCloud storage and 50gb of that is being used by photos. 30gb of my phone storage is also photos.

I’m sure there are some I could delete but realistically I want to keep most of them, and the problem is only going to get worse as the quality of photos continues to improve.

I don’t really need them all on my phone, but ideally my Mac would continue to have everything in Photos.

I’m aware that iCloud sync is all or nothing, which is great but also a complication.

What’s the best way to reduce the amount of space photos take up on my phone and cloud storage, but continue to be able to see the photos on my iMac (and preferably within the Photos app on that machine, included in the Time Machine backups)?
30GB? For photos? rookie I have very close to 100GB
 
30GB? For photos? rookie I have very close to 100GB

I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Lol jk I find humor in having it all, really.

I too am looking for a better way, going to make my own nas at some point so I can have a copy of a copy (and copy that to some HDs put in a lock box)

If there’s one thing that means anything to me, it’s the memories I have in my photos.

Photos library system in general has its pros and cons, and so I have the OGs in sub folders on disks.
 

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I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Lol jk I find humor in having it all, really.

I too am looking for a better way, going to make my own nas at some point so I can have a copy of a copy (and copy that to some HDs put in a lock box)

If there’s one thing that means anything to me, it’s the memories I have in my photos.

Photos library system in general has its pros and cons, and so I have the OGs in sub folders on disks.
If you're running a Time Machine then your Photos library is backed up, so you have a physical backup plus iCloud.

My question isn't so much a good way of storing photos, more about how to balance the space as the better cameras mean they take up more space and I don't want to be perpetually upgrading iCloud to hold them
 
I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Lol jk I find humor in having it all, really.

I too am looking for a better way, going to make my own nas at some point so I can have a copy of a copy (and copy that to some HDs put in a lock box)

If there’s one thing that means anything to me, it’s the memories I have in my photos.

Photos library system in general has its pros and cons, and so I have the OGs in sub folders on disks.
Nice collection. How are you able to obtain 4TB of iCloud? I thought the maximum Apple offers is 2TB of iCloud.
 
I got Apple One family with the 2TB of storage.

No way I’m losing the photos of my wife and kids! Small price to pay. Otherwise, I think Onedrive is cheaper, and Google is probably cheap.

My BIGGEST problem os that I take lots of photos, but never delete the bad ones, or the ones I don’t like. I do for the photos taken with my ricoh GR-3, but not iPhone photos. I have years of garbage backed up on the cloud. 🤷🏻‍♂️
I hear ya. I actually stuck by one of my new year’s resolutions this year: clean up our shared photo library in OneDrive. The iOS app has a great “On This Day” feature, so I just set a daily reminder on my phone to look at those files each day. It has been wonderful to relive some memories. I started Jan 1 with over 600GB, now we’re down to 164GB. (I learned how much more massive 4k videos are compared to 1080p, and we’ve since switched back to FHD!)

Now that Photos has launched Shared Library we’re moving off OneDrive to Photos. This thread has been really helpful, as I know my wife will still want a backup somehow. 🍻
 
Thanks for clarifying. Although, my iPad also has space - over 20gb remaining, so why is it only using 7gb?

I'm not worried about device space, I have over 100gb remaining on my phone. It's more that I don't want to be perpetually upgrading iCloud storage just for photos. Although I've solved that now, I've exported albums to keep offline on my Mac.

Still, it's confusing me that my iCloud storage hasn't reduced as a result - it's freed up 15gb from my Mac, shouldn't it be similarly reflected in iCloud because deleting from Photos on one device removes them from the cloud?

Yes it should, but in the meantime it will have placed the files in the ‘Recently Deleted’ Folder.

From the Apple website: “You can recover photos and videos that you delete from your Recently Deleted album for 30 days. If you want to remove content from your Recently Deleted album sooner, tap Select, then select the items you want to remove. Tap Delete > Delete. If you exceed your iCloud storage limit, your device immediately removes any photos and videos you delete and they won't be available for recovery in your Recently Deleted album.”
 
I pay for 200gb of iCloud storage and 50gb of that is being used by photos. 30gb of my phone storage is also photos.

I’m sure there are some I could delete but realistically I want to keep most of them, and the problem is only going to get worse as the quality of photos continues to improve.

I don’t really need them all on my phone, but ideally my Mac would continue to have everything in Photos.

I’m aware that iCloud sync is all or nothing, which is great but also a complication.

What’s the best way to reduce the amount of space photos take up on my phone and cloud storage, but continue to be able to see the photos on my iMac (and preferably within the Photos app on that machine, included in the Time Machine backups)?
iCloud Photo Library is by far the best way. Can't think of a single legitimate argument against it.
- All original photos are stored in iCloud.
- Each of your devices has access to all of the photos as if they were stored locally.
- Local storage on the device is only used when needed, for recently accessed photos. The rest is just tiny thumbnails.

Any and every other solution is worse in some way. No other solution is entirely native to the Photos app, requires zero management or oversight to ensure things are backed up, and intelligently manages device/cloud storage usage.
 
I have a 2TB iCloud account with 33,000 photos and videos. They also get saved on an external SSD off my iMac.

Sure iCloud isn’t the cheapest but I trust Apple and it’s handy to access photos immediately on any device.
 
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I have a 2TB iCloud account with 33,000 photos and videos. They also get saved on an external SSD off my iMac.

Sure iCloud isn’t the cheapest but I trust Apple and it’s handy to access photos immediately on any device.
Convenience is the thing for me.

I take photos on my Nikon Z50, zap it straight to my phone when I'm out with SnapBridge. These go straight into iCloud and onto the iPad and Mac. I can share them with people instantly when I'm out too.
 
Thanks for clarifying. Although, my iPad also has space - over 20gb remaining, so why is it only using 7gb?

I'm not worried about device space, I have over 100gb remaining on my phone. It's more that I don't want to be perpetually upgrading iCloud storage just for photos. Although I've solved that now, I've exported albums to keep offline on my Mac.

Still, it's confusing me that my iCloud storage hasn't reduced as a result - it's freed up 15gb from my Mac, shouldn't it be similarly reflected in iCloud because deleting from Photos on one device removes them from the cloud?
Just guessing… if most photos make it into your photos app and photos in iCloud storage via the phone (by taking pictures), the ipad isn’t just going to download photos until it runs out of space. I am just guessing here, but it won’t download a photo unless it “needs to” like when you go to edit it, then it will stick around and won’t be reduced to just storing the reduced version of the photo until it does run out of space. That, and, I can’t believe I’m typing this, but 20gb isn’t all that much when movies take 1-2gb each, etc.
 
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I don't use Photos to sort or browse my photos, as I'm not a fan of Apple's proprietary file renaming for the Photos database. I also don't use any cloud-based service, since who knows whether they will be forever safe from hacks, whether the service will close its doors, whether it will raise its rates to a ridiculous level, etc.

So my storage is based on local drives. I back up to multiple hard drives/SSDs. I even regularly swap drives with another photographer friend, so we each hold a recently backed up drive from the other, with their archives, should there be a fire/flood/etc.
 
I personally use google photos as I recently shifted from android space but I think you can opt for iCloud as well. Problem with apple service is that they dont have too many options when it comes to choosing how much GB space is required, there are less hardstops as compared to google.
 
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2TB iCloud subscription. With a full backup of 50,000 photos/videos on a 1TB Sandisk Extreme SSD ENCRYPTED in APFS. Formatted / passcoded the drive using macOS and now my iPad Pro can be attached via usb-c as needed to add/remove media.

Unencrypted access/transfer of photos : I use a German iOS/iPadOS/macOS app named Photosync (fantastic app), moves all metadata/albums/etc. FAST

Culling photos: iPadOS app named Gemini. I didn’t like using Gemini on my MacBook, though, it was awkward. iPad app works great. <necessity> (make time to clean)

goodluck. 🙏
 

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