Deactivate iCloud

[Confuzzeled23]

Hi Everyone,

My aunt and her husband have moved away from the Apple Ecosystem. They now have android phones and do not require an iCloud subscription. So they have just the free account right now. However, when they had iPhones she had her iCloud Photo Library turned on. I am on her macbook and trying to turn off the photo iCloud Library. However, it is warning me that low-res photos will be deleted. Although she always had "download originals to this Mac" enabled. Do I have to upgrade her storage in order to turn off iCloud and ensure she keeps all her photos locally on her macbook?

**I'm posting here because every solution I have found assumed "optimize Mac storage" was enabled. This is not true in her case.

 

[nouveau_redneck]

There is definitely a point of caution here. What would concern me is that updates to iCloud photos are paused due to being out of space. Unless you are prepared to review the photos directly within you "Photos Library.photoslibrary" file on the mac to determine what versions and quantity of files you have as masters, it would be safer to temporarily increase iCloud space until all syncing is complete.

You can look at the individual photos from within finder here (if they are in the default location): /Users/<username>/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibary. Right click on the archive and chose "Show Package Contents", and then review the files in the Masters folder. This would be a lot of work and potentially prone to errors if you are not confident.

Honestly, the best thing would be to:
a) increase space
b) complete the sync,
c) backup the Photos folder
d) then proceed with removal of iCloud Photos library and iCloud services.

Are there photos on an iPhone or elsewhere that have not fully synced?

 

[Confuzzeled23]

As far as I know she sold her iPhone. So what she has is on her photos app on her MacBook. I just find it unfortunate that she will have to pay to turn off iCloud. Just seems counterintuitive.

 

[Fishrrman]

One more reason why I have never used iCloud and never will...