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How to delete iCloud Photo Library pictures from the device?
- Thread starter lancastor
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When viewing a video from the iCloud Library the video is always streamed from the cloud. But there is a "Download" button in the right upper corner.
When viewing a photo from the iCloud Library the photo is automatically downloaded to your device.
But there is (currently?!) no option to remove this local stored vidoes/movies. Right?
When viewing a photo from the iCloud Library the photo is automatically downloaded to your device.
But there is (currently?!) no option to remove this local stored vidoes/movies. Right?
That doesn't seem to be the case. I've been playing around with the iCloud Photo Library feature on my phone and ipad as well as my wife's phone and ipad. As near as I can tell, the photos that were originally on each device still remain on that device even after iCloud Photo Library is enabled. The photos are synced to the cloud and the photos that were on our phones are now visable on our ipads, but looking at the usage statistics, photos are still taking up the same amount of space on each device as they were before enabling iPL.
I've debated removing photos from the backup, then backing up and restoring a device to see if that works, but I haven't bothered yet. Theoretically that should leave the device with no photos stored locally (except the ones you download from the iPL). I'm assuming that at some point in a future beta they'll give us controls to remove older photos, or maybe give us the option to set a cache size to keep the most recent 1G of photos on the device or something like that. Or maybe a future beta will just do it all automatically, but it certainly seems like at this point the ability to remove locally stored photos isn't an option.
On a side note, it looks like photos that are deleted from the iPL aren't actually deleted from the device right now. It occurred to me that as I was playing with a very new beta feature that it might be a good idea to make a local copy of all of our photos just in case something got really screwed up. So I connected my phone to my computer and imported all of the photos on it. I was surprised to notice that it imported a number of photos that I had deleted from the iPL (and also cleared out of the recently deleted album). These photos aren't at all visible at all on the phone, yet they are still able to be imported to a computer.
I've debated removing photos from the backup, then backing up and restoring a device to see if that works, but I haven't bothered yet. Theoretically that should leave the device with no photos stored locally (except the ones you download from the iPL). I'm assuming that at some point in a future beta they'll give us controls to remove older photos, or maybe give us the option to set a cache size to keep the most recent 1G of photos on the device or something like that. Or maybe a future beta will just do it all automatically, but it certainly seems like at this point the ability to remove locally stored photos isn't an option.
On a side note, it looks like photos that are deleted from the iPL aren't actually deleted from the device right now. It occurred to me that as I was playing with a very new beta feature that it might be a good idea to make a local copy of all of our photos just in case something got really screwed up. So I connected my phone to my computer and imported all of the photos on it. I was surprised to notice that it imported a number of photos that I had deleted from the iPL (and also cleared out of the recently deleted album). These photos aren't at all visible at all on the phone, yet they are still able to be imported to a computer.
To be honest, it sounds like a complicated mess. How on earth are 'normal' consumers going to figure this out if even the MR-nerds aren't sure?
It's only beta 1 so hopefully Apple will move iPL from complicated mess to easy-to-use and understand.
I noticed the pictures not being actully deleted also. This is probably one of the major bugs for me as I already reported to Apple
To delete all Photos in the device is simple...
1) In iOS device, Go to: Settings -> iCloud -> Photos
2) turn off all options of iCloud Photos Library.
3) Then, only the photos in your device will be there. Select all and delete.
4) Turn on Photos iCloud Photo Library options again, choosing "optimize storage".
5) Now All Photos will be there in the minimum size possible (less resolution).
To keep photos in the maximum resolution on the device, select the photos you want of albums and select "copy" (to device). If iCloud Photo Library is enabled in the device, only the photos copied (device library) can be imported into iPhoto Library or Photos OS X app. The last photos taken on the device can be imported as well.
1) In iOS device, Go to: Settings -> iCloud -> Photos
2) turn off all options of iCloud Photos Library.
3) Then, only the photos in your device will be there. Select all and delete.
4) Turn on Photos iCloud Photo Library options again, choosing "optimize storage".
5) Now All Photos will be there in the minimum size possible (less resolution).
To keep photos in the maximum resolution on the device, select the photos you want of albums and select "copy" (to device). If iCloud Photo Library is enabled in the device, only the photos copied (device library) can be imported into iPhoto Library or Photos OS X app. The last photos taken on the device can be imported as well.