iCloud Photo Library optimizing but still keeping/downloading files

[hattonna928]

I've had an issue with iCloud Photo Library since I enabled it on my iPhone 5S back in October. I chose to optimize my photos (1.8 GB at the time) and it did so, shrinking it down to about 200 MB. I noticed though, that the total used, did not match up with the individual app listings on my iPhone. When plugged into iTunes it still shows photos as 1.8 GB. I didn't necessarily need the storage so I assumed it was a bug that would be fixed.

Fast forward 2.5 months to today. I've added about 200 photos and a few videos to my library since first enabling iCloud Photo Library. Listed usage for photos in the so went up around 100 MB for recent pictures and fluctuates depending on how many older pictures I have viewed recently, as it should. Still, the total doesn't add up properly with the listed apps. When plugged into iTunes, the total for pictures is still 1.8 GB.

I received an iPad air 2 for Christmas. I naturally turned on iCloud Photo Library and chose to optimize photos. After downloading the optimized versions, photos listed under usage on the iPad shows around 600 MB. I have more storage available so it is optimizing them less on the iPad than my iPhone as it should. But again the total used I the iPad shows as around 2.4 GB more than the items listed below, seeMingly attributed to nothing. Upon plugging the iPad into iTunes, it shows that the photos are taking up 2.9 GB of storage!

It seems that once optimization is turned on, it does it correctly for new photos taken on the device they are taken on, while downloading as hidden files on any other devices. When I tap a photo on my iPad, it will still show the downloading circle, but the full library is somewhere on my device.

Is anyone else noticing this inconsistency? Any tips on ways that might fix it? (Note: I've tried logging out, turning iCloud Photo Library on and off, etc) I know it's still beta software and there were some issues with accessing photos from the iCloud website last week. Plus we are still waiting for photos for OS X, so maybe by then it will be fixed. But still, I could use the extra storage on my iPad that's being eaten up by this hidden photos.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[armandxp]

I had this exact problem with an iPhone 6 + 64GB. I restored from a backup when I got the phone, switched over from my photos being synced to using iCloud Photo Library beta. When I would look in iTunes, or on the phone, it always still showed around 2 GB of photos, even though I deleted all of them from the phone.

The only way I was able to solve this and get my iCloud storage back, was to restore the phone as new. I tried everything and couldn't get the storage back, researched for days, and finally said oh well, since iCloud does keep most of my important info. This was the first time I'd restored to new in a few years. Solved my problem, but there is a bug in there somewhere and no one online was able to help.

I don't plan on using iPhoto to sync any longer. Just waiting for the new Photos app and storing all 120GB of my photos in the cloud, as a third back up for me. Good luck!

 

[hattonna928]

I had this exact problem with an iPhone 6 + 64GB. I restored from a backup when I got the phone, switched over from my photos being synced to using iCloud Photo Library beta. When I would look in iTunes, or on the phone, it always still showed around 2 GB of photos, even though I deleted all of them from the phone.

The only way I was able to solve this and get my iCloud storage back, was to restore the phone as new. I tried everything and couldn't get the storage back, researched for days, and finally said oh well, since iCloud does keep most of my important info. This was the first time I'd restored to new in a few years. Solved my problem, but there is a bug in there somewhere and no one online was able to help.

I don't plan on using iPhoto to sync any longer. Just waiting for the new Photos app and storing all 120GB of my photos in the cloud, as a third back up for me. Good luck!

After restoring as new, did you turn iCloud photo library back on? Also, my iCloud storage is actually fine. It shows up accurately based on the items in my photo library as well as iCloud drive and my device backups. It's the actual device storage that's off by several gigabytes.