Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iCloud photo library, photostream - I'm still lost

noobinator

noobinator

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
7,419
7,135
Los Angeles, CA
I admit that after all this time I'm still baffled by iCloud photo library and photostream, what they do, what's stored where etc...

I only have a macbook and iphone and it is beyond confusing. I added tons of pics/vids on photos app on macbook and it duplicated the files to the photos app folder. Then they showed up on my iphone which is good i guess.

But then I turn off icloud photo library, delete the photos file in photos app, delete the physical photos on the macbook and iphone. but when I turn on photo library again my pics and vids are back and start uploading again.

No clue why it's duplicating, why it's coming back after i delete, why nothing syncs up, why deleting on one doesnt delete on other, why it takes up 25gb on my iphone despite optimize storage being on..

I'm over this mess. Anyone else think this whole photos project is implemented and designed horribly?
 
It seems to be working fine for me. When I turned on iCloud Photo Library I turned off PhotoStream. It seems it duplicates the same thing.

With just iPL when I take a photo on my phone it appears in photos on all my devices, phone, mac, and iPad. Then in Photos you can organize the photos in albums, events, or folders anyway you want.

Maybe I'm missing something but PhotoStream just wasn't necessary and created more work once I got started on iPL.
 
GlenK said:
It seems to be working fine for me. When I turned on iCloud Photo Library I turned off PhotoStream. It seems it duplicates the same thing.

With just iPL when I take a photo on my phone it appears in photos on all my devices, phone, mac, and iPad. Then in Photos you can organize the photos in albums, events, or folders anyway you want.

Maybe I'm missing something but PhotoStream just wasn't necessary and created more work once I got started on iPL.
Click to expand...

I'll try turning off PhotoStream and see what happens. I agree that it seems redundant.

I'm just confused why on my macbook I add the photos from a file on my desktop and click "optimize storage" and it adds it to the photos file (duplicates it).
 
noobinator said:
But then I turn off icloud photo library, delete the photos file in photos app, delete the physical photos on the macbook and iphone. but when I turn on photo library again my pics and vids are back and start uploading again.

No clue why it's duplicating, why it's coming back after i delete, why nothing syncs up, why deleting on one doesnt delete on other, why it takes up 25gb on my iphone despite optimize storage being on..

I'm over this mess. Anyone else think this whole photos project is implemented and designed horribly?
Click to expand...

So, you deleted the photos from your local machines after you turned off IPL? If that's what you did then it makes sense that they're still there since they're in the IPL and then get put back on all devices that are linked to that
 
mgroot said:
So, you deleted the photos from your local machines after you turned off IPL? If that's what you did then it makes sense that they're still there since they're in the IPL and then get put back on all devices that are linked to that
Click to expand...

I guess there question is how do I delete the files from IPL?
 
mgroot said:
I don't use IPL but I would assume deleting them from within photos whilst it is connected to IPL would do the trick or you could try via www.cloud.com ?
Click to expand...

I did delete them from "Photos" app on my MacBook and iPhone while i had IPL on. They eventually came back somehow. When I tried to add another photo it said uploading 8000 photos (the original amount).

On icloud.com i don't think I saw an option to delete but I'll mess around more tonight.
 
Last edited:
So last night I tried again.

Opened my Macbook Photos App and my iPhone Photos App. Both had Photostream on. Both had iCloud Photolibrary on.

1. Turned off photo stream on both
2. Deleted photos manually on iphone (said they would be deleted from all devices but they still showed on my Mac)
3. Deleted photos manually on MacBook (said they would be deleted from all devices)
4. Navigated to the file on my Macbook where it makes copies of the files and deleted the whole folder (created a new directory folder after this

At this point, there are no photos in my iPhone photos app or my Macbook Photos App.

5. Turned off iCloud Photo Library on both devices.
6. Restarted Macbook and iPhone
7. Turned back on IPL on macbook and it instantly said "Preparing 8,000 photos" despite them being deleted everywhere
8. Turned back on IPL on iPhone and it instantly said "Preparing 8,000 photos" as well

I don't get how these photos still exist if I deleted them and it said "WARNING WILL BE DELETED FROM ALL DEVICES" and I deleted the file on my Macbook. They are obviously still being stored in the cloud somewhere, I just can't figure out how to delete them.
 
From https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204570

Looks like they stay in your library for 30 days

How do I remove all iCloud Photo Library content from my iCloud account and devices?
You can turn off your iCloud Photo Library when you follow these steps:
In iOS, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage > iCloud Photo Library, then select Disable and Delete.
In OS X, go to System Preferences > iCloud > Manage > select Photo Library, then select Disable and delete.
Once you turn off your iCloud Photo Library, you'll have 30 days to download your library to at least one device. You can download your photos and videos when you turn on Keep Originals or select the items to download from iCloud.
Click to expand...
 
noobinator said:
I've already removed them from recently deleted on my iPhone but I'll try it on iCloud.com. I can't find a recently deleted folder on my MacBook.
Click to expand...

In Photos > File is a menu item 'Show Recently Deleted'
 
mgroot said:
In Photos > File is a menu item 'Show Recently Deleted'
Click to expand...

Ok so there is nothing there because I cleared the recently deleted in my iPhone Photos app.

However, when I log into iCloud.com, I still see 5,000+ photos and videos. There is a warning up top that says something like "Warning IPL has been disabled and your photos will be permanently deleted in 30 days".

I select all the photos and the only button I can click is restore. There delete button / trash can is grayed out. So it seems like there is no way to permanently delete these until my 30 days is up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back