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zowenso

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 2, 2011
276
16
MA
Hello. I finally set up my new 2020 27” iMac, I upgraded from a 2010 Mac mini. Big jump and feels scary lol. So, about 2 weeks ago I upgraded the iCloud storage on my iphone and added my photos to iCloud. During the set up on the new iMac you have to sign into icloud. When i opened the photos app all the photos from my iPhone were in there. That’s never happened on my Mac mini, but I only recently added photos to iCloud. Here are my questions....

1.) Did my photos end up in the new iMac iPhoto’s app because I added photos to iCloud storage on my iPhone?

2.) Is there a way to store photos into iCloud on my iPhone but not have all my photos end up in photos app on the iMac. I don’t want that to happen.

3. After the above issue, I went into ICloud settings on my iPhone and toggled photos OFF. Now that photos are OFF in iCloud, can I safely delete all the photos in the photos app on my new imac? I don’t want them
all in the photos app.

thanks.
 
1) Yes, because on the iMac, System Preferences, Apple ID, Photos is checked on to use iCloud.
2) Uncheck Photos in iMac System Preferences, Apple ID, Apps on this Mac using iCloud. Do not delete photos on your iMac before unchecking this first, else it will delete them from all devices using iCloud.
3) I think toggling photos to OFF in your iPhone is incorrect, if you want to have your photos in your phone stored in iCloud. You need to be careful of inadvertently deleting all your photos. Do not ignore any warning messages about deleting your photos!

Also be careful about repeatedly toggling iCloud on iPhone and iMac in rapid succession. It can get confused having partially uploaded photos. I know, because I did this and had to restore my phone from backup. Just toggle them one way, and let it do its thing for a day before you start toggling again, and toggle only one device at a time.

btw, I would not be afraid of having your photos all on iCloud and also on iPhone and on iMac. It is very convenient to do so, and you can view/edit/delete your photos on the large iMac screen. I highly recommend it, as it utilizes one of the big advantages of using iCloud. Also, if you check on "Optimize Mac Storage" it will only store on iMac if space is available. It is quite smart about keeping everything coordinated
 
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1) Yes, because on the iMac, System Preferences, Apple ID, Photos is checked on to use iCloud.
2) Uncheck Photos in iMac System Preferences, Apple ID, Apps on this Mac using iCloud. Do not delete photos on your iMac before unchecking this first, else it will delete them from all devices using iCloud.
3) I think toggling photos to OFF in your iPhone is incorrect, if you want to have your photos in your phone stored in iCloud. You need to be careful of inadvertently deleting all your photos. Do not ignore any warning messages about deleting your photos!

Also be careful about repeatedly toggling iCloud on iPhone and iMac in rapid succession. It can get confused having partially uploaded photos. I know, because I did this and had to restore my phone from backup. Just toggle them one way, and let it do its thing for a day before you start toggling again, and toggle only one device at a time.

btw, I would not be afraid of having your photos all on iCloud and also on iPhone and on iMac. It is very convenient to do so, and you can view/edit/delete your photos on the large iMac screen. I highly recommend it, as it utilizes one of the big advantages of using iCloud. Also, if you check on "Optimize Mac Storage" it will only store on iMac if space is available. It is quite smart about keeping everything coordinated
Thanks for the help and time. Yeah I got myself into a bit of a foreign area here. I’ve never dealt with iCloud and a few weeks ago I was suddenly inclined to pay for the extra storage and back up photos. I didn’t know it would end up putting them in the new iMac photos app because this never happened on my old Mac mini. I just checked the settings on the Mac mini and the iCloud isn’t checked in photo settings. That’s why I’ve never dealt with this. I thought I could just back up my photos from my phone in case I got a new phone and I wouldn’t lose them. I didn’t know they’d end up on the iMac too. Very new to the iCloud world. At the moment I’m sorry I ever decided to do it lol Thanks for your time.
 
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Thanks for the help and time. Yeah I got myself into a bit of a foreign area here. I’ve never dealt with iCloud and a few weeks ago I was suddenly inclined to pay for the extra storage and back up photos. I didn’t know it would end up putting them in the new iMac photos app because this never happened on my old Mac mini. I just checked the settings on the Mac mini and the iCloud isn’t checked in photo settings. That’s why I’ve never dealt with this. I thought I could just back up my photos from my phone in case I got a new phone and I wouldn’t lose them. I didn’t know they’d end up on the iMac too. Very new to the iCloud world. At the moment I’m sorry I ever decided to do it lol Thanks for your time.
Remember with a new iMac you have 90 days setup support from Apple. Good questions to ask them, and get more reliable answers than from random people such as me on an internet forum. :)
 
Remember with a new iMac you have 90 days setup support from Apple. Good questions to ask them, and get more reliable answers than from random people such as me on an internet forum. :)
Ha, yeah but you random people can be very helpful too:) I also got Apple care +.

Can I ask you this? If I was to turn off photo in the iCloud on my phone and turned off iCloud on the photos app on my new iMac, do you think that I will be able to safely delete the photos that got added to the photos app on the iMac? I’d like to think if iCloud photos is off on my iPhone and IMac, that I’d be safe, but I really don’t know. Thanks again.
 
Ha, yeah but you random people can be very helpful too:) I also got Apple care +.

Can I ask you this? If I was to turn off photo in the iCloud on my phone and turned off iCloud on the photos app on my new iMac, do you think that I will be able to safely delete the photos that got added to the photos app on the iMac? I’d like to think if iCloud photos is off on my iPhone and IMac, that I’d be safe, but I really don’t know. Thanks again.
I believe so, because turning off iCloud for the photos app on the iMac disconnects it from iCloud.
I am not an expert in this, this is just my understanding of how it works.
 
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iCloud is very convenient for syncing, but never rely on it for permanent storage. You should have a copy of all your photos stored safely somewhere else.
 
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Oh I do. I’m very good about taking photos off my iPhone and storing them.

Can I ask you, if I turned off ICloud on the photos app on my iMac, do you think I can delete them from the Mac without them also getting deleted from my iphone? I still have ICloud on for photos on my iPhone FYI, but I turned iCloud off on the photos app on the iMac. I want to delete the photos from the iMac.
 
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