WTF is going on with iCloud Photo Library?!

[hewhore]

Two questions as an iCloud Photo Library user:

Are photos and videos that I delete from my iOS devices kept anywhere permanently on my iMac? (There is no built-in 'Recently Deleted' album in OSX Photos)

If I wanted to make space on my 16GB iPhone or iPad by deleting photos and videos, would I be able to restore them from my iMac, even after the 30 day delete period of iCloud Photo Library?

I have pretty much completely run out of space on my iPhone, even with 'Optimize Storage' turned on. In theory this should reduce the on-board storage enough on the device to free up enough space to be able to use it to do other things, but even with iCloud PL enabled, the Photos app on my iPhone and iPad is still using 3.8GB and 3.7GB of storage respectively.

 

[mpfuchs]

There is a "Recently Deleted" Folder on the Mac as well, but you have to go through the settings.
I think it's in "Windows" through the File menu. (Sorry, I'm not on a Mac right now)

Once you delete your pictures from iCloud Photo Library, and also delete them in the recently deleted album, they are gone.

As far as the optimizing storage option goes, I haven't tried it myself, but if you logged out of iCloud and back in, it might work, since all you content (photos and videos) get deleted first, and then will be added through iCloud Photo Library. At that point it should load only thumbnails instead of the full pictures, therefore using less space.

Again, I'm just speculating here, as I haven't tried it myself.

Here is what I do:
I use the Photo Stream feature in iPhoto or Aperture on the Mac to sync ALL my pictures to my Mac. That way I will have a backup of all my pictures.
I use iCloud Photo Library to keep a "best off library" if you will, that syncs in Photos between my Mac and iOS devices.
That way my iCloud Photo Library stays small for syncing and payed storage reasons, and I still have a backup of all my photos.

 

[hewhore]

There is a "Recently Deleted" Folder on the Mac as well, but you have to go through the settings.

But if, when you delete a photo that has been stored on iCloud Photo Library, the image is deleted on ALL devices, how do you maintain a 'best of' album?
Something I realised just after I wrote my first post was that there is no way to choose which part of your photo library to download, in the same way that you can download selected songs, albums or playlists if you are an iTunes Match subscriber. That kind of seems obvious now, but as the owner of a 16Gb iPhone 5S who has no intention of upgrading to a higher capacity phone, at least until the next iPhone is released, I wish I had known that before I paid for the sub.
The fact is, I have a relatively small iPhoto Library (42GB) which I assumed I was going to be able to take with me everywhere once I had subscribed to iCloud PL, but even this 'small' library needs around 6GB of space on my iOS devices, and even with the bare minimum of apps installed, this still leaves me without enougn space to do ahat I want with them.

 

[Razeus]

Like with everything Apple, it's all or nothing.

I unsubscribed after two weeks. Mainly because you can see the photos on the device yet 3rd party apps can't grab them. You have to go into the Photos app, tap to view it, let it download, then go back to the 3rd party app for it to be seen. And if it's an old photo, you're scrolling forever because it's in a timeline view. My work around for that was to favorite it and go to the favorites album in the 3rd party app and find it there.

Again, Apple seems to build software in the dark. They don't think of how people use their apps and what data other apps may need access to, as if Apple thinks that people will just use and only use Photos for storing, processing, and sharing.

It's absurd really. Please Google Photos completely obliterated Apple Photos. Apple Photos makes me do all the work. Why am I having to sit there and click "continue" in Faces only to see at the end of it, I added 700 faces and only 100 automatic? Just another example how Apple is so far behind Google.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Like with everything Apple, it's all or nothing.

I unsubscribed after two weeks. Mainly because you can see the photos on the device yet 3rd party apps can't grab them. You have to go into the Photos app, tap to view it, let it download, then go back to the 3rd party app for it to be seen. And if it's an old photo, you're scrolling forever because it's in a timeline view. My work around for that was to favorite it and go to the favorites album in the 3rd party app and find it there.

Again, Apple seems to build software in the dark. They don't think of how people use their apps and what data other apps may need access to, as if Apple thinks that people will just use and only use Photos for storing, processing, and sharing.

It's absurd really. Please Google Photos completely obliterated Apple Photos. Apple Photos makes me do all the work. Why am I having to sit there and click "continue" in Faces only to see at the end of it, I added 700 faces and only 100 automatic? Just another example how Apple is so far behind Google.

I agree - I've been trying really hard to be onboard with iCloud Photo Library, but I think I may just dump it.

It's introduced so much irritation and annoyance into things and I find myself thinking..."Why am I paying for (storage) and using this if I don't love it"?

 

[Razeus]

Yep. Why pay a premium then make me do all the work. And then the photos can't be used by 3rd party apps unless I do some more tapping, tapping, tapping just to get it to show up. The epiphany came when I was clicking away on Faces and I did 90% of them, while Apple only handled 10%. Google did everything automatically, created albums, made "stories", and some cool gifs (if you're into that). Selecting photos is wayyyyy easier in Google Photos than Apple Photos that makes you tap, tap, tap until you're silly in the head.

 

[mpfuchs]

But if, when you delete a photo that has been stored on iCloud Photo Library, the image is deleted on ALL devices, how do you maintain a 'best of' album?

It's basically two separate Libraries for me. One that syncs and saves all my Photos on my Mac, through PhotoStream.
And the other uses iCloud Photo Library on my iDevices and Photos on the Mac. This way I won't have access to my full Library when using my iPhone. But I'm only using around 10GB on my Phone (that's without optimization turned on). Versus the 110GB library I have in Aperture.

If your Photos Library is 42GB, then I can see that the optimized version still uses 6GB on your phone.
Looks like you are already paying for the 200GB iCloud data plan, so I understand the frustration the small internal storage of the iPhone gives you.

Not truing to piss anybody off here, but just because there is a new service around, doesn't mean you have to jump on it.
What I'm trying to say is, that if you don't use iCloud Photo Library, you can still use the Photo Stream option, with all its features and limitations, as before. It still syncs up with iPhoto and Aperture in the same way it did since it's introduction. And you can even use both iCloud Photo Library and PhotoStream in parallel, as mentioned above.

And nobody is forced to use iCloud Photo Library over Google Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, Flickr,... the list goes on.

 

[turbineseaplane]

And nobody is forced to use iCloud Photo Library over Google Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, Flickr,... the list goes on.

Totally agreed - I think the frustration is that many of just really *want* to use Apple's solution and thus we wish it were better!

 

[Razeus]

Totally agreed - I think the frustration is that many of just really *want* to use Apple's solution and thus we wish it were better!

I've been trying to go "all in" with Apple services, but they just don't work. Apple Music is the latest in their blunders. I actually liked iCloud Photo Library, but the inefficient way to get other apps to see photos was a non starter.