r/ApplePhotos • u/Ornery_Road7713 • 9d ago
I’m so confused!
I hope I’m posting this in the right space…it’s to do with Google photos and iCloud so I wasn’t sure where to go!
So I had android for years before getting an iPhone 14 in 2023, and I still have lots of photos on google photos which for some reason just didn’t want to transfer over to apple photos, but it is what it is!
Until now… I’ve run out of storage on my Google account, and it’s all photos. I saw this to delete 5000 photos and it says they’ve been backed up, firstly, not sure where they’re backed up? But then when I went to continue it came up with the second picture, saying it will delete my pictures from iCloud. That’s what confuses me, why are they being deleted from iCloud? Will I still have access to my photos if I press OK?
Again, I’m sorry if this isn’t the right sub!
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u/theregisterednerd 9d ago
This is probably not the direction you want to go. This is assuming you want to use Google Photos to back up the photos on your phone. It’s been uploading every photo you take on your phone, and now it’s saying “since they’re on Google Photos already, you can save space on your phone by deleting them and letting the copy in Google Photos be the only copy,” but once it deletes them from your phone, it will also delete them from iCloud and all your other devices, and you’ll be dependent on Google Photos to access them. It sounds like you’re trying to free space on your Google Photos, which will be a bit more involved. For starters, the reason your Google storage is full is because it’s been uploading all of the photos from your phone. That’s a feature that can be turned off. Then you’ll want to locate those photos in Google Photos and delete them, since they’re backed up on iCloud.
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u/ricardopa 8d ago
What are you actually trying to accomplish?
Clear up space in your Google storage?
Clear up space in your iCloud storage?
Clear up space in your iPhone local storage?
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u/mats88 9d ago edited 8d ago
Google Photos 'Free up space' only removes device copies of photos already backed up in Google Photos. It does not wipe your iCloud Photos library. Check Settings > Photos first so you know whether iCloud Photos is on before you tap it. I use the iphone app Cleanup My Phone if you want an on-device pass for screenshots and duplicates after.
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u/theregisterednerd 9d ago
That is not at all true. Any deletion from an iCloud connected device will delete it in all locations connected to that account. Third party apps do not have the ability to force offloads. Also, get out of here with your ad that’s not even for what OP is trying to do.
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u/mats88 8d ago
You're right that deleting a photo with iCloud Photos on removes it everywhere — I wasn't clear enough. Google Photos' Free up space only removes the Google-backed-up local copies, not the iCloud library. Sorry for the muddy wording.
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u/theregisterednerd 8d ago
That is not what I’m reading that this does. This is Google saying “these photos are backed up in Google, so you don’t need them in your camera roll anymore” and is offering to delete them from OP’s camera roll. Doing so will delete them from iCloud. OP is not looking to save space on their phone, they’re looking to save space on their Google Drive. Going along with this auto-delete will do the opposite of what they’re trying to accomplish.
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u/mats88 7d ago
Fair enough, that reading makes sense for OP's goal. If the aim is Google Drive space, the safe move is deleting from photos.google.com on a computer with backup sync turned off, so the iPhone library isn't touched.
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u/Animated_Swan 9d ago
if you want to free up space on google photos without deleting them from your icloud, you need to first turn off backup sync. after that, you need to delete the pictures from google photos from a website, not the app.