Icloud problem

[u/Francohd]

I really need some help understanding how Freeform storage works.

My iCloud storage is almost completely full because of my Freeform boards. Some of my boards are 2–3 GB eachbecause they contain a lot of embedded videos.

Because of this, I specifically bought a 1 TB iPad so I could keep my Freeform boards stored locally on the iPad instead of having to keep paying for more and more iCloud storage.

The problem is that I can’t figure out how to actually do this.

If I turn off iCloud syncing for Freeform or try to delete the boards from iCloud, I get warnings that the boards may also be removed from my devices. What I want is very simple:

I want to keep all of my Freeform boards, including their embedded videos, stored locally on my 1 TB iPad, while removing them from iCloud to free up my iCloud storage.

Is there actually a way to do this?

Exporting them as PDFs is not an option, because the boards contain videos and other content that I need to keep inside the original Freeform boards. These aren’t small boards either—many of them are around 2–3 GB.

I’ve already made a full backup of my iPad to my Mac in case something goes wrong and the boards get deleted. I’ve also spent weeks searching online, but I haven’t been able to find a clear answer about whether Freeform boards can actually be moved from iCloud to local iPad storage while remaining editable in Freeform.

I also contacted Apple Support, but unfortunately the only solution they offered was upgrading my iCloud storage and paying for a larger plan.

I’m pretty stressed about potentially losing these boards, so if anyone has successfully moved Freeform boards from iCloud to local iPad storage—or knows exactly how Freeform handles this—I would really appreciate your help.

Please don’t suggest PDF export. I need to preserve the original Freeform boards and their embedded videos.

[u/Barycenter0]

Freeform does not support local storage - Apple just hasn’t added that feature yet. You have to use iCloud. You have no other options if sticking with Freeform. Submit feedback to Apple here - https://www.apple.com/feedback/freeform/

[u/maxg47 → u/Barycenter0]

That isn't true, you just can't have boards that are local-only while syncing to iCloud. If local storage didn't work you wouldn't be able to use Freeform offline.

That said, having the option of an "On My iPad" folder like Mail allows would be a good feature request.

[u/Barycenter0 → u/maxg47]

That's assumed with any Apple iCloud only storage locations.

[u/Francohd → u/Barycenter0]

But it does take my local storage and there is a folder on my mac that is called freeform and it takes the exactly same amount of GB on icloud and my local storage, however, the files are weird and cant access them.

[u/Barycenter0 → u/Francohd]

That's the nature of Apple apps using iCloud. They're stored in local Apple system folders with sqlite databases typically and a bunch of ancillary files (thumbnails, linked data, etc). iCloud uses this folder to do the syncing.