Storage space on an iPhone is definitely limited, with the quality and size of photos and videos constantly increasing and our photo libraries now going back several years. If you use iCloud, there’s an easy way to reduce the amount of space your images take up on your iPhone without having to delete them from your device.
In this article, we explain how to reduce the amount of storage photos take up on your iPhone by moving them to iCloud, and help you avoid some of the pitfalls of not fully understanding what iCloud offers.
How to save photos to iCloud
iCloud Photos is part of Apple’s iCloud service for data storage and synchronization. If you choose to use iCloud Photos, all of your photos and videos on your iPhone and any other Apple devices you own can be moved to iCloud and synced from there to all of your devices.
The important thing to note here is that even though your photos are now in iCloud, if you deleted them from your iPhone, you would actually delete them from iCloud. We’ll discuss this in more detail below, as it’s a common misconception that iCloud Photos is a backup that allows you to delete photos from your iPhone – it’s not that!
The other problem is the space required. You get 5GB free when you set up your iPhone, but obviously that won’t go very far if you’re an avid photographer or life chronicler. To get more storage, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid iCloud+ plan, but that’s not too bad because Apple offers a wide range of capacities and you can always increase them later if you find you’re running low on space.
Here are the current monthly prices for iCloud+ storage:
- 50GB: $0.99/£0.99
- 200GB: $2.99/£2.99
- 2TB: $9.99/£8.99
- 6TB: $29.99/£26.99
- 12TB: $59.99/£54.99
That might seem like a lot of money, but the alternative is paying even more for a 1TB iPhone 15 Pro Max or backing up your images in other ways, which are plentiful (as we discuss in How to Back Up Pictures photos from the iPhone). But we think using iCloud Photos is the easiest and most user-friendly way to save space on your iPhone without deleting your photos.
You can read more details about the other features you get on each iCloud+ tier in our iCloud storage plans guide. If you also want to use storage space for your partner or children, then you’ll want to find out how to set up Family Sharing.
How to Move Photos from iPhone to iCloud
Setting up iCloud Photos on your iPhone is very simple. Once you’ve signed up for the iCloud plan that fits your storage needs, follow these steps:
To set up iCloud Photos:
- Go to Settings > tap the ID section at the top > iCloud.
- Select Pictures.
- Enable Sync this iPhone.
Martyn Casserly/Dominik Tomaszewski
This will now sync all images in your Photos app to the iCloud server (if it hasn’t already). For this you need to have a Wi-Fi connection, as this could drain your data plan if you have a lot of photos and videos to sync.
How to Save Space on iPhone Using iCloud Photo Library
This bit is essential if you want to reduce the space your photos library takes up on your iPhone.
You have the option to switch to a mode that stores full versions of your photos and videos on iCloud servers while keeping much smaller ones (in file size) on your iPhone. This means you still have full access to your images, but they won’t take up as much storage space on your device.
Usually this option is enabled by default when you set up the Photos app, but it’s always a good idea to see if this is actually the case. Note that if you don’t have a huge photo library and want to keep files in full size on your device, you can also achieve this by turning off this feature.
Here are the steps to enable smaller images on your iPhone:
- Go to Settings > tap the ID section at the top > iCloud.
- Select Pictures.
- Enable Optimize iPhone storage.
Martyn Casserly/Dominik Tomaszewski
Now, the file sizes of your photos and videos should be more storage-friendly on your iPhone, while the original files and formats are safe in iCloud.
You can download the full resolution version of any photo and video whenever you want. For example, when editing an iMovie of a collection of your videos.
Can I delete photos on my iPhone if they are on iCloud?
No. No. No. This is a common misconception, but one that can lead to disaster. iCloud does indeed have your files on its servers, but the nature of iCloud is to allow you to sync your photos and videos across all your devices. The problem with this misunderstanding is that when you delete the image from your iPhone, iPad or Mac, iCloud syncs this action universally. This means it is removed from all your Apple devices, as well as iCloud servers.
If you accidentally deleted a photo from your iPhone, all may not be lost because Apple gives you a 30-day grace period to recover those files.
We have a full explanation on how to do this in our How to Delete Photos from iPhone Without Deleting Them from iCloud guide. We also explain how to hide photos on your iPhone if you don’t want people to see them.
How do I back up photos and videos from my iPhone?
As we’ve established, iCloud is great for accessing your photos and videos on any of your devices, but, as a long-term backup solution, you should consider one or two other services. The adage that “if something is only backed up once, it’s not backed up at all” definitely applies here.
We have already put together a comprehensive guide on how to backup an iPhone, which contains many useful options. Basically, you’ll want to sign up for other storage services like Google Photos, Flickr, or Amazon Prime Photos, as they all offer easy and secure ways to store your images, often for free or at least at affordable monthly prices and well it’s worth paying to ensure your photos and videos are secure for the long term.
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