How To Take Photos Off Iphone But Keep On Icloud

How to Delete Photos from iPhone but Not iCloud

Searching for methods on how to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud? Read this article to get methods of removing photos from iPhone but not iCloud.

iPhone Data Deleting Tips

AnyTrans – iPhone Photo Manager

Free Download AnyTrans to move your iPhone photos to a computer, to iCloud, and you can also import, download, or delete photos from iCloud with AnyTras.

Although we have much more iPhone storage options now, we also photograph more, record videos & audio, saving lots of memories. And iPhone storage is always full. Therefore, we need to delete iPhone photos or videos tofree up device space, but without losing the pictures/videos on the cloud.

Then, how can I delete photos from my iPhone but keep them in iCloud? Undoubtedly, this is really a question. Usually, when you delete photos from your iPhone, they will also be removed on iCloud because of iCloud syncing automatically.

However, there are ways to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud, so that you can still retain these photos in iCloud Photo Library. Now, let's check the proven methods below to delete photos from iPhone storage but keep on iCloud.

Also Read: How to Delete Photos from iCloud to Free up Space >

Method 1. Disabling iCloud Photo Library
Method 2. Back up Photos with iCloud Alternatives
Method 3. Sign in with Another New iCloud Account
Method 4. Sync Photos to iCloud from Computer

How to Delete Photos from iPhone but Not iCloud

Here we have collected 4 workarounds to help you delete photos from your iPhone but not the iCloud.

Method 1. Disabling iCloud Photo Library

iCloud Photo Library is designed to mirror your library on all of your devices. Once this feature is enabled, everything you do to a photo on your iOS device is mirrored to iCloud and to any other iOS devices or Macs that have the library enabled.

This is why you delete photos from your iPhone and find that those photos are also deleted from your iCloud. So the first and direct solution of removing photos from iPhone but not iCloud is to turn off iCloud Photo Library entirely. You can make it with steps:

Go to Settings on your iPhone.
[your name] and choose iCloud.
Tap on "Photos".
Turn off "iCloud Photo".
Now, you can delete photos from your iPhone.

This is not the way to do it once and for all, if you enable iCloud Photo Library again, the photos you deleted from your iPhone will also be removed from iCloud. So, this method is only applicable if you want to basically separate your two libraries permanently.

Method 2. Back up iPhone Photos with iCloud Alternatives

If your iPhone storage is almost at a premium, and you really don't want these photos appearing anywhere on your iPhone, then there is another option that is to give up on iCloud's photo solutions and look to a third-party cloud service to backup your iPhone photos.

There are many iCloud alternatives such as Google Photos, DropBox, OneDrive, etc. Your iPhone photos can be securely stored in the cloud after successfully uploading, then you can delete them from your iPhone without removing them from the cloud.

Method 3. Sign into Your iPhone with Another New iCloud Account

Another practical method is to sign in to your iPhone with a new iCloud account. After uploading your iPhone photos to iCloud that signed in with your old Apple ID, sign out this account and sign in with a new Apple ID.

Then you can delete all photos from your iPhone without losing them from your previous iCloud. And you can still access the deleted photos from your other devices by signing in with your old Apple ID.

Method 4. Syncing All iPhone Photos to iCloud from Computer

For this method, you may have some questions about how it works. Let me explain it to you. You know that your iPhone photos will sync to iCloud when you enable iCloud Photo Library, and with iCloud Photo Library, you can access synced photos from all your iOS device signed with the same Apple ID.

So, for this reason, if you delete a photo from your iPhone, it will be removed from iCloud and other iOS devices at the same time. It seems impossible to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. Actually, you can do it. What you need to do is to do some changes. The specific idea is that syncing iPhone photos to iCloud from a computer instead of from the iPhone directly. Just 3 steps:

Export all iPhone photos to a computer.
Delete them from your iPhone.
Add these photos from your computer to the iCloud server manually.

To be honest, this idea is OK, however, to finish the 3 steps is not an easy job. In this case, you can with the aid of AnyTrans to make it with ease. It's an iOS data transfer tool that can help you easily export all iPhone photos to a computer and upload photos from the computer to iCloud manually.

Now, download AnyTrans on your computer and follow the steps below to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud.

Step 1. Install and launch AnyTrans, connect your iPhone to your computer. Then click on Content to Mac. If you run AnyTrans on a Windows computer, you'll see Content to PC instead.

Go to Device Manager and Click Content to PC Button

Step 2. Select Photos category and set the export path, then click on the "Next" button to export all iPhone photos to the computer.

You Can Choose Export Path and Photos Category

After exporting all photos from iPhone to computer, now you can delete these photos from your iPhone. Then, add all photos you exported from your iPhone to your iCloud. You can upload photos to iCloud by iCloud.com, you can see detailed steps at Method 2 in this guide, and, you can also use AnyTrans directly.

Step 3. Choose the iCloud Manager section. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.

Step 4. Click on iCloud Import. Browse the folder that contains the photos you exported from your iPhone, under the AnyTrans-Export-Date folder, you'll see the folders that came with the category you chose to export, select all photos, then click on Open to upload them to iCloud. Then, uploading photos from the next folder till all exported photos are added to your iCloud.

Import Photos from Computer to iCloud

After uploading all your iPhone photos to iCloud, as long as you enable iCloud Photo Library, you'll see these photos still show up on your iPhone but do not consume any storage. Now, you successfully delete photos from your iPhone but not iCloud.

The Bottom Line

Hope this guide can give you a hand on how to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. You can choose the best one for yourself. If you have better solutions, welcome to share with us via comment. By the way, if you want to transfer data among multiple iCloud accounts, you can have a try on AnyTrans. It will bring you more convenience.

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Member of iMobie team as well as an Apple fan, love to help more users solve various types of iOS & Android related issues.