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1:17 pm
August 16, 2012
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I’m using Apple iPhone for starters, and using Google Photos backup. I recently received notice that my iCloud storage is almost full. I was surprised, to say the least! I started cleaning up my iphone, deleting apps I hardly ever use, etc. This didn’t seem to make a difference. I decided to go deeper…Settings>My name>iCloud>manage storage>Backups>Device I’m using and I see PHOTO LIBRARY is a whooping 23.78GB! My question is…If I turn this OFF will I lose all my photos, even though I have them backed up to Google Photos? I love and enjoy my photos as much as you love yours! LOL!
BOTTOM LINE: I will not turn that PHOTO LIBRARY button off until I hear from you. Thanks in advance…B Eaton
9:41 am
July 2, 2010
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Barbara,
Personally I think it’s worth it to pay the $1/month to increase iCloud storage to 50GB. Yes, that means I’m paying $2/mo to Google AND $1/mo to Apple, but that’s what “backup” means to me. If something should ever happen to my Google account, I have my photos on Apple’s servers – and vice versa.
IF you already have your photos copied to an additional location – like your computer, or Dropbox, or OneDrive – then you could stop iCloud if you want. I would never trust my photos to just one location, even Google Photos!
There is a setting that will save a lot of storage on your phone – note: that’s different from storage in iCloud – If you go to Settings>Photos: you’ll see a checkbox for “Optimize iPhone Storage.” Checking that box will leave all your original size photos in iCloud and reduce the size of photos on your phone. It’s very useful for recovering storage space on the device, it does not affect iCloud storage.
If you do decide to stop iCloud backup, that will stop all backups from this point forward. It will also give you the option to remove all photos from the phone, or download all original photos from iCloud to your phone.
This will not affect any photos that have been uploaded to Google Photos, Apple does not have access to your Google cloud. However, if there are photos on your phone that have not yet made it up to Google Photos, and you stop iCloud and delete from phone, then those photos will not be in Google photos. So just make sure that “Backup is complete” to Google Photos before turning off iCloud and removing from phone.
1:59 pm
August 16, 2012
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Thanks for the reply! I have used up my 50GB, $1/mo. and was trying to avoid the next increase of 200GB, $3/mo. I didn’t realize my photos were backed up to iCloud as well as Google Photos. I guess it’s worth it to have two backups. In the broad scope of things, what’s another $2-$3?! LOL!
Thanks for telling me about “Optimized iPhone Storage”! I will do that.
Thanks for your advice…it’s always appreciated! You are the best!
B Eaton
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