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SheSingsSongs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2021
5
0
So, for the entire time I've owned an iPhone (10+ years), my backups have been between 5 GB and 7 GB. In the summer, I backed up my iPhone 11 Pro before I bought a new phone (12 pro). The backup was 6.8 Gig. Perfect. I uploaded that to my new phone and got on with my life. Sometime after updating to iOS 15, I noticed that my iCloud storage was very full. Upon investigation, I see that my iPhone back up is almost 58 GIGS. WHAT?

I've called Apple care several times and I've never been so frustrated in my life. They try to tell me that it's perfectly normal to have it jump like that. THey've tried to tell me it's my podcasts (I deleted them all). Another advisor tried to tell me it's me text messages (I omitted them from backup).

The problem is clear to me. If you subtract the exact amount of room my photos are taking up 42.9 G from the 58 G of storage, you get my normal back up. (Close to that 6.8 G I started with).

They refuse to acknowledge this.

I have icliid photo library turned on so that 42.9 G of photos is taking up space in my iCloud TWICE- once in the library and again in the back up. I don't know how to get the photos out of my backup while keeping the iCloud library on.

Just to be clear, I've deleted many photos and the math remains the same.

Can anyone shed light on this. Apple is making me feel like I've lost my mind. I pay a lot for Apple Care, Cloud Storage, etc. I have EIGHT Apple devices. Usually they are very helpful, but I legit feel like they are gaslighting me. This just doesn't seem right.

If I'm off base, please tell me. OR PLEASE HELP!

I don't want to store photos in my iPhone back up!
 

Paddle1

macrumors 603
May 1, 2013
5,158
3,633
It wasn't clear from your post whether you were referring to iCloud storage or device storage. How much room are the photos taking up in Settings > General > iPhone Storage?

You could try going to Settings > Photos and enabling Optimize iPhone Storage if they're filling up the device as well.
 
Last edited:

SheSingsSongs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2021
5
0
Basically, I don't understand why my photos are being included in my iPhone back up when they never were before. My photos are taking up space in my iCloud 2 ways: iCloud library AND within my handset backup. Ugh!
 

SheSingsSongs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2021
5
0
It wasn't clear from your post whether you were referring to iCloud storage or device storage. How much room are the photos taking up in Settings > General > iPhone Storage?

You could try going to Settings > Photos and enabling Optimize iPhone Storage if they're filling up the device as well.
iCloud storage!
 

Paddle1

macrumors 603
May 1, 2013
5,158
3,633
The only thing I can think of trying is turning iCloud Photo Library off and then back on.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Very strange issue.
 

SheSingsSongs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2021
5
0
The only thing I can think of trying is turning iCloud Photo Library off and then back on.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Very strange issue.
Thanks for engaging me. Appreciate it! ❤️ (I’ve tried that! ???‍♀️)
 
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