Do photos transfer to new phone upon switch or just stay in iCloud.

[IndianaSxS]

I know if I delete a photo on my iPhone it also deletes it from the cloud.

When I get the new iPhone 14 pro and turn it on and tell it to go from a backup from the iCloud on my old phone does it also copy every single photo from the last iPhone to the new iPhone or does it just have them in the iCloud available in photos on the new phone?

If it does copy every single photo from one phone to the new one is there a way to restore everything to the new phone except for photos but they be available in the iCloud and then I factory reset my old phone without loosing my photos in the iCloud taken with that phone?

The reason I ask is it doesn’t make sense to me to have all my photos local on my new device if I can just have them in the iCloud without taking up space on my new device.

Thanks!

 

[russell_314]

I know if I delete a photo on my iPhone it also deletes it from the cloud.

When I get the new iPhone 14 pro and turn it on and tell it to go from a backup from the iCloud on my old phone does it also copy every single photo from the last iPhone to the new iPhone or does it just have them in the iCloud available in photos on the new phone?

If it does copy every single photo from one phone to the new one is there a way to restore everything to the new phone except for photos but they be available in the iCloud and then I factory reset my old phone without loosing my photos in the iCloud taken with that phone?

The reason I ask is it doesn’t make sense to me to have all my photos local on my new device if I can just have them in the iCloud without taking up space on my new device.

Thanks!

There's a setting to optimize photo storage. Perhaps turn that on for your old phone so when you do the transfer it will transfer that setting and not download your entire photo library to the new phone. I'm not sure if it gives you the option to have that on or not during setup but someone here might know

 

[IndianaSxS]

There's a setting to optimize photo storage. Perhaps turn that on for your old phone so when you do the transfer it will transfer that setting and not download your entire photo library to the new phone. I'm not sure if it gives you the option to have that on or not during setup but someone here might know

I looked that’s already on.

 

[zecanard]

The short answer is no, your downloaded photos won't all get redownloaded to your new one.

The long answer 👇🏼

When you backup your old iPhone to iCloud, everything that is specific to your old iPhone gets saved to iCloud. This does not include your iCloud mail or your iCloud Photo Library (which live permanently in iCloud), but rather things like your fitness data, your system settings, which apps you have installed, on your phone, etc.

When you restore your iPhone backup onto your new iPhone, only the data specific to your old iPhone are restored onto the new one (system settings, which apps you have installed, etc.). Things like iCloud Mail and Photos live permanently in iCloud, so they aren't all redownloaded on the spot. They'll get redownloaded as necessary.

The same actually happens when you use the new(ish) Quick Start feature, which transfers data from your old iPhone to the new one via ad-hoc Wi-Fi: only the local data are transferred, and everything that lives permanently in iCloud will get redownloaded later as needed (iCloud Mail and Photos, for instance).

If you do a restore via iTunes/Finder, everything is copied as-is, meaning all the photos you had downloaded on your old iPhone are copied over to the new one. This can be problematic if you're moving from one iPhone to one that has less storage available (256GB → 128 GB, eg.).

 

[IndianaSxS]

The short answer is no, your downloaded photos won't all get redownloaded to your new one.

The long answer 👇🏼

When you backup your old iPhone to iCloud, everything that is specific to your old iPhone gets saved to iCloud. This does not include your iCloud mail or your iCloud Photo Library (which live permanently in iCloud), but rather things like your fitness data, your system settings, which apps you have installed, on your phone, etc.

When you restore your iPhone backup onto your new iPhone, only the data specific to your old iPhone are restored onto the new one (system settings, which apps you have installed, etc.). Things like iCloud Mail and Photos live permanently in iCloud, so they aren't all redownloaded on the spot. They'll get redownloaded as necessary.

The same actually happens when you use the new(ish) Quick Start feature, which transfers data from your old iPhone to the new one via ad-hoc Wi-Fi: only the local data are transferred, and everything that lives permanently in iCloud will get redownloaded later as needed (iCloud Mail and Photos, for instance).

If you do a restore via iTunes/Finder, everything is copied as-is, meaning all the photos you had downloaded on your old iPhone are copied over to the new one. This can be problematic if you're moving from one iPhone to one that has less storage available (256GB → 128 GB, eg.).

Thanks this is good to hear, I thought/hoped that’s how it worked. One more question if I could get your opinion as I see there are lots on the subject. Do you suggest on the new phone to do the quick start thing or the iCloud restore?

Thanks,

 

[zecanard]

Thanks this is good to hear, I thought/hoped that’s how it worked. One more question if I could get your opinion as I see there are lots on the subject. Do you suggest on the new phone to do the quick start thing or the iCloud restore?

Thanks,

Quick Start is the most convenient and quickest, although the most reliable is the iTunes/Finder restore. Since Quick Start and iCloud don't restore everything, in the past Apple has occasionally forgotten to include specific items that end up not getting restored.