Icloud back up help

[Brandon0214]

So i’m trying to help a friend of mine back up his iphone SE (2020) He just had a hardware issue and had to get it replaced under warranty by apple.
When he went to import everything he only had a back up from 2019 so he lost a lot of stuff. So he wanted to enable icloud back up moving forward.

He upgraded his storage to the 200 gig plan. However when he goes to back up it says 199.9 gigs used.
However what i’m seeing the issue is that it says 149 gigs of photo when he goes on icloud but when he goes on his physical phone he only has 89 gigs.

Can someone help me out so i can give him assistance so he can back up what is currently on his phone and anything else that gets added moving fwd. also shoukd he delete that back up that is from 2019 as it would be a new back up file created? Or would he have to leave that since he is currently running off that backup.

If anyone can help out i would appreciate it

 

[James_C]

There may be a number of reasons why his iCloud photo storage is more than photo library size on his iPhone.

The most likely reason is that he has turned on Optimise iPhone Storage - This will keep a full resolution file in iCloud and keep a lower resolution (smaller file size) on his phone.

To see his settings go into Settings > Apple ID then iCloud click as shown below:

You will then see his iCloud Photo Settings - If Optimise IPhone Storage is turned on this will explain why his iCloud photo storage is larger.

To see the different backups stored in iCloud go back to iCloud settings and click 'Manage Storage' then Click Backups and it will show individual backups

Click to select individual backups

You can check the details and choose to delete it if you want to.

 

[Brandon0214]

There may be a number of reasons why his iCloud photo storage is more than photo library size on his iPhone.

The most likely reason is that he has turned on Optimise iPhone Storage - This will keep a full resolution file in iCloud and keep a lower resolution (smaller file size) on his phone.

To see his settings go into Settings > Apple ID then iCloud click as shown below:

View attachment 1428611

You will then see his iCloud Photo Settings - If Optimise IPhone Storage is turned on this will explain why his iCloud photo storage is larger.

View attachment 1428797

I will check with him to see if that is set.
If it is he should change it to download and keep originals?

 

[Brandon0214]

So i just checked with him and his is set to that. What should he do?

 

[James_C]

@Brandon0214 - OK at least we know why his iCloud photo storage is higher than his phone. Changing to download and keep originals will just move the larger file sizes down to his phone and will not make his iCloud storage smaller.

Check my original reply above to see if he safely remove any old backups he no longer needs (for an old device he no longer has)

Other than that your options are

1. Increase his iCloud storage plan
2. Archive some photos in the Photos App by moving them to his computer to reduce the size of his library on his phone which will then sync back to Icloud Storage.
3 Deleting Photos that he no longer wants to keep.

 

[Brandon0214]

@James_C Also for backups listed he only has 1 for 2019 which is what he restored from when he got a new phone from replacement last week.

If i delete that 2019 backup and it clears out the 52 gigs of space can i than do a new back up and it will back everyrhing currently on his phone up and it will be a 2020 back up? and continue to back up moving forward daily?

still don’t know about that high icloud photo storage if he doesn’t have that much on his phone

 

[James_C]

Yes that should work - However is he able to backup his phone to a computer either a Mac or a PC running iTunes - He should back up first before deleting his only backup, even if it an old one.

Here is Apple's guide to backing up your iPhone to a computer.

 

[Brandon0214]

Yes that should work - However is he able to backup his phone to a computer either a Mac or a PC running iTunes - He should back up first before deleting his only backup, even if it an old one.

yeah i would assume he would be able to. so should we not just delete that backup off the phone? if he does woukd it wipe the phone? or would it get rid of that 52 gigs for back up and than he can set up the current backup to start and fully do a 2020 back up??

He just wants to be able to have his phone back up daily to icloud so if he has a issue he can restore from icloud onto a new device.

So there’s no way to get that icloud photo storage number down seeing its 142 gigs and he only has 89 gigs on his phone?

 

[James_C]

So there’s no way to get that icloud photo storage number down seeing its 142 gigs and he only has 89 gigs on his phone?

Not without removing by either Archiving or deleting photos from his phone. Basically all his images in iCloud are the original full size version of photos when they were taken, his phone storage only has a low resolution version.

Once he removes the old backup he should be able to use the automated iCloud backup. At some point in the not so distant future he is going to need to come up with a new solution as outlined above as he will keep consuming his iCloud storage as he continues to take photos

 

[Brandon0214]

Not without removing by either Archiving or deleting photos from his phone. Basically all his images in iCloud are the original full size version of photos when they were taken, his phone storage only has a low resolution version.

ahh that makes sense.
So should he turn that optimize iphone storage setting off and click download and keep originals?

 

[Brandon0214]

so he can just back up to itunes. and than that 2019 back up he’s currently running now can be physically deleted? It won’t wipe his phone will it? just want to see what options he has to clear out storage so he can do a backup since he is close to the 200gb because of those photos.
i told him he can delete a few thousand photo’s if he wanted to. but i’m trying to see if deleting that back up which is 52 gigs will be fine and not wipe his phone so he can clear out some storage so he can do a new backup and keep the 200gb storage plan

 

[James_C]

So should he turn that optimize iphone storage setting off and click download and keep originals?

Given that his full resolution photos are 142GB probably not as this would take up a lot of space on his phone.

 

[James_C]

Steps would be

1. Backup his phone to his computer so that he has a current backup
2. Delete his 2019 backup
3. Turn on iCloud backup - hopefully you will find that the backup size is not that large as it will know not to back up his photo library ( as it is already in iCloud).

YMMV but my iCloud iPhone backup size is currently 1.4GB

 

[Brandon0214]

Not without removing by either Archiving or deleting photos from his phone. Basically all his images in iCloud are the original full size version of photos when they were taken, his phone storage only has a low resolution version.

Once he removes the old backup he should be able to use the automated iCloud backup. At some point in the not so distant future he is going to need to come up with a new solution as outlined above as he will keep consuming his iCloud storage as he continues to take photos

yeah i’ll see if he can change that setting. your saying if he changes that as he takes photos it won’t use so much as they won’t be taken in the highest quality as it will be lower?

 

[Brandon0214]

Steps would be

1. Backup his phone to his computer so that he has a current backup
2. Delete his 2019 backup
3. Turn on iCloud backup - hopefully you will find that the backup size is not that large as it will know not to back up his photo library ( as it is already in iCloud).

YMMV but my iCloud iPhone backup size is currently 1.4GB

alright that makes sense. i wanted to clarify if he deleted the back up on his current phone off the settings it won’t just wipe the whole phone.
back up on the computer. delete the back up from 2019 and than turn on automatic backup.

He will still run into a issue unless he deletes a bunch of photos because of how high the storage is for photos currently on his phone.
Yeah my i cloud back up is super small

 

[Brandon0214]

Ideally he should delete a bunch of old photos off his camera roll so the icloud storage number goes down drastically since there’s no other way to get it down and that’s consuming a lot of his icloud storage
Correct?

 

[Brandon0214]

i’m glad i don’t have this issue on MY phone haha Just upgraded to the 12pro max so i will need to do a restore from the recent back up when i get the new phone

 

[James_C]

i wanted to clarify if he deleted the back up on his current phone off the settings it won’t just wipe the whole phone.

Deleting the backup file in iCloud will not wipe the phone.

Ideally he should delete a bunch of old photos off his camera roll so the icloud storage number goes down drastically since there’s no other way to get it down and that’s consuming a lot of his icloud storage
Correct?

Correct.

Just upgraded to the 12pro Max

Very nice - I was tempted to pull the trigger today on the Max, but I don't like large phones so going to wait for the reviews to come out to see if the Improved Camera is worth putting up with a bigger phone. If not I will upgrade to the 12 Pro.