iCloud Photo Library causing device ‘low storage’?

[A_Flying_Panda]

I have a 256GB ipad pro and am only using like 40Gb of it. ipad storage is reporting 37.1Gb used. i also have icloud photo library (which has a total of ~1TB) enabled, so naturally ios will cache as much of that icloud photo library as possible locally. this is a good feature, except it’s causing me big trouble.

whenever i’m trying to import some photos from SD card, it will always tell me you need XX (usually ~1-5GB regardless how many i’m importing) more storage. but in fact, i have way more available storage than that, it’s just being used by icloud photo library caches. i’ll have to select and import ~400Mb-800Mb of photo each time, and then repeat. it’s like as soon as i import ~1G of photo, the iOS automatically clears up about the same space of cache within just few seconds, but it‘s just not smart enough to clear enough space so i can import all my photos (usually 10-30G) in one go.

anyone has expereicned the same problem? any fix or workaround?

 

[jk1002]

I have a 256GB ipad pro and am only using like 40Gb of it. ipad storage is reporting 37.1Gb used. i also have icloud photo library (which has a total of ~1TB) enabled, so naturally ios will cache as much of that icloud photo library as possible locally. this is a good feature, except it’s causing me big trouble.

whenever i’m trying to import some photos from SD card, it will always tell me you need XX (usually ~1-5GB regardless how many i’m importing) more storage. but in fact, i have way more available storage than that, it’s just being used by icloud photo library caches. i’ll have to select and import ~400Mb-800Mb of photo each time, and then repeat. it’s like as soon as i import ~1G of photo, the iOS automatically clears up about the same space of cache within just few seconds, but it‘s just not smart enough to clear enough space so i can import all my photos (usually 10-30G) in one go.

anyone has expereicned the same problem? any fix or workaround?

Same problem. i also have a fairly large Icloud library, 25000 pictures or so. Ipad reports 80 GB used of 256 but SD import errors over anything larger than 2GB import size.

Am upgrading to 14.3 just now hoping that will fix it

Cheers
JK

 

[A_Flying_Panda]

Same problem. i also have a fairly large Icloud library, 25000 pictures or so. Ipad reports 80 GB used of 256 but SD import errors over anything larger than 2GB import size.

Am upgrading to 14.3 just now hoping that will fix it

Cheers
JK

i have to disappoint you the 14.3 does not solve the problem.

I’ve talked to a ‘senior expert’ from apple, no solution yet.

 

[jk1002]

Yes I noted that just now when I tried again. Thanks for the update Though. Interestingly not many people complain about this. Looks like the Icloud Photos service is not used that widely.

Cheers
JK

 

[DJLC]

This has long been a complaint of mine; no way to adjust the size of that iCloud Photos cache. I don't want or need that stuff cached. My internet connection is just fine — both wifi and cellular. I'd rather have the space and "stream" my photos as needed.

On my work MacBook, I'm signed in to iCloud, but I disabled Photos completely because it kept filling up the disk. The only alternative I ever found was to just delete the entire macOS Photos library as needed — I had to do that on my personal Mac mini before I could update to Big Sur. (Would it really be that big a feat of software engineering to have Software Update clear out the Photos cache?)

On iOS? Even worse. You can't even delete the whole library in a pinch! It does "just work," but it's infuriating not having any control over the size or behavior of the cache. I've advised countless people with limited space on their iOS devices to turn off iCloud Photo Library for this very reason and just rely on Photo Stream to back them up. Which really isn't ideal, but what other choice is there?

 

[jk1002]

So I noted the problem does not just appear when loading photos, I transferred a large amount of files and had the same issue in other apps. I did the dreadful factory restore (not just reset) and when I restored the ipad from teh backup it showed that I actually had 165GB of photos. So message was accurate but the ipad displaying the amount of free memory/space used up by photos was incorrect.

Cheers
JK

 

[jk1002]

So problem came back for me. I switch off cloud for photos, then back on and it showed 150GB used instead 1.9 it had shown before.
Now after a day it is back to 1.92, not sure if this is right or not.

 

[raynor]

Samme issue here. Really driving me crazy.