Photos & Camera using 30Gb with iCloud

[MrMister111]

I have an iPhone 7 plus 128Gb with iOS 10.2. I also have iCloud photo library with 200Gb.

However looking in storage settings, photos and camera is still using 30Gb. I have "optimise iPhone storage" on in photos and camera settings.

I believe clicking on a photo to view it downloads it from iCloud, so I'm presuming is this what has happened.

Is there any way to flush or reset this? I know it's supposed to do this automatically if I start to run out of space, but is there a way to do this manually?

 

[ZEEN0j]

The most effective way is restoring with your iCloud backup. Then it will only download the thumbnails and your 30gb will be maybe 1-2gb.

You can also try downloading a movie/app that's bigger than what you have left and it should auto clear space. Not necessarily just photos though. It could be anything that's cached etc.

I would recommend to just leave it and don't do anything.

 

[itsmilo]

Here is what i usually do, about once every two months (beware its a little pain in the ass)

deactivate iCloud Photo Library on your phone.

wait a moment

all thats left will be the pictures that have been downloaded

delete them

Activate iCloud Photo Library again

 

[M. Gustave]

I have an iPhone 7 plus 128Gb with iOS 10.2. I also have iCloud photo library with 200Gb.

However looking in storage settings, photos and camera is still using 30Gb. I have "optimise iPhone storage" on in photos and camera settings...

The point of "Optimize" is that you don't have to worry about it. Let the phone manage itself.

 

[gigapocket1]

I just let it do its thing as well.. it manages pretty well. Why use data when theirs no need to? I actually set mines to download all the photos and videos initially and then turn optimize storage on. That way I have the most photos or videos as possible at all times.
But I've noticed that on 256 gigs. It wants at least 15gigs free before it starts optimizing

 

[MrMister111]

Fair do I will let it go it's thing just was wondering if a way to delete. Sometimes when showing a lot of photos to someone then be nice to instantly reclaim the space that's all.

Hopefully it will just delete when I add other stuff. Good idea maybe on adding a few videos though to fill up to see if clears the photos space. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks

 

[ZEEN0j]

Fair do I will let it go it's thing just was wondering if a way to delete. Sometimes when showing a lot of photos to someone then be nice to instantly reclaim the space that's all.

Hopefully it will just delete when I add other stuff. Good idea maybe on adding a few videos though to fill up to see if clears the photos space. Has anyone tried this?

Thanks

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/out-of-space-on-your-iphone-try-this-magic-trick-to-free-up-more/

 

[M. Gustave]

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/out-of-space-on-your-iphone-try-this-magic-trick-to-free-up-more/

Author doesn't seem to understand how computers work. It's all just a big mystery! LOL

Apple doesn't cache data to annoy users, they do it to speed up processes, reduce load times, etc.

 

[zorinlynx]

I have an iPhone 7 plus 128Gb with iOS 10.2. I also have iCloud photo library with 200Gb.

However looking in storage settings, photos and camera is still using 30Gb. I have "optimise iPhone storage" on in photos and camera settings.

I believe clicking on a photo to view it downloads it from iCloud, so I'm presuming is this what has happened.

Is there any way to flush or reset this? I know it's supposed to do this automatically if I start to run out of space, but is there a way to do this manually?

I'm curious; why is is this a problem?

Sure, it's using 30GB of space, but the system marks that space purgeable. If your available space runs low, the downloaded photos will be deleted to free up space.

I've never had an issue with my phone claiming it was out of space because of iCloud Photo Library back when I had an iPhone. It always frees up space when the free space gets too low. If you HAVE had issues, I'm actually really curious what you did to trigger it because I ran my iPhone 6 with < 5-10GB free for months without issues. The system always cleaned up when it had to.

EDIT: For the record, my 128GB iPhone 7 Plus also has about 30GB used by Photos, with iCloud Photo Library optimize storage on. I wonder if that's how much the system typically lets it use when there's no storage pressure. I have about 37GB free. I love the 128GB iPhone and not having to think about space!

Also: (Yes I know I'm chatty on this topic) Tapping a photo doesn't download the original photo, unless you zoom in. iCloud Photo Library downloads a lower resolution preview of all your photos by default, at the resolution of your device. This way your entire library can be on VIEWABLE on the phone even when you don't have Internet available. It's to your benefit for that 30GB of data to be on the phone, especially if you're not running low!