The more I delete, the more iCloud Photos takes up

[Nathan W]

Quick summary of my problem:

• I have a 128GB iPhone 7.
• I am on the latest version of iOS but this problem has been occurring since iOS 1.2x
• I have enabled iCloud Photo Library
• I have Checked Optimize iPhone Storage
• Photos are currently taking up 103.7GB of space on my phone
• I constantly get the iPhone Storage Full notice which prevents me from taking any new photos or downloading any apps or podcasts.

I've used iCloud Photo Library and the Optimize feature ever since it came out with no issues. A while back (maybe 6 months?) I started getting an iPhone full notice. I checked my phone and I had about 50GB of photos, a lot of Podcasts, and some larger apps. I started deleting larger apps then Podcasts one by one to make room. This would always solve the problem for a few days but eventually iCloud will slowly download more and more photos and use up the remaining room. At this point I have nothing I'm willing to delete. Every time I delete something iCloud just uses the space and then gives me a iPhone Storage Full notice.

Has anyone ever run into this issue before? I have triple checked my settings and turned them on and off to try and force it to reset but it's not working.

Thanks for any insight or helpful you can provide

 

[mattguy10]

Quick summary of my problem:

• I have a 128GB iPhone 7.
• I am on the latest version of iOS but this problem has been occurring since iOS 1.2x
• I have enabled iCloud Photo Library
• I have Checked Optimize iPhone Storage
• Photos are currently taking up 103.7GB of space on my phone
• I constantly get the iPhone Storage Full notice which prevents me from taking any new photos or downloading any apps or podcasts.

I've used iCloud Photo Library and the Optimize feature ever since it came out with no issues. A while back (maybe 6 months?) I started getting an iPhone full notice. I checked my phone and I had about 50GB of photos, a lot of Podcasts, and some larger apps. I started deleting larger apps then Podcasts one by one to make room. This would always solve the problem for a few days but eventually iCloud will slowly download more and more photos and use up the remaining room. At this point I have nothing I'm willing to delete. Every time I delete something iCloud just uses the space and then gives me a iPhone Storage Full notice.

Has anyone ever run into this issue before? I have triple checked my settings and turned them on and off to try and force it to reset but it's not working.

Thanks for any insight or helpful you can provide

Try emptying your “Recently Deleted” folder under “Albums” in the photos app and see if that clears some space.

 

[Nathan W]

Try emptying your “Recently Deleted” folder under “Albums” in the photos app and see if that clears some space.

Thanks for the reply. There were 190 photos in there and I deleted them. This will create a little room but I'm sure it will just get used again by iCloud Photos soon. There seems to be a more fundamental problem. Instead of Photos just downloading thumbnails until I request a larger file its trying to download my entire library? I'm not sure what is going on.

 

[mattguy10]

Thanks for the reply. There were 190 photos in there and I deleted them. This will create a little room but I'm sure it will just get used again by iCloud Photos soon. There seems to be a more fundamental problem. Instead of Photos just downloading thumbnails until I request a larger file its trying to download my entire library? I'm not sure what is going on.

Yeah I’m not sure. Unfortunately I don’t take many photos or videos so I’ve never ran into the issue you’re having. Hopefully someone else will chime in soon!