iCloud Down
apple.com
apple.com
I have a 1TB iPhone with 19,000 photos. That's 3+ years worth. 420GB, so I need the $10 2TB cloud storage plan even though I can never truly fill it, being limited to 1TB of physical storage. The plans jump from $3p/m for 200GB to $10 for 2TB. Nothing in-between. How many people are paying for storage they'll never use?
Now, the fun part: cleaning up and reducing the plan to 200GB.
1) I sync my iCloud photos with my Windows PC using Apple's very own app. Which sucks and has maybe 5 config settings. It'll somewhat dowload your media tot he PC BUT you often have to manually tell Windows to 'always keep file on device' and wait way to long for it to download a small amount of data from iCloud.
2) OK, it's all downloaded to my PC and synced with my own backup. Time to free up space and save some cash...
3)Turn off photo sync with the phone and cloud. Easy enough. Now spend time trying to use the special 2 finger gesture to select all photos on your phone to delete. 19,000 is a decent amount so it takes some time but sits there, acting like nothing is happening. No progress bar or notification. The only way I can tell it's working is by the heat coming off my phone.
4) a few hours later the phone is free of media. Or is it? No. You have to do the same for 'deleted items'. Also, if you have any burst photos, they steadfast refuse to delete until you try 6+ times. Cool.
5) Now on to the best part: iCloud. Login via browser, select all the images. there is no 'select all' option so you have to drag to highlight all 19,000. Hit delete. 'You can only delete 1,000 at a time'. Awesome, thanks for the headsup! Deleting 19,000 photos, 1000 at a time, takes a few hours. Try it. But at least they're gone and your storage is back to zero, right????
6) No. You have to do the same steps for the deleted items. 1000 at a time. A few more hours of your life gone because Apple decided not to add a 'select all' or delete all' option. Jerks.
7) Now my phone and iCloud show as media-free and I downgrade my plan to 200GB. Many times during this process I thought about giving in and just paying $10 a month for something I'll only use a quarter of. I'm sure that's the plan. But I'm angry now. I flip the option back on to sync my 'empty' phone with my 'empty' cloud storage so that new media is backed up. That's what I'm paying for, right?
8) Wake up the next day to a nice warning that in 30 days I'll be over my plan by 200GB+. Somehow, overnight, iCloud restored all my deleted photos to both my phone and cloud. Should I pay the $10 a month ransom now?
9) I did all 7 steps again, this time leaving off the sync option until my plan changes to 200GB. I verify there is no media anywhere then flip the sync option back on. Now it works.
10) forgot to mention that I tried connecting my iPhone to my PC, authorizing it as file storage, then manually copying the media from phone to PC. I've never had luck with this in the decade plus I've owned an iPhone. Speeds are impossibly slow and the phone disconnects all the time. File transfer is impossible. Also, I see handy folders for my media name after the month and year... BUT these folders stop mid 2019. Where are the recent photos?
Apple has enough money and engineers to make this process pain-free. So this is by design. Not a fan.
You can delete the entire iCloud Photo Library from the iPhone. It gives you the choice to leave the photos on the device or delete them.
>2TB cloud storage plan even though I can never truly fill it, being limited to 1TB of physical storage
You can, one of the main benefits of iCloud is you can do exactly that. You can have a 1.5TB photo library and a 128GB phone, it'll keep thumbnails/previews on device and download larger ones when requested.
0. If you curated your collection over years, why would you expect to tear it down in seconds?
0.1 Do you manage the collection to know you need every one of those 420gb/19k photos?
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1. iCloud Photos is a syncing service, not a backup service.
2. "Have you ever tried to reduce your iCloud storage?" >> settings > name > icloud > manage plan -> select desired amount. done.
3. "Specifically, photo backups from your phone? I have. Total nightmare. By design."
>>> it's a sync not backup service so there's no such thing as a photos backup unless you manually create a copy of the content -- without that you have one set of those photos that all devices contribute to.
>>> However, multi-hundred gigabyte I/O operations on mobile shouldn't be preferable to using a desktop, so manage using your desktop and let iPhone (and web service) catch up.
>>> Deleting once deletes from every device.
>>> Turning the service off prompts you to keep or delete, not choosing to delete when you want to delete is the mistake.
4. "I have a 1TB iPhone with 19,000 photos. That's 3+ years worth. 420GB, so I need the $10 2TB cloud storage plan""
>> No. I suggest usage of your already-paid-for-insanely-more-performant-than-a-web-server-on-device storage >>> You can connect a backup drive to this device and make a backup without a computer. >>> Why pay to have space when you're not out of it?
>><><> Why have your content constantly syncing to a web service when you can make periodic imports to your PC? <><><<
4.1 "even though I can never truly fill it, being limited to 1TB of physical storage."
>>> Your account storage isn't device storage, this so your account can sync multiple devices, eg. your primary home iPad and your vacation home iPad never go out of sync.
5. "The plans jump from $3p/m for 200GB to $10 for 2TB. Nothing in-between. How many people are paying for storage they'll never use?"
>>> pushing all that data out from two devices on the same LAN over the internet just for a service to provide device-specific versions back to you...is a choice..and a lot of I/O to merely update one device with another device's content...why not simplify to a wire or wireless sync and save $120/year?
>>> Just like you refer to a plan you signed up for as a "$10 a month ransom" -- get a grip man...the world isn't out to get you -- it's not a conspiracy -- you're just seemingly ignorant of your operations and enthusiastic toward accomplishing your goal.
We've all been there, but I have to insist that you did this to yourself, I mean for fuck's sake man just use AirDrop or Wi-Fi syncing if you can't be bothered to plug iPhone in once a month.