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rchip

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
204
17
Hey guys, cant find the answer to this on a search ...

I have 35gb worth of photos and videos on my iPhone 6. I have backed them all up to 2 hard drives to be safe.

I've bought a new iPhone xs, want to use iCloud but NOT transfer all my things over to the new phone. I want to set it up as a new phone!

I'm not selling my 6, just leaving it in my draw.

If I log into iCloud on my new iPhone xs will the iCloud photos from my iPhone 6 still stay saved in the cloud? Or will they be deleted if I'm logged into the xs? Id like to keep them in the cloud and then start saving my new XS photos in the cloud too!

I hope that's makes sense, I'd hate for my iPhone 6 photos to leave the cloud.

Thanks!
 

alFR

macrumors 68030
Aug 10, 2006
2,834
1,069
Hey guys, cant find the answer to this on a search ...

I have 35gb worth of photos and videos on my iPhone 6. I have backed them all up to 2 hard drives to be safe.

I've bought a new iPhone xs, want to use iCloud but NOT transfer all my things over to the new phone. I want to set it up as a new phone!

I'm not selling my 6, just leaving it in my draw.

If I log into iCloud on my new iPhone xs will the iCloud photos from my iPhone 6 still stay saved in the cloud? Or will they be deleted if I'm logged into the xs? Id like to keep them in the cloud and then start saving my new XS photos in the cloud too!

I hope that's makes sense, I'd hate for my iPhone 6 photos to leave the cloud.

Thanks!
If you have iCloud Photo Library turned on on the 6 and all the photos have uploaded then when you sign in to the XS they will all appear on there as well. If you have optimise iPhone storage turned on in photos settings (the default) they will all download as thumbnails then the full version will download if you try to view it at a larger size or edit it.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,825
16,938
I’m actually not too sure about the question itself. If you want to keep the old pictures on iCloud and the new pictures as well, then what’s the problem anyway? Just log in with your iCloud account and they’re all there.
 

rchip

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
204
17
ah great I didn't know this! I'm not so sure how it works but that makes sense ... I'll check the optimise storage option. Thanks for the help, that's good to know.
 

rchip

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
204
17
Guys I'm sorry for being dim ... Can I just double check. I do a clean install and then when my phone is set up, I log into my iCloud and check the box to optimise storage and will my photos then appear on the new phone but in a small file size?

Thanks a lot!
I know I'm annoying
 

alFR

macrumors 68030
Aug 10, 2006
2,834
1,069
Yes, that’s it. :)
IIRC it’s enabled by default but no harm in checking.
 

ET iPhone Home

macrumors 68040
Oct 5, 2011
3,823
529
Orange County, California USA
If you have iCloud Photo Library turned on on the 6 and all the photos have uploaded then when you sign in to the XS they will all appear on there as well. If you have optimise iPhone storage turned on in photos settings (the default) they will all download as thumbnails then the full version will download if you try to view it at a larger size or edit it.
Can you answer this question? I have a 5S. I'll be upgrading to an XS MAX. I only want my CONTACTS from the 5S to sync over to the XS MAX. Can this be done without the XS MAX copying photos or any added apps I downloaded to the 5S from the App Store. in the past?
 

alFR

macrumors 68030
Aug 10, 2006
2,834
1,069
Can you answer this question? I have a 5S. I'll be upgrading to an XS MAX. I only want my CONTACTS from the 5S to sync over to the XS MAX. Can this be done without the XS MAX copying photos or any added apps I downloaded to the 5S from the App Store. in the past?
You can turn off automatic app installation in settings, that would stop apps you install on one phone automatically downloading on the other. For the contacts, assuming you have contact syncing turned on in iCloud preferences on the 5S you can just sign in to the max with the same Apple ID as you use on the 5S and turn it on there as well and they will all sync. However, there is no way to keep the content on two devices signed in with the same Apple ID separate other than not turning on iCloud syncing for the content in question (e.g. photos) on one of the devices, which kind of defeats the point of having iCloud in the first place. Why don’t you want the photos from the 5S to sync to the new phone?
 

rchip

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
204
17
Thanks again guys, up and running with the new phone and it worked just as you said!
 

fred98tj

macrumors 6502a
Jul 9, 2017
575
380
Central Luzon, Philippines
The problem with iCloud is that it’s a “syncing” platform more than a cloud storage platform. Many people don’t get that. :)
With iCloud on and say two devices setup with it, you can’t just delete photos on the smaller phone and keep them on iCloud. They will delete from iCloud and also any device that you have setup with iCloud sync.
I don’t use iCloud for photo “storage”. I use otherncloud based solutions.
 
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ET iPhone Home

macrumors 68040
Oct 5, 2011
3,823
529
Orange County, California USA
You can turn off automatic app installation in settings, that would stop apps you install on one phone automatically downloading on the other. For the contacts, assuming you have contact syncing turned on in iCloud preferences on the 5S you can just sign in to the max with the same Apple ID as you use on the 5S and turn it on there as well and they will all sync. However, there is no way to keep the content on two devices signed in with the same Apple ID separate other than not turning on iCloud syncing for the content in question (e.g. photos) on one of the devices, which kind of defeats the point of having iCloud in the first place. Why don’t you want the photos from the 5S to sync to the new phone?
In iCloud settings, I see that I can turn off (gray) Photos from a list of other stuff that I plan on turning off. If I turn Contacts ON (green), this should only transfer CONTACTS to the XS MAX and nothing else once I sign into iCloud on the new device Am I right?

I plan on doing a back up of my photos to my MBA. I don't need to have my photos sync over to the XS Max. I guess I can always delete photos after backup. I was just curious if I can sync Contacts only should I decide this before a back-up.
 
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