I just want to manage my iPhone storage and delete some photos to free up some space. But I want them safely stored in iCloud. Every time I try to delete photos, a message pops up warning me that they will also be deleted from iCloud. What can I do to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud?
Yes, you can delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. To delete photos from your iPhone without deleting them from iCloud, you have to turn off the syncing photos to iCloud feature:
On your iPhone, go to your iPhone's Settings > [Your Apple ID Name] > iCloud > Photos.
Toggle off the "iCloud Photos" option. This will prevent the photos that will be deleted on your iPhone from being removed from iCloud.
Then open the "Photos" app on your iPhone and select the photos you want to delete.
Tap on the trash can icon to delete them right away. A confirmation message will pop up and ask if you want to delete the files. Tap on "Delete Photo."
Only in this way, can you delete photos from your iPhone but not iCloud. But keep in mind that once you enable the syncing photos from the iCloud feature, all the iCloud photos will be re-downloaded on your iPhone including the pictures that you've deleted from your iPhone but not iCloud.
Is there any other way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud with iCloud syncing feature turned on? Yes. You can use EaseUS MobiMover Free - this free iPhone data backup software to backup your photos from iPhone to PC or Mac and free up space for more essential files. Once you backup photos from iPhone to computer, then you can delete them on your iPhone, whether or not they'll be deleted from iCloud. It's doesn't matter anyway.
To back up photos from iPhone to compter or laptop:
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to your computer (Mac or PC) with a USB cable and run EaseUS MobiMover. In MobiMover, choose "Phone to PC" to back up all your iPhone photos to the computer at once. Then, click the "Next" button to go on.
Step 2. Select the category/categories you'd like to back up. It's an excellent choice to make a copy of all the supported file types on your iPhone using the data transfer feature. You can see from the screenshot below, MobiMover enables you to back up iPhone data on your desktop or customize the storage path by yourself.
Step 3. Now, click the "Transfer" button to start backing up your iPhone photos to computer without iCloud. The transmission is high-speed, and you don't have to wait too long.
📖 Further Reading: iPhone Won't Let Me Delete Photos: How to Fix?
Related Articles
Why is My New iPhone Not Downloading Messages from iCloud?
Does Shared Album Reduce Quality
How to Offload Photos from iPhone
Does iCloud Backup Deleted Text Messages?