I have read already a lot of feeds around this subject and tried the 3 options I have found (burst photos "deletion", photos shared via message and icloud photos disable) and still remain with the same issue... Any 4 option? Thanks.

So I was having trouble keeping my backups under the 5 GB limit. Looking through the list of apps it didn't seem like I was storing all that much, but I went ahead and removed a few of the larger app data backup items (Chrome, Photos, etc.) but that didn't do much. I added up the remaining apps and found that they were only accounting for about 0.5 GB while the total backup size was about 4 GB.

Huh. So I just turned off the back up for every single app. The back up size is now 3.5 GB. The hell is going on? Why does it take 3.5 GB to back up the iphone when I am not actually backing up any app data?

So my girlfriend has an iPhone 12 (IOS 17), which is 126 GB out of 128 GB full. I've added her to my family iCloud plan which is 2 TB (1 TB used). I've switched her to my plan through the cloud settings, however in iCloud -> Photos -> Sync, it says not enough storage to sync. There's a blue settings button next to it, which takes me to a page to upgrade from the free 5 GB plan to a 200 GB plan. I cannot disable the photo sync as it says I need an extra 46 GB of free space, which I do not have. I tried all the solutions I've found on the Apple support forum and Reddit, but none worked (I've not tried disabling the sync option as I can't). Any advice or recommendations?

I manually added PDFs and eBooks to my iPad via AirDrop. My iPad keeps offloading these to iCloud which is annoying when mid-flight I find that I cannot access my documents.

I've re-downloaded all of them and turned off iCloud sync but then it removes ALL of my documents in Books - even though I added them manually and did not get them through Apple.

I logged into iCloud on my desktop and there's no options to download my books and PDFs that I can see.

Anyone know how to get my files back without them syncing to iCloud and going offline?

So I have to send my mac for service and want to make sure i don’t loose any important files. Are the photos imported from my mac into the Photos app saved in icloud? or will they disappear if they get deleted on my mac? God i know this is such a stupid question but i am trying to be thorough and make sure. Because when i went to the "on my mac" thing, i saw that the pictures in imports were there so i got unsure weather they were stored locally or not...

Grateful if someone could just help me out as i’ve been super frustrated.

Essentially what I want to do is keep my photos on my old iphone and not have these photos on my iCloud or on my new iPhone.

On my iPhone 12, I have already:

1. switched off syncing
2. manage storage, turn off and delete photos

The photos on my iPhone 12 have remained but I now face the issue whereby all the photos that are supposed to be deleted are on my new iPhone 16. I tried to delete the photos off of iCloud but it wouldn’t let me and I found out that I have to recover the data from “manage storage” to delete the photos from iCloud, yet when I do this, the photos that are deleted from iCloud still remain on my iPhone 16.

In essence, how can I remove all these photos from iCloud and in turn delete them from my iPhone 16?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Don't quite understand it. Ive turned off my virus and firewalls, I've installed and reinstalled multiple times, made sure apple services were enabled, tried them disabled I'm not sure.

here is a gif of it https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcm1hZmZzeWI5ZGQ3ZzlsZ2xxcHNsYWdpNHN2aHg5a3p0dGlnMDl0biZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/CR7LFRnWTKrxaqx5FY/giphy.gif

Do you use it? why do you use it if so? and how long have you been using it.
What would you change if you could as well?

Let's discuss it!

I, my wife, and other family members have 400GB, 1TB, and 400GB photos, respectively, plus some files stored in a family shared 2T iCloud storage. We've been using the 2T plan for many years, and we're satisfied with and get used to iCloud storage, which makes photos and files accessible anytime and on all Apple devices. Because of iCloud, we usually buy iPhones or iPads with a minimum storage (like 64GB iPhone 11) and only keep optimized small versions of photos on the devices.

But recently:

1. I find the joys of using Chromebook/Android/Linux/Windows, which makes me wonder if there is a more general storage plan.

2. As you see, 2T iCloud storage is near full; we don't want to pay more. We found that although we can access photos conveniently on every Apple device, we seldom access them on every device. All the original photos are just lying on iCloud and all the optimized versions on each device.

3. 99%+ of our iCloud storage is photos; I found the free 5G storage is enough for us to sync important files that need to be on the cloud.

4. We have had a 1T Samsung T7 SSD, a 5T Western Digit Passport Ultra HDD, and a 2T HDD, but due to the convenient iCloud, they are just laying on the shelf and seldom used. (Although we should use them as a backup, we're just a little lazy...). I thought I shouldn't waste them.

5. SSDs are cheaper than ever in China due to competition from domestic storage companies. Money from 1-year 2T iCloud storage can buy me a 1T Samsung T7 SSD.

So I'm trying to turn off Photos sync and move all the photos to external SSDs/HDDs. Here are my plans:

1. 1T SSD for me, 2T for my wife as the first backup, and share a 5T HDD as the second backup.

2. 1T SSD for other family members as the first backup, and share a 2T HDD as the second backup.

3. All important files are also saved on laptop's internal storage and on iCloud and Google Drive.(using the free plan)

The moving part is actually pretty easy; I just copy the photos library to an external drive and set it as the primary library, then change to original photos in iCloud settings and wait a long time for the Photos app to download all.

I found one iCloud was just downloading normally, but another with normal "Downloading xxx Originals" but stuck without acutal downloading no matter I restarted Macbook or reopened Photos. So I selected all the photos and chose File > Play Slideshow, which made Photos to download finally and quickly rather than just leaving it alone to download in the background.

After all the downloads, I deleted the library file on Macbook and iOS, turned off Photos iCloud sync.

More unsuccessful attempts and tips:

1. I tried to download all the original photos and export all to ssd, but I found it time-consuming.

2. Opening a folder with a large number of photos on SSD is very slow. I can't find free and better software than Photos on MacOS to manage those TB-sized photos.

3. Apple Data and Privacy is another way to download all your photos. I chose to let Apple divide 25GB per file to download, but I found the download process is unstable, which made me confused about whether all the files are downloaded.

4. Do not unzip large .zip files and manage a large number of photos directly on HDD, which will take a lot of time. HDDs are better as second backup for SSD.

For days icloud sync on mac has been stuck trying to download and upload. I have tried everything I can think of and everything I could find like of course restarting, making sure all updates are installed, and running killall bird.Has anyone seen this or have any ideas?

Can anyone explain how to port gmail to iCloud

My photo app is in sync but didn’t have enough storage so it didn’t back up to iCloud. And I lost my phone with photos I really want.

I don’t understand if this is such a common issue why hasn’t anyone came up with a solution? This literally might make me change to google. My google photos also didn’t save the pictures.

Is there any third party apps or anything??

So im wondering if my photos will get deleted when my subscription runs out, reminder all these photos are on my phone currently

Hey I have the 200 gb option of iCloud storage and I’m trying to save about 500,000 messages worth, it saved almost 130,000 with only 25 GB used but it stopped syncing and won’t resume. I don’t care about any of the other messages apart from the one from my mom and girlfriend, my girlfriend takes up the most but it’s completely given up. Do I need more storage? With everything else like notes and photos I’ve only used 136 gb

Hi all so random I’m paying $10 for 2 tb for storage I barely use… how do I get around to storing in other places?? I’m not sure plz help

Hey guys,

if i have iCloud photos enabled (it says that i have 25Gb of photos in my icloud), can i remove my current (and only) iPhone from my Apple ID and still have all photos in my iCloud if i completely erase all content and data from my phone and set it up again?

Hey guys,

so undortunately i deleted all whatsall data from my phone. I checked my device backup and i recognized that my whatsall data is backed up in my device backup to iCloud. Since i dont know if a new device backup would overwrite my existing iCloud device backup, can i just disable the device backup option for now until i recovered my whatsapp data?

Hey guys, i am in a kind panic mode as i tried to do some home screen adjustments and wanted to remove all apps from app library and home screen.

I never made a backup of my whatsapp ir signal app chats but i can see that my iPhone backup in my iCloud consists of 7GB whatsapp data.

Is there any possibility to restore my whatsapp chats based on this backup i made today morning?

Thanks in advance for the support.

Hello.

I am considering trying the Apple Passwords app. Seems to fill my needs. Although on a PC you need the iCloud app installed to be able to sync with the Chrome Extension. My system admin doesn't allow iCloud. Does anyone know about any bypass for this?

Hello!

Is it possible to sync messages on iCloud for 30 days but keep them on my iPhone forever?

Thanks!

There is this notes folder on my icloud sync account. I created it some years ago.

Whenever I delete this folder, it appears after some minutes again.

It doesn't matter, if I delete it on one device and let it sync or if I delete on all devices at the same time. I even disabled iCloud sync, I thought maybe this is a finder problem. But after reactivating, it appears again.

Worst thing, when I delete this folder, it gets stuck for couple of minutes. I won't sync at all. Then it syncs again, and there is this folder again. Even though it was deleted on all devices and in iCloud web.

I now put all of my notes on the local account, so clean wipe, but the folder reappears.

It seems, if I delete the folder, upload sync is broken. Because it still sometimes download syncs notes, which I create on iCloud Web. That's why I thought maybe delete all the finder folders, which are note folders. But I don't want to delete my local notes.

If I rename the folder on Mac, then delete, it breaks upload sync again, then after a view minutes, the folder is back again with the new name though. This is too why I think the mac folder is broken.

How do I get rid of this folder??

Hi everyone,

I recently received a very disturbing email from the address sec6ni@admcoalition.com, which claims that my iCloud account has been compromised. The sender states that they have installed spyware on my devices and have recorded inappropriate videos of me. They are demanding a payment of $1,250 in cryptocurrency, threatening to share these supposed videos with my contacts if I don’t comply.

Here’s a brief summary of the email content:

•	The sender claims to have access to my devices and personal life.
•	They mention a spyware program called Pegasus.
•	They threaten to share compromising videos unless I pay them.
•	They warn against contacting the police or replying to the email.

I’ve never encountered anything like this before, and while I suspect it’s a scam, the language used is really unsettling. I’m particularly worried about the security of my iCloud account and whether there’s any real threat here.

Has anyone else received similar emails? Is there a possibility that my iCloud has been compromised, or is this just a common scam tactic? Any advice or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hey everyone,

I’ve been struggling with my WhatsApp backup for quite a while and could really use some help. I currently have an iPhone 13 (upgraded from an iPhone 8 Plus), and despite purchasing 2TB of iCloud storage, my WhatsApp never backs up properly. It’s constantly giving me storage issues, even though I have way more than enough space.

I managed to transfer my WhatsApp chats from my iPhone 8 Plus to my iPhone 13 early last year, but ever since, I’ve had these backup issues. I’ve tried everything I could find online—signing out and back in to iCloud, turning the back up option on and off, deleting things, resetting network settings, etc.—but nothing seems to work.

Has anyone else faced this? Any solutions I haven’t tried? I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

I currently have 50GB iCloud, and it is now full, so I cannot backup anymore. Most of it is due to Photos and iMessages. Do I bite the bullet and buy the 200GB iCloud option? Or are there better or other options? Is there an easy or fast way to delete or make space, etc? Thoughts and Advice?
Thanks!

Hello everyone, I’ve got an iPhone 11 running 18.1 and an 2014 MacBook Pro running high sierra. I know I know y’all are thinking upgrade to Big Sur! But I’m testing it out since my requirements are very low. But every time I request the code since I have two factor verification on it sends it on iPhone and it asks me if I want to allow it and when I click allow nothing happens. Any input is appreciated. Thank you very much. Fellow Apple fan.

When ever i want to edit an old photo i keep getting this message "Unable to Download Photo" Make sure your iPhone is connected to the internet and try again. When i have connection and i have 200GB cloud this used to happen alot when i didn't had space but now i do and it keeps popping up + the photo is soo blurry idk what to do please help

Hi, apologies if this is a common issue, but it's foxing me...

I'm generally a Windows user (sorry!) but I'm also a keen photographer, and I have an iPad which I use almost exclusively to sort/delete/edit photos while on the train. I upload them from my PC to iCloud overnight, delete/edit them on the train, then download what's left/the edits back onto my PC in the evening. I've been doing this for years without incident.

Since about August, every time I download the files from iCloud - usually via logging in on Chrome, selecting what I need, and hitting download, which gives me a Zip file - the resulting file names are a string of weird symbols, and are just generic 'files' that my PC can't read. Previously they'd have been e.g. 'IMG_0100' and a recognisable image format (e.g. jpg).

I can work around this by copying the photos directly from my iCloud Photos file in Windows Explorer, but I found my old workflow more reliable and flexible... I've tried a couple of different PCs, running different versions of Windows, with similar results - so I'm presuming this is a widespread problem? If so, is there a fix?

Thanks!

i bought iCloud+ today (200GB) to free up the storage on my phone due to my photos which is 379GB, the system says i can’t even transfer over the photos and i need to upgrade to a larger plan. Any way to overcome this issue ?

Very long story, but all of my iPhone's photos were deleted around November 2023. (Deleted from recently deleted as well-- totally gone).

I had some backups from around that time, but I cannot locate them, and I assume they have also been deleted. I have used recovery tools such as CopyTrans, but haven't been able to locate any backups from before that time.

Is there any possible way to get anything back? I am an engineer; I will do whatever it takes.

Is there a way to filter promotional emails in iCloud like in Gmail? I want (some) promotional emails separated but not sent to spam.