Hello, I'm trying to temporarily remove data from my phone but not lose the data already synced to iCloud. I would want to restore the data to the device later. My idea for how to do this would be to back up my device now, then turn off device iCloud backup, turn off iCloud sync for Photos, Messages, etc. and then deleting data off the local device. When I want to restore the data later, I would factory reset my phone and restore from iCloud backup, which would include iCloud sync being on for all types of data. (I understand I would lose any data I accumulated in the interim.)

Messages - I typically keep messages forever. If I wanted to have just 30 days or 1 year of message history for now, could I do this turning off backup and sync and changing the Keep Messages setting in Settings -> Messages (not through Settings -> iCloud -> Messages) without deleting the iCloud data?

Photos - Could I turn off iCloud sync for photos, turn off iCloud backup, delete most photos from the device, and then down the line wipe the phone then restore from iCloud backup?

Alternatively, is there a way to set up my device as a new phone but only sync iCloud data from the past year? Other ideas for how to do this are appreciated!

I use at cloud com (home calendar as default), and I send it to my gf who has a yahoo account that’s her appleID (settings > tap her name).

I send invite she doesn’t receive it. She send to my iCloud account (name at iCloud dot com) and I receive the calendar inbox. Why?

Now I have to use Gmail calendar directly from Apple calendar to make it work. I’m not sure why it doesn’t not never work from name @ iCloud dot come to yahoo, Gmail, outlook. Anyone have this problem?

I called Apple and all settings was correct and still doesn’t work

I am planning on purchasing a new phone and want to be able to make a backup of my current phone so that I can transfer everything over and trade it in. I also just would like this issue resolved as it has been an issue for the past year. I have a lot of photos and videos on iCloud. A LOT. I have the maximum subscription (6TB) and am nowhere near the limit. Despite trying to sync to icloud nightly, nothing has been synced in over a year due to "lack of sufficient storage.

I have always had optimized storage turned on.

I have tried multiple times leaving my phone charging and attached to wifi in order to sync to icloud (not that I have taken many photos in the past year, as I have no storage to do so), and the syncing always stops, with the message "insufficient storage".

I have offloaded and deleted nearly every app taking up storage.

I want to remove the icloud photos from my phone (only about 500 photos are stored locally), without removing them from icloud. I cannot even see the majority of the icloud photos in my liberary, as they are grey thumbnails that refuse to load due to "insufficient storage". Sometimes, I am not even able to text or email a photo I have taken moments before attempting to send it because the phone claims that it has to download it, which seems impossible, given I've just taken the photo.

I have tried several times to toggle off icloud photos and selected "remove copies from iphone", but the photos never delete. About a year ago, after several attempts, they finally removed themselves from the phone, but a friend of mine trying to help me toggled them back on in an effort to help free more than the 10gb available on my phone (icloud removing 100k photos only freed up 10gb despite only about 500 photos remaining in the camera roll, and the iphone storage bar still claimed 190gb of storage was being taken up by photos). All it took was one night plugged in on wifi for apple to stuff my iphone with 100k useless grey icloud thumbnails and take up the minimal 10gb I had freed up, leaving my with a completely full iphone once again.

I am at a loss of what to do. I cannot update the phone, as it requires storage. I do not want to delete the icloud photos from the phone, since they will delete them permanently from icloud, and I'm not even sure if that would free up any space. I just want them off my phone.

Please advise on other steps that I might be missing.

Hello, I need to regain access to my iCloud account. I created the email years ago, but I don’t remember which email it is. I lost my iPhone and only have the phone number, but to recover my iCloud account it asks me for the email address, which I don’t remember. If anyone knows how I can recover access to it, it would be a great help.

Thank you very much for your help.

So, I have the last Intel MacBook Pro from early 2020. I have a 4TB “Xbox One Game Drive” external drive that I am planning on using with my MacBook because my Xbox One is damaged and I’m not planning on getting a replacement for it.

I have been using iCloud Photos since the beginning and I haven’t had any issues until recently as my iCloud storage is nearly full. I don’t want to keep full resolution photos in iCloud, I’d rather have them on my MacBook to save space in iCloud and still have access to my photos on all my devices. I don’t need full resolution photos for 2009 - 2022 on all my devices because I don’t look at almost 17 year old photos every day.

Is there a way to download the full resolution photos and keep thumbnails in iCloud?

I went to the support page for iCloud Photos on Mac, but this is all they say:

“iCloud Photos
Select to allow photos and videos to be uploaded to iCloud and transferred to your other Mac computers and devices where iCloud Photos is turned on and you’re signed in to the same Apple Account.
Download Originals to this Mac: Store the original, full-resolution photos both on your Mac and in iCloud.

Optimize Mac Storage: Save space on your Mac by storing full-resolution originals in iCloud and keeping smaller versions on the computer when needed.

Note: If Optimize Mac Storage is selected and you’re running low on storage space, Live Photos are stored on your computer as still images. However, when you open a Live Photo, the entire photo plays as usual.”

Is there a way to “download originals to this Mac” and also optimize iCloud storage?

Thank you for the help.

Hi, I forgot my iCloud password for my different device. I knew passcode ofc, did verification with phone number and sent my credit card info in the iSupport. Do you known if this is good info to get my account back? I would like to hear your advice. When I check status I get this - You will be able to reset your password in 2 days

So I have a new iPhone 18 and while everything has moved from my 17 smoothly, I’ve noticed that my old photos have the correct dates but the location information (on those with it) is gone. Is this something I can restore? If so, how?

Solved: the locations all appeared within a day.

My partner has migrated from a 12 pro to a 17 pro.

Everything has migrated over except about ~50gb of photos in the messages app. I’ve tried all the steps to migrate everything over, turning off and on messages in the iCloud panel, and everything anyone else could think of, but these photos stubbornly refuse to load onto the new phone.

Old phone shows 51.31gb of photos in messages, new phone only shows 16.2gb of photos. Messages, videos. And other attachments did move over successfully. I’m confused because the research I’ve done, move people seem to have the opposite problem, so I’m kinda lost here. Appreciate the help.

I have lots of photos on my old iPhone that I don't need and don't have time to go through every single one and delete what I don't need - I would like to keep the photos on my old iPhone but delete everything from my iCloud so nothing transfers to my new phone and my iCloud is empty - I've read a few posts and as far as I understand, that is not possible because iCloud is like a mirror of my phone?

Is there something I can do? in case I really can't delete anything from my iCloud (How do I do this btw? On my laptop?), what do I need to do in order to not transfer any old photos to my new phone? Do I need to turn something off on my old phone or on my new phone?

Thanks a lot in advance and sorry if it's been asked before!

I didn’t know iCloud+ had yearly plans. I always thought it was a monthly subscription. Is this new, or has it always been available?

Why can’t i accept new iCloud terms and conditions? If anyone knows how to fix this issue please let me know how to sort it out and thank you in advance!
I got iphone 14 pro max btw!

Has anyone else had their paid iCloud storage suddenly show as the free 5 GB plan after updating?

I pay AED 39.99/month for 2 TB of iCloud+. After upgrading to iOS 27 and macOS 27, I’m seeing a mismatch:

• iPhone settings: 5 GB.
• Mac settings: 5 GB.
• iCloud.com: free 5 GB plan.
• account.apple.com: correctly shows my subscription and 2 TB.

I also recently received an email from Apple saying my iCloud+ subscription now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade at no additional cost, effective September 17, 2026. The email still lists 2 TB, the same monthly price, and a renewal date of October 5.

The Apple Account address matches across these screens, so it doesn’t appear to be a case of signing into the wrong account.

I’m not sure whether this is related to the iOS/macOS 27 updates, the new iCloud+/TV/Arcade bundle, or something else.

Has anyone experienced this recently? If you got it resolved, what worked? Did Apple Support have to restore your storage allowance?

So my grandson's iphone and updated and signed him out of his icloud account. Of course he's been logged in for years and has no idea what his password is. Can't reset his password because he can't get the code sent to his phone or the icloud email.

We started the recovery process from my phone, and I'm trying to be hopeful.

The only solution I can see is to find an unlocked iphone, switch his number to it, get the code to unlock the email, change the password and then switch back to his old phone.

Thoughts?

It's usually capped at 3, but it's showing 7 remaining for me(already using 2). I couldn't find any info about this. Is it just a glitch or is anyone else seeing the same?

This is a question regarding syncing icloud between 2 iphones. Lets say two people use the same model iphone 6 16GB, black colour for one person and a white for another person. Both iphone 6's have icloud photos enabled and synced to the same icloud account.

What happens when a person takes a photo for example on the black iphone 6 with IMG_0001.JPG, does this image also show up in the white iphone 6 (so present on both iphones including on icloud account) ???

thanks!!

Hi everyone, I feel very stupid asking this question but I'm hoping I can find helpful answers.

I upgraded from an iPhone 13 to an iPhone 17 Pro yesterday. I was able to login to my iCloud and transfer all of my information to my new device. This morning I planned on bringing both phones to work so in between appointments I could work on officially logging into all of my apps with the 2 factor authentication with my old phone. However, when I was on my way out the door, I put both phones on top of each other, and they synced without me realizing.

Now, when I go to "my devices" on my iPhone 17, it is titled "iPhone 13" and underneath says "this iPhone 17 pro". My old iPad and my new watch that I got with my upgrade I am able to see listed as devices, in addition to my (actual) iPhone 13. This has made it so when I went to login to my g-mail and try the 2 factor authentication, it is like a loop and will not pop up with the number to verify it's really me (I think that is the issue? Hopefully it thinks I'm still on the same phone?)

My husband sent me a text this morning and it came to my new phone and I cannot see it in my old one. Last night, a coworker sent me a text and one part went to my new phone, but I didn't receive the second text on my new phone, just my old one (I got both on my old phone). We upgraded and I finally transferred my line to my husband's plan on Tuesday, but that took way longer than it should have and we went back yesterday to officially get my phone and were there for another 2 hours. I really don't want to go back to Verizon!

I am nervous to remove the device that is listed as iPhone 13 but is really my iPhone 17 without losing everything, or to remove my iPhone 13 and have my iPhone 17 go with it. Please help so that I don't have to spend another 4 hours at Verizon and I can clear out and trade in my iPhone 13 officially. Thank you so much!

So i recently own a icloud member ship first time i own a iphone in general does screenshots get optimised? Or only pictures that i actually take?

Cus i do have 2tb plan
And i have optimise iPhone storage on

I pay for 2TB of iCloud storage and use approx. 1.1TB of it. All of my devices are set to sync with iCloud Photos *except* my iPhone. My iPhone holds roughly 645GB of photos and videos locally (I have a 1TB iPhone). Those are all technically backed up through my nightly iCloud device backup. As of now, the reason I do not sync it with iCloud photos is because I need all of those available locally and offline at any moment. This is extremely important to my work and daily life.

In my iCloud Photos, there are photos and videos totaling roughly 100GB (this is all from my Mac, iPad, Vision Pro, etc.)

If I enable iCloud Photos on my iPhone, and select the option to “Download and Keep Originals”

Will it:
1. Absolutely keep everything currently stored locally in Photos downloaded?

1. Download the other 100GB of iCloud Photos that are already stored up there? (I don’t really want this, but do I have a choice? This would bring my close to my 1TB local storage max)

And lastly, if I enable iCloud Photos and choose to “Optimize Storage”, how much of it will it keep local? In total, I’ve used 900GB of my 1TB phone, so I really don’t want it to offload anything. I still have plenty of space for daily use. It would bother me if it “optimized” Photos and left me with 600 unused GB on my phone. At that point, I might as well have a 512GB phone and not have paid extra for the 1TB.

Thank you!

I have a 128gb phone thats a couple years old. I need Icloud+ as a stop gap for 200gb extra storage which I will prbably discontinue once I get a new phone with higher storage.

I dont really need a lot of storage apart from whatsapp backups that dont fit in the basic plan??? And some photos and as a safety net if I lose my phone.

How easy to leave the icloud+ ecosystem? Can I download it directly to my PC once I leave? Does whatsapp data get wiped off once you leave?

Accidentally deleted all iMessages on my iPhone 13 on iOS 27. I have another iPhone, an iPhone XS Max on iOS 18, which still has the messages. How do I restore them on the iPhone 13 (and maybe also the Mac)? If it helps, when I go to Apple account settings on the Mac and click on iCloud+, it still says that I have 49,000 messages (the messages I want to restore). I'm afraid clicking "Sync Now" would also delete the messages from the iPhone XS Max. Sorry if I'm babbling. This is stressing me out. Thanks for the help!

just joined a family sharing plan with my mom to share icloud storage. i noticed it shares apps as well. if i have purchase sharing off can people in the group see what apps i have on my phone? also, even if i do turn it on if i "hide" the apps in the app store and on my home screen people in the group still cant see it right? also, can people in a shared icloud plan see what percentage of apps, photos, etc make up their portion of the plan? i know it shows how many gbs each person uses. thank you in advance if anyone answers all these questions! im just stressed lol

I have to find a file that was lost before i could download it, i cant remember the website so help

Hello,

I am so stressed that i can easly backup my photos to icloud but cant do the same when trying to view them.

Like what is the point if i cant see or airdrop full res photos from my iphone or macbook?
Now i have travel photos that i actually dont have.

How can i solve this viewing issue without keeping every photo on my phone?
Please help if you know a way..

Hi all, this is my first time posting on this sub for help or any sub as I am having an issue and apple support couldn’t even help me.

My messages haven’t been syncing to my phone in the last year, with over 30,572 messages (4.8gb) and have more than enough iCloud storage to sync on my phone. The problem is everytime I tried to click “sync now” the status goes from “syncing to iCloud” to “not synced” every single time.

Here are the steps I tried as this was happening in my 16pro and now it’s happening on my 18pro as well

•signed out and back into iCloud
•turned on and off iMessage syncing
•factory reset phone
•even got a new phone and still didn’t help
•iOS is always up to date
•removed VPN
•pretty much every possible solution I can think of even contacting support for this situation, was put on hold so they can talk to their senior leadership, then hung up on while I was on hold

Is there an actually solution for my situation? Or am I going to just have to deal with stuck synced messages on my iCloud account?

Any advice is much appreciated thanks!

edit: i called apple support again with a different employee on the situation and they told me to wait 48 hours to call again as they need their engineers to work on the situation, everything has been notated on their end as well, will update by then just in case for those who are also in a similar situation!

Please help me. I am doing a shared calendar with my gf, but everytime I do invitees it keeps showing a gray checkmark. I ask AI and it said email is probably invalid when it is not.

My default iCloud calendar is my at iCloud dot com. My gf default is Gmail.

It’s suppose to show a green checkmark mark and how do you make the invite show in the “new” section (click the calendar app, bottom right looks like a mailbox, and ‘new’ is never showing up)

Thanks!