5 Ways to Delete Photos from iPhone But Not iCloud

“My iPhone 7 has run out of capacity. Can I delete photos off iPhone but keep them on iCloud and my iPad Pro? Any suggestions? Thanks.”

To free up storage space on iPhone, most people tend to back up their photos in iCloud and delete them from iPhone Camera Roll. However, the problem is when you delete photos from your iPhone, they are removed from your iCloud Photo Library as well. Is there any way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud? Actually, there is. This tutorial will show you 5 easy solutions to delete photos iPhone without deleting from iCloud.

Why You Can’t Delete Photos from iPhone But Not iCloud?

Before fixing the problem, let’s discuss why you can’t delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. Technically, it is hard to manage photos from iPhone or iCloud separately when iPhone and iCloud account are bound together. If the “Download and Keep Originals” function in iCloud Photo Library is turned on, any photo you delete from your iPhone will be automatically deleted from iCloud as well. And if you turn on “Optimize iPhone Storage”, then it is impossible to delete photos from both your iPhone and iCloud storage. This is because the original photos are actually stored in iCloud.

Now let’s see how to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud:

Way 1. Disable iCloud Photos Then Delete iPhone Pictures

To delete photos from iPhone but keep on iCloud, you will have to separate your iPhone’s photos from your iCloud account. To achieve this, you need to disable iCloud Photos on your iPhone and then delete the pictures. Here is how to do it:

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap on your name.
2. Tap iCloud > Photos and toggle off the button next to iCloud Photos to turn off the iCloud synchronization.
3. Now go the Photos app and select the pictures you don’t want to keep then tap Delete.

Note: To get rid of iCloud Photos on all of your devices, just go to Settings > your name > iCloud > Manage Storage > Photos, then choose Disable & Delete.

Way 2. Sign Out of iCloud Account before Deleting Photos

Also, you can simply sign out of iCloud account to disable the connection between your iPhone and iCloud. Thus you can delete photos from your iPhone without deleting them from iCloud. Follow these steps to do it:

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings and tap on your name.
2. Scroll down and tap on Sign Out.
3. Choose to keep a copy of your data on this iPhone or not, then tap Sign Out again to confirm.
4. After signing out of iCloud account, you can go to Photos app and delete your unwanted pictures.

Note: Whenever you sign back into your iCloud account, iCloud will automatically sync your iPhone photos again.

Way 3. Sign into iPhone with Another New iCloud Account

Another practical way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud is to sign into your iPhone with a new iCloud account. After syncing your iPhone photos to iCloud that signed in with the old Apple ID, sign out this account and log in with the new Apple ID. Then you can delete photos from your iPhone to release more storage space. And the photos in the previous iCloud account remain intact. You can access them from other iOS devices by signing in with the old Apple ID.

Way 4. Backup Photos on iPhone with iCloud Alternative

Since syncing photos to iCloud is inconvenient when it comes to delete photos on your iPhone, we suggest you backup your iPhone photos to computer instead of iCloud. You can use third-party tools like Fucosoft iOS Data Backup & Restore to back up photos from iPhone to computer. Besides photos, you can also use it to backup messages, contacts, WhatsApp, WeChat, and more on iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro (Max), iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone XS/XS Max/XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8/7/6s/6 Plus, iPad Pro, etc running on iOS 14/13.

Steps to back up photos from iPhone to computer:

1. Download, install and launch Fucosoft iOS Data Backup & Restore on your computer and choose Acquire Backup from Device & iCloud.
2. Click on Back Up Device and connect your iPhone to your computer to proceed. Wait for the program to recognize your device.
3. Now choose to Make a Full Backup and the path of your backup files, then click Back Up to start the backup process.

Way 5. Directly Erase Photos from iPhone via dr.fone – Data Eraser (iOS)

dr.fone – Data Eraser (iOS) is another third-party program you can use when you want to delete photos from your iPhone but not iCloud. This iOS Data Eraser software is exactly what you need to free up your iPhone storage and speed up the device. With it, you can completely erase photos, videos, messages, contacts, call history, notes and more from iPhone with one click.

Steps to completely erase photos from iPhone or iPad:

1. Download, install and run dr.fone on your computer. Select “Erase” among all the functions.
2. Connect your iPhone to the computer using a USB cable. When the program detects your device, select Erase All Data to start the process.
3. You can select a security level to erase iPhone data. And you need to enter 000000 to confirm your operation.
4. After that, click on Erase Now and keep your iPhone is connected during the whole data erasing process.

Conclusion

These methods offer efficient solution to delete photos from your iPhone without deleting them from iCloud. The best part, you can easily do them even without any technical experience. So go ahead and make use of these information without fuss. If you want to recover deleted photos from iPhone, don’t worry, you can rely on Fucosoft iPhone Data Recovery to scan your iPhone and get photos back even without any backup available.

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