How to Delete Photos from iPhone but Not iCloud [Guided]

Do you have the same confusion as this user?You want to delete some photos on your iPhone to free up space, but you don't want to lose your photos. Since the photos are stored on iCloud, is there a way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud?Luckily, you come to the right place. Read on to learn how to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud.

Can You Delete Photos from iPhone but not iCloud?

When iCloud Photos is enabled on iPhone, photos on iPhone will be automatically uploaded to iCloud and synced to other iDevices. In addition, photos in iCloud will also be synced to your iPhone. Likewise, when you delete a photos from Photos app on iPhone, it also deletes from your iCloud and any other devices where you have signed in to iCloud Photos.

That’s to say, Apple does not allow you to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. But fortunately, there are some workarounds that can help you delete photos from iPhone but keep them in iCloud. Read on to get the details.

How to Delete Photos from iPhone but Not iCloud

If I delete pictures on my iPhone, will they be deleted from iCloud? You have come to the right place! Here are 4 workarounds that can help you delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. If you want to make sure that you won’t lose any photos, Solution 2 is a better choice.

Solution 1. Turn off iCloud Photos

This is the easiest way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. When you disable iCloud Photos, you will be given the option to “Remove Photos from iPhone” or “Download Photos & Videos”. You can choose the previous option to quickly delete all photos from iPhone, or you can choose to download iCloud photos on iPhone and then manually delete unwanted photos.

Only one disadvantage: If you turn on iCloud Photos again on your iPhone, it will try to update to match your iPhone. The photos you deleted from iPhone will also be deleted from iCloud.

How to turn off iCloud Photos:

>> Go to Settings app > Tap [your name] > Tap iCloud > Tap Photos > Turn off iCloud Photos > Choose to remove photos from iPhone or download photos to iPhone.

Solution 2. Transfer Photos to Computer as Backup

How to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud Reddit? It is a complicated way to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. But you can make sure that all your photos will be kept safe. There are 3 parts to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud.

Part 1. Transfer photos from iPhone to computer

When you connect iPhone to computer, you can find your photos via File Explorer and copy them to computer. You need to open folder after folder to find the photos you need to transfer. In addition, it will only display camera roll photos. To make things simple, you can rely on AOMEI FoneBackup to help you transfer photos quickly.

AOMEI FoneBackup is one comprehensive iOS data management tool for Windows PC users. It supports data transfer between iPhone and computer, between iPhone and another iPhone/iPad. Once you transfer your photos to your computer, you won't have to worry about losing them. You can upload photos to iCloud or transfer photos back to iPhone anytime you want. Here is how to transfer photos from iPhone to a computer:

Step 1. Download, install, and launch AOMEI FoneBackup > Connect your iPhone to your computer and Trust AOMEI FoneBackup.

Step 2. On the home interface, choose the iPhone to PC option.

Step 3. Choose Photos and select the pictures you want to transfer.

★Tip:

 In addition to selecting photos to transfer, you can move to the Videos section to transfer 4K videos from iPhone to PC.

Step 4. Select a path from Transfer Settings (location folder, USB flash drive, external hard drive) to save your photos and click Start Transfer to export photos to the computer.

Tip: If you want to delete iCloud backups, you can use FoenTool to help you. Just run AOMEI FoneBackup on your PC > Tap My iCloud > Enter your iCloud account > Select iCloud manage.

Part 2. Delete photos from iPhone

Now your photos are safely stored on your computer and you can delete photos from iPhone to free up space. You can disable iCloud Photos as shown in Solution 1 to remove all iCloud photos from iPhone.

Part 3. Upload photos to iCloud from the computer

Before uploading photos to iCloud, please make sure that you have disabled iCloud Photos on iPhone, otherwise, these photos will be synced to your iPhone again.

Step 1. Open a browser and go to iCloud.com > Log in to your account with your Apple ID and passcode.

Step 2. Choose the Photos option and choose to upload photos to it.

Solution 3. Switch to Another iCloud Account

You can also choose to switch to another iCloud account to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud. When you log in to another iCloud account on iPhone, you can delete unwanted photos on iPhone and the changes won’t be updated to the previous iCloud.

You can go to iCloud.com to view the photos stored in the previous iCloud. In addition, you can access them from your other devices by signing in with your previous Apple ID.

Step 1. Go to Settings > Tap [your name] > Tap Sign Out > Enter the passcode to turn off Find My iPhone > Choose the files you want to keep on your iPhone > Tap Sign Out to confirm.

Step 2. Tap the Apple ID subheading to sign in to another account. Now your iPhone is synced with the current iCloud account. You can go to Photos app to delete photos from iPhone but not previous iCloud.

Solution 4. Use Other Cloud Storage Services

In addition to using iCloud, you can choose to upload iPhone photos to Google Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. Thus, you can also delete your photos from your iPhone.

Unlike iCloud, when you delete a photo from iPhone, it will not be deleted from these cloud storage services. When photos are successfully uploaded, they can be safely stored in the cloud and you can delete photos from iPhone to free up space.

Final Words

That’s all about how to delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud because you do not want to lose your photos. But before that, it’s recommended to transfer photos from iPhone to computer first, and then delete them from iPhone.

In this case, AOMEI FoneBackup cannot only help you delete photos from iPhone but not iCloud, but also help you transfer or back up your iPhone photos to your PC. Download AOMEI FoneBackup and use it right now!