How to STOP using iCLOUD! - Guide to TURNING OFF iCloud syncing on your Apple device!

[@micahcirlos]

I think the biggest issue is not having the ability to manually decide when and what content you actually want synced and backed up. If you don't separate your content into different folders, iCloud will automatically sync everything up in those default folders which kind of sucks. In addition, this functionality seems to be that everything that you save on your "Desktop & Documents" folders will be wiped away once you uncheck the box in the iCloud settings. You can just check that box again and all of your stuff will reappear. Once you uncheck the box, it wipes away all of the files and saves it onto the iCloud drive. If you try to login to iCloud to view the restore function, you will not be able to see the files. If you check the box, all of the files will be downloaded from the cloud and restored back to your computer. This functionality is very invasive, especially if you don't realize that all of that information is in the cloud. Once you get your files back onto your computer, move the files out of Desktop or Documents folders, then you can uncheck those boxes if you don't want iCloud drive to sync those folders. You can move it back if you want, but any time you turn iCloud back on and off, it will delete content from your computer. What's great about google drive is the ability to see exactly everything that is backed up and you can go in and add/subtract what you do and do not want. Apple icloud was created in a way that assumes right off that bat you want everything backed up and shared between devices. Not everyone wants that, and if you don't know it operates that way, it kinda sucks trying to reverse everything so you can have control of your content again in the way you want it.

[@marcd1981]

Thank you, Michael, this is exactly what I am going through right now. I do not even have a Mac computer, just an iPhone, and it doesn't have the most memory, so I need to free up space on the phone. But, as you just stated, there is no easy way to do this, because you either have everything on your device, or you have nothing. No in between doesn't make sense, why would you not have the option to decide for yourself what you want to save?

[@Loyee2000]

@@marcd1981 This is exactly what Apple wants. They want to fully control you the users, and then be trained to stick with them forever. What would make Apple the biggest corp in the world?

[@judih.8754]

​@@marcd1981I think Joel pointed out that you can select to also download photos/files to your phone (or device). BTW I don't use iCloud at all. I have a MacBook that I back up to a separate drive and I use an android phone.

[@chrischamberlain7628]

@@marcd1981 I don’t like this at all. I don’t want ICloud. I never had it before and now got a new phone IPhone 13 I don’t like because the battery now needs to be charged every two hours. On my IPhone 6 the battery lasted for several days. Now this thing with the ICloud has me really annoyed. When I go into ICloud I see a bunch of pictures I don’t want, but they’ve deliberately set it up where there is no delete function or trash can. This is very unfair to do to people. Already within one day I’m being sent messages to now pay for more ICloud storage.I just want out of it. When I called apple I was actually told I can’t get out of it now.

[@BillAnt]

That's Apple for you, they make the decisions for you (no thanks!). Also, it's mind boggling that in 2024 you still can't open, manage, or used your messages when logged into iCloud on a computer. lol

[@JaTurtle515]

After watching this video, this is not what I thought I was going to be watching. I thought you were going to give a solution other than iCloud storage. But you actually went all in with iCloud.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I think for heavy tech users, it's hard to not go to any cloud service. So since I have primarily Apple devices, iCloud is the most logical for me. Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@RogierYou]

Yes! This video is BS about bashing iCloud. Other then brewing my own server there is no one else who I would trust to sync my data across the cloud. And how well can we trust ourselves to keep our own server at home secure?????

[@kantraxoikol6914]

of course he's utterly useless. every phone is set up different....i can't even FIND an icloud icon...let alone turn it the fug off

[@angelamoe9559]

So if we continue to use Apple devices the world is going so see our stuff?

[@perkinshomestead]

@@angelamoe9559 yes! That is the problem. I don't want to use it because I think it can be accessed. Not that we are hiding anything, but it is a privacy issue.

[@Skaggins]

Thanks for this. As a new owner of a mac studio, I was pulling my hair out. somehow unable to save videos to my documents because I didn't have enough room in my 5 gig icloud. It's been an excruciating week, but I believe your explanation has fixed this.

[@emmymonti8094]

Finally someone who explained iCloud in a way I was able to understand clearly!!! Thank you

[@kantraxoikol6914]

BUT IT ISN'T THERE! THERE IS NO ICLOUD ICON anywhere ON MY FARGIN FONE

[@BillAnt]

TL;DR Basically if you get an iPhone, you'll be paying a monthly iCloud fee forever (well, till you die). Meanwhile I switched from and iPhone to a Samsung with a 1 TB SDcard synced with my laptop, no monthly fees, ever. heh

[@howarddunn4600]

Watched a number of your films and have to say your presentation is really clear. Thanks Joel

[@Vizzpat]

Thank you for this video! It answered some questions that were useful for me. I love having the convenience of iCloud but didn’t really understand a lot about how it worked. Great job!

[@hdsmithermanjensen]

Dang, you covered every concern I’ve had. I’ve been putting it off for so long and have thousands of photos I want to get off of my phone/iCloud, so thank you! Your content is amazing!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you for the kind words @Hillary Smith! I'm so happy this was helpful and helped you Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@leroyellis3940]

Thanks Joel for your response on the hard drive. I’ve got one on the way! Love your videos. I’m learning.

[@planetsabbath]

This kind of helped, I ended up just uninstalling iCloud through settings on my pic, it didn’t want to uninstall at first but i figured it out. Good video anyway.

[@christinedavis5327]

Thank You, I’m a new subbie! 😃 I’m soo glad I came across your video while searching for a solution for “iCloud and Find My doesn’t work or is disabled.” Even though I still haven’t found a solution, I enjoyed watching your very informative video! You must be more than a photographer… you’re a good Teacher, because you made it easy for this “non-tech savvy” girl to understand! Now I’m off to check your channel to see if I can find a solution to my problem.😫

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you so much @Christine Davis for the kind words! I do love taking photos and I certainly love teaching others what i've learned along the way! What's going on with your "Find My" feature? It's not working? I don't have videos on that topic yet, but I still may be able to help! Look forward to helping!

[@marcd1981]

Good evening, Joel, thank you for this video. You have explained a couple of things I was unsure of, but I still have a question I'm hoping you can answer. First, I don't have a Mac computer, I use a Windows laptop with Windows 11 on it right now. However, I have an iPhone that I am trying to free up space on, and this is where iCloud makes it difficult. My phone only has 64GB of storage, so it is getting full from photos and videos. My issue is that I want to delete older photos and videos from my phone to free up space, but if I keep iCloud on, they will all download back to my phone (found this out the hard way the other day). And as you stated in this video, if I choose to not use iCloud, everything will be deleted from my phone once I stop syncing. But I don't want to delete everything, just older items. So, what are my options (if there are any) to free up space on my phone? Thank you again, have a great weekend! Marc

[@PatrickBijvoet]

Hi Joel, I am working with Mac for 10 years now (never Windows again). I love your Icloud video's. So much I did not know. I actually have on my Mac Mini and Macbook air (M1) 2 seperate Icloud accounts. (I am alone) One private with my photo's etc, but also connected via Icloud with my 2 Iphones, with my older I mac. Second one private and professional where I work the most on. But because I also display classes to my student from this account, I want certain things seperate to protect my private live. Those 2 account I use for my Mac Mini and Macbook air (M1). It sounds complicated but it is not. Only thing is to keep the calenders of both accounts synched. But I just invite the other account and so both calenders are the same. I want to thank you for your video's. Altough a few details are different here in Europe, the basis is the same and I can do so much more. I upgraded both to 200 Gb, I did not even know how to do that, but you learned me how. Optimized Photo's etc. All thanks to you! Keep on going and maybe you ones can make a video about managing calenders via Icloud and even on different Icloud accounts. Maybe there is a workarround you know of and I don't. Thank You! Patrick, The Netherlands.

[@maryhealey6739]

That was an excellent presentation about icloud. I liked the way you clearly defined the purpose of it giving both its limits and capabilities. Thank you Now, if you could do a presentation on how to get messages working again it would be so helpful!

[@moebius1714]

Wonderful tutorial. As some other commentators mentioned, it covered all questions we had regarding keeping our photos saved on iCloud while clearing up the space on my wife's phone. Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Moebius! I have a handful of other videos that may be helpful too that are related to iCloud Photos and also saving space that I'll link down below for reference: Optimizing iPhone & iPad Storage - How to FREE UP SPACE on my iPhone, iPad, or Mac for photos! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHjQf2B5YpuKbaM iCLOUD BACKUPS - WHAT you NEED TO KNOW when it comes to backing up PHOTOS, iPHONES and your devices! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZbTaqOIetWfepo How to BACKUP iCLOUD PHOTOS! Options for your Mac, iPhone and iPad! Cloud or No Cloud! kzbin.info/www/bejne/poi9i5-PiptlqtU I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@ny6901]

Such good info! At 4:00 that messages aren't included in the back up! I learned that the hard way. If they get deleted, OPPS gone! Another not fun lesson was changing the system library before downloading argggg originals. In my brain "optimized" means the best quality! Be warned on that one! Changing the system library needs a Joel lesson first! After some huge errors, the lesson is Local Archive... not just iCloud and time machine. All the young folks at apple who don't have decades of data sell it as so easy, that in itself creates a problem. lots to know on a lot of levels before trusting that it is all done seamlessly.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Couldn't have said it better @ny6901! Definitely have a local archive and don't rely only on iCloud and Time Machine! Thanks for the continued support!

[@wfodavid]

Very helpful. I'm out on the cloud as I backup on my Mac everyday. Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @wfodavid! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@captaincrash12]

This video just made me switch back to android. Seriously. It works well with onedrive. If you have office 365 android is much easier and cost effective. After 4 months I'm sick of the Apple strangle.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy I could solidify your decision @captaincrash12! Apple isn't for everyone! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@aniruddhrpg2]

Hello Joel, very happy to go through your videos. Curated in very simple and easy to understand and encompassing most of scenarios. Thank You. I have a query as well. There are lot of common original photos between by iPhone SE, iCloud and Mac. I just want to bring single original copy (deduped) in Mac and no where else (neither in icloud not in my iphone). Can you suggest any video that I can refer to or you can suggest a way ahead? Thanks again.

[@OldWhistler7743]

I’d just been thinking icoud through and this video popped up. Great explanation, thanks. I’ve got just got important stuff going to iCloud between phone and ipad…but to sync Facebook and Messenger to each device they both need access to icloud. I’m not too happy about these two apps using it.

[@drcathyklein]

I think I finally understand iCloud and how to use it correctly. OMG thank you.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Cathy Klein! I'm so happy this was helpful! Technology moves quickly, so it's sometimes hard to keep up! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@zerofivetwelve]

This is the video i ve been looking for all this long. Thank you so much for your detail explanation. Now i well understood how icloud works. Gbu.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy this was helpful for you @MS 512! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@NagaAnuradhaDevi835]

Thanks a lot for ur information now I really understood about iCloud and I got a solution for my iCloud storage issue

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy to help @user-mi4qq4kd7k! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@iml1945]

Long time Mac user very-confused about iCloud photo syncing until you lifted the fog. Will send a Thank You. You are the best.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy I cloud help @iml1945! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@Orwic1]

Great video - really helpful explanation. I do use iCloud, but in addition, I also make separate backups of material like photos that I want to keep / archive. Making those separate backups takes a little time and of course storage, but well worth it in my opinion.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I couldn't agree with you more @Orwic1! It's definitely a good idea to have a local backup in your possession and not rely 100% on any cloud! Are you using Time Machine or something else? Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! Also if you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Orwic1]

@@Learnwithjoel I use time machine, and I do a regular clone of my disk. Every so often I backup media files like music and video to a separate external disk. Main documents files get their own belt and braces backup on another separate external disk too.

[@htz70]

​@@Orwic1 How do you regularly BACKUP from iCloud Photos to a local disc (using Download Originals), if the Mac uses Optimize Storage? I could (weekly) attach a big usb drive, but I do not want the originals on my Mac internal SSD.

[@Orwic1]

@@htz70 I don’t store photos in iCloud. And I don’t use optimise storage, so I’m no expert on that. Storing all your originals in iCloud could occupy a lot of space which of course increases the cost. More or less I just use it for daily backups for iPads and phone. I use Lightroom, and for photos taken by my cameras: the photo library is located on an external drive (an SSD). For photos taken by my phone (but I don’t consider these as serious photos for my purposes) these also get uploaded into Lightroom too. I keep all my photos on an external drive at full resolution. The photos on that external drive get backed up to still another external drive occasionally. As a long term project, I intend to scan all my photo negatives and positive transparencies. There are thousands of these, dating back to about 1971, and that’s just the personal ones. I’ve also got a very extensive professional library of (scientific imaging). My plan would be to consolidate these libraries, and to do that would need a huge amount of cloud storage. I felt it would be cheaper just to use external storage (and probably faster to access them, if I used SSDs). I have some photos on my 2Tb Mac internal drive, but these tend to be ones that I plan to use for presentations in Powerpoint or for articles I’m writing. If I need to travel and take photos with me, then I’d use a usb or maybe a small capacity SSD with selected photos and probably upload those selected photos to iCloud temporarily as a working backup. If I took photos away from base, I’d copy these from cameras to the internal drive and backup to iCloud in case the Mac breaks. I’ve suffered from Mac breakage (and PC breakage) before, but only lost a few documents, fortunately of trivial value. That turned me into an obsessional backer up.

[@slwtgf]

@@htz70 omg- that’s exactly where I’m sitting right now .. I just got a refurbished iMac Pro book, but do I want to back up all my library onto this iMac, or don’t I ?? Will it exceed the Pro books limit ?? Aarrggg

[@patriciaadams7637]

Hi Joel! Your videos are great and easy to understand! I have an issue and wanted to get your input. To make a long story short, iCloud is turned on in my iPhone but not on my Mac. Unfortunately photos on my Mac are out of sync with iCloud meaning not all of the photos on iCloud are on the Mac. What is on iCloud is a subset of photos on the Mac. My question is - if I turn on iCloud on my Mac now, will it overwrite what is on iCloud or will I end up with some duplicates? Thanks!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @Patricia Adams! So if your iPhone has been syncing to iCloud, but your Mac has not, when you turn that Mac on, it will start to sync and merge with what's on iCloud. I have often found that it works pretty well, however I have encountered Apple Photos not being the best when it comes to recognizing duplicates. I see two options for you: 1. Turn on iCloud Photos on your Mac and stop delaying the inevitable. You'll be happier when they're in sync. If duplicates become a problem there is a nice piece of software that I recommend that works pretty well. I'll link a video below for you for reference. 2. Here's an out of the box idea....You could create a new Photos Library on the Mac and then designate it as the "System Library". What this will do is create a brand new empty library and it will start to sync only what's in iCloud and associated to your iPhone. This keeps your current Photos Library intact and separate as you can have multiple libraries and use them independently. Just keep in mind only one Library can be designated to sync with iCloud Photos an this is the one referred to as the "System Library" HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKG0Zp56mJh1rLM I hope that helps and let me know if you have more questions! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ny6901]

Hi Joel Just reading the title was like a week of therapy! Sometime ago I was trying to combine 2 apple ids photo libraries Changed something :.. can’t remember exactly what… in relation to the system library and lost thousands of photos Spent hours on support calls to no avail Just a warning that having a complete understanding of iCloud is important 🥺 My internet connection is antiquated so downloading to do an external back up wasn’t feasible Without understanding the settings my phone had been uploading and not saving originals Huge loss Your info is invaluable!!!!

[@dianneboatsman1864]

This was great information. I have a question and not sure if this will make sense. I have iCloud with 3 devices synced. It seems that iCloud is using up my storage on my iPad. Can I get it to reduce the storage and how? If you have answered this let me know and I will rewatch your video. Thank You!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @dianneboatsman1864! So the best option is to find out what is taking up space on the iPad and toggle the option off for not syncing. However depending on what content this is, it may not be ideal. The next option is to look at Photos and see if that's the culprit for consuming space. If so turn on the option within your iPad to "optimize iPad storage" for photos. I do have a handful of videos that reference this that I'll below for reference: Storage is FULL! - How to OPTIMIZE FILES and FIX your STORAGE PROBLEMS on Macs, iPhones and iPads kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJmqeGmdpK6BeK8 FREE UP SPACE on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac - The BEST WAY to OPTIMIZE iPhone & iPad Storage kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHjQf2B5YpuKbaM I hope that helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@doricohen8415]

Hey, great video! My question is: I haven’t been using iCloud. Used to always do a manual backup on my PC. I upgraded my iphone to the 13 pro max and now it says on iTunes I don’t have enough space on my pc to perform a backup. What’s the easiest way to make a backup for everything on my phone on icloud, without having it synced with my iPad and other devices? I just want the option to have a backup in case something happens to my phone. Also, do I need to use the two step authentication in order to use the iCloud backup? I always refrained from getting into that. Thanks!

[@sut2910]

Thanks for the video. I have quite a few apple devices and i like the fact that when i take a photo on iPhone it is copied into my Photos on my iMac. I don’t have to remember to copy/offload photos with another physical process. If all i had was an iPhone i would turn off iCloud. Too much of a hassle to turn iCloud off. It is like going back to my PC days when it was always a project to get anything done. I like the continuity between devices for notes, messages and all. Is what Apple is doing invasive? Yes. Is it for a lofty purpose? Yes. If people don’t like it, they can all buy other brands and put Apple sales below a threshold where they can’t afford to go. If they want to read the hash on all my cat bird airplane etc photos, I’m ok with that. Things will change again before long, wait for the next big thing.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Well said @sut2910! If you look a the two other main competitors; Google and Microsoft, they both have their cloud services that sync photos, notes, contacts, calendars, bookmarks and much more just like Apple does. You're totally right though...things will always change and there will always be the "next best thing"! Thanks so much for watching and if you'd like to support me by subscribing, I would greatly appreciate it!

[@shaaantha.baaala6462]

Which ICloud is the best reliable affordable cloud .Will these clouds work even in storms and hurricanes and deliver what we want say - the video or photo- sharing ?Is it possible to store in my iPhone - my videos in Microsoft ; Out so country photos on Google and in country , videos in Apple - that way there is no problem of reaching the limit and so need to be within the free allowable limit of giga. bites or KBs and also get the free ( money saving ) plans / schemes 🤠without pinching my pocket or burning a hole in my wallet .and yet able to access them whenever I want them to show my grand children and from wherever I am in the globe . Send me a reply I will appreciate . OM SHAANTHI

[@sonjatodd7308]

Thank you so much for this video. I finally understand the iCloud. However, when I went into my Settings and turned off iCloud Photos, it displayed a message that all my low resolution versions of my photos would be removed and that it could not download over 900 of my full resolution photos and videos. Does that mean I will lose all thee photos?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @sonjatodd7308! So the moment you turn off iCloud Photos on your iPhone, it would give you an option to download them to your device physically. If there is not enough space to accommodate them, it would not fit on your device. The photos would still remain on iCloud.com or other devices if you were signed into iCloud settings with iCloud Photos turned on. So if your goal is to not use iCloud photos at all, then I would recommend to download from a computer. I hope that helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@Tvaleriya]

Thanks for explaining it so thoroughly!

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Leri! Thanks so much for watching and if you'd like to support me by subscribing, I would greatly appreciate it!

[@mjklein]

Coming from Android and not having any other Apple product, it makes sense to use the Google services I already use and not use iCloud at all. I use IDrive Online (not an Apple product) with a 10TB storage plan. I originally got it for backing up my main computer used in my studio. It's not a synchronizing service like Dropbox but it does allow me to access stuff from all the (unlimited number of) other devices.

[@akamber1]

I’ve watched several of your videos and very much appreciate your info. I’m on the fence about using iCloud to sync all my photos. I have aprox 20K photo & video files and I use an external hard drive. I also have plenty of Apple storage. Wondering - after all of your experience - do you still use iCloud to sync? Or did you go back to local or an alternative storage/sync option? Thanks in advance.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @akamber1! Yes I use iCloud for almost all of my content! I have about 65K photos/videos within my iCloud Photo Libraries. As long as you understand how iCloud works, then I would totally recommend it, especially if you have all Apple devices. I will say that I always recommend to have a local copy of all of your files and this can be achieved if you're syncing the originals to a Mac. You can keep the whole iCloud Photo Library on an external drive too! I have several videos on iCloud and Apple iCloud Photos that discus a lot about all of this! I'll link a few below for reference: iCloud - What the Purpose is & How is it supposed to work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qonUXqODi5ljm68 iCloud Apple Photo Library VS Referenced Apple Photo Library - the DIFFERENCE & WHY it MATTERS! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqvGn6F6asuapdk How to MOVE your iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARIES and APPLE PHOTO LIBRARIES to an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXLVnICojsqbiJo iCloud Shared Libraries - Understanding what they are and how they work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKSchoStgKZ7q5o Thank you for your continued support! I appreciate you more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you!

[@akamber1]

Thanks for the reply. Your content is very helpful. I'll give it a try. Bought a new SSD HD and I'm backing up first.. then I'll try. Cheers to you and please keep the content up. I'll do my part to promote! @@Learnwithjoel

[@cathywhang]

Hi there! This was such a helpful video-- I wish I knew this earlier so I would've turned off iCloud photos earlier as I only want the pictures on my phone and not my computer. I'm having an issue where photos is taking up 32gb on my 64 gb phone with 17,000 pictures and videos. I pay for 50GB of iCloud storage, but it's still not enough and it's getting really frustrating. I had my phone on optimize iPhone storage for the longest time, but now that I'm trying to change it to "download and keep originals", I'm still unable to turn iCloud photos off because it says it wasn't able to download 13,500 pictures which would be removed. I'm wondering if you have a solution for this. Thank you so much!! New subscriber :) TLDR: How do I get compressed pictures to go back to the original so I can have all the pictures on JUST my phone and finally turn off this godforsaken iCloud photos thats taking up all of my storage

[@buffalo_wings8224]

I'm having the EXACT same problem and the only solutions I think will work are 1. Buy an iphone with more storage which is what Apple wants you to do. 2. Switch to Google photos and use the "free up device space" feature. This will remove photos from your phone but keep them in Google's cloud. Then you can actually use the cloud storage you are paying for to store your photos without ultimately being constrained by the iphone's device storage capacity.

[@newagain9964]

@@buffalo_wings8224 ooookkkk...but u will eventually run out of cloud storage (all b/c photos ur not even viewing anymore). Ultimately ppl need to actually curate/manage their photo libraries (esp on their phones).

[@JayeRocke]

This was VERY educational thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate that @Jaye Rocke! Thank you for the continued support! I’m glad this video was helpful! If you learned something new and want to support my channel, click SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ElvieDeckow]

*I removed the icloud lock from my iphone 14 using iRemover* The iPhone 14 is my first flagship Apple device. Coming from a Pixel 7, I have a few observations. The battery life is awesome, speakers are solid, Bluetooth connectivity is seemless, and the screen is smooth, despite coming from a 90htz display on the Pixel 7, I haven’t really seen a huge difference on the 60htz screen on the IPhone 14. I absolutely love this phone.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Happy to hear @ElvieDeckow! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@digitalincometactics9858]

Really great explaination thanks Joel!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate you and your kind words @digitalincometactics9858! Thank you so much for taking your time to watch this video. It is greatly appreciated! If this video has been beneficial, I would be honored if you would consider sharing it with your social media network and expressing your gratitude for its assistance. Kindly subscribe if you have not already done so. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

[@philippegadegbeku4118]

Thanks for the video. I listened with interest. How does iCloud syncing work with music? If you are an audiophile and want full copies of your music on your phone for instance. How is that accomplished

[@shannonocelot7670]

Hey Joel I got a question. I want to turn off synchronizing or just stop photos from being uploaded to iCloud on only one of my phones. Many sources tell me I need to click the download and keep originals option instead of the optimization option before I turn it off. I’m fearful it may cause me to lose some of my videos and photos but I have so many that I don’t know exactly what ones would be removed. Can you clarify what I should do? Is it safe to turn it off on only one device to stop photos from uploading and will it make me lose some of my content? And if so, where can I find the possible removed content if it does end up being removed? Will there be a designated spot specifically for items like such? Your video helped me understand a little more. But many sources just keep telling me things that are hard for me to understand. If I turn it off on one device, will I have to do that download within 30 days thing? If it does end up removing videos, will they come back if I just turn iCloud back on for photos?

[@cindygrochala7553]

Same here.

[@gertlettorp3137]

Thanx a lot. Really great explanation of icloud. Now I understand much more 👍

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm really glad the content helped you @Gert Lettorp! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ChirsZ]

@@Learnwithjoelif you delete a video and photo from the iCloud and from photo cloud you get that delete stuff back or you can’t.

[@Mason500.]

Thanks for the info, I just switched to iPhone for the first time ever, always been an android guy.. anyways I’m just curious about one thing, If I don’t use iCloud, than I can just save and back up everything to iTunes, including all my photos,screenshots,downloaded videos ? And it will always be there as long as I back up monthly ?

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're absolutely correct @Mason500! Apple doesn't force users to use iCloud. It's a choice. Any cloud solution, whether it be iCloud, Google, Microsoft or Amazon all cost money and it's all about connivence and easy access to your files on multiple devices. The argument could be made that you need it if you don't have a computer to use and you want a backup, but in your case, if you have a Mac or Windows, you can backup your device to iTunes on Windows and Finder on the Mac. (iTunes is no longer an option on newer Macs). I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@maxrules2161]

Hey Joel, thank you for this tutorial, will downloading my photos from iCloud create duplicates in my library if I already have the physical version of them in it?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @max rules! Apple Photos can detect duplicates when they're imported, but it's not 100%. If you're toggling on iCloud Photos on your Mac, it will just merge all of your photos together, so it shouldn't create duplicates. I will say that in the upcoming release of macOS13 Ventura, Apple has a new duplicates feature built in Apple Photos that is working pretty well. So if it becomes an issue, it should be pretty easy to resolve. I have a video that shows some of the new features coming out if you're interested that I'll link below: NEW Apple Photo iCloud Features in iOS16 & macOS13 Ventura - Shared Photo Library & Subject Removal! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5SVY5Sjhp6JaLs I also have another video that discusses duplicates and some options to get rid of them: HOW TO DELETE DUPLICATE PHOTOS in Apple Photos - IN DEPTH review of software to FIX your Duplicates! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKG0Zp56mJh1rLM

[@Victor48323]

Thank you Joel for a great video. I have a question. I've been using iCloud to backup photos for my iphone. I have about 6000 photos on iCloud. I want to STOP using iCloud and only keep the photos on the iphone locally. I don't have the need for syncing with any other devices. I can't seem to be able to turn off photos backup to iCloud. It keeps saying that it will delete photos on my iphone when I turn it off. I don't want the photos deleted off my iphone. I just want to stop backing up photos to iCloud and keep them on my iphone. Can you show me how to do that? Thanks.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Viet To! So if your main goal is to not have your photos sync to iCloud and you only want them to be locally on that iPhone, then I would start off my going into your iCloud Settings under the Photos option and turn off "iCloud Photos" Now here's the thing...If you have the option selected that says "Optimize iPhone Storage" then it needs to download all of your photos/videos first before it gets turned off, or it will delete them from your device. It should prompt you for both of these options. Also keep in mind that is you have 6000 photos in the cloud, that could be large amount of storage. If you do not have that much free storage on your iPhone locally, they will not be able to download and it will download as much as it can, but the remaining photos/videos will remain on iCloud until you're able to download to another device. More often than not, users don't have enough storage on their device to accommodate all the files, so you may need to go to a computer and download them all. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Victor48323]

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It seems like a hassle to get off the iCloud. It’s frustrating. I’ve subscribed your channel. You are such a great communicator! Thanks again.

[@MoMsie.]

I paid over $1000 for my iPhone. I’ll be damned if I pay them for storage.

[@mariachi031676]

If you take 10,000 pictures, are you entitled to free storage for them?

[@lizcarlyle2477]

Hello from CA. Really liked the info on how to turn on or tune off iCloud. Just needed 10 minutes to think and unlike math in hs, i will now do the steps & stop trying to get the answer!

[@Learnwithjoel]

Stop thinking so hard @lizcarlyle2477! I hope all is well in CA! I appreciate you more than you know! Thank you for your continued support! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you!

[@lizcarlyle2477]

@@Learnwithjoel Thanks 4 clarification. Turning off iCloud drive on devices is helping. I'm not on social media yet but will consider when i become more confident. Seems like i have to turn off every other day icloud. All the best!

[@leroyellis3940]

Joel, what is that storage device you moved at the beginning of the video? Thanks

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @leroyellis3940! I'm guessing it was one of my Sandisk external drives. I have them linked on my Amazon Affiliate page that I will link for reference: www.amazon.com/shop/joelfeld I will say however that those Sandisk drives have seemed to start having hard drive failure with some users. I personally own 5 of them and have not had any problems, but there are others who have. Check out some of the other drives on there though. I have them all. Thank you for your continued support! I appreciate you more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@TroyShaw]

Great video. That's a lot of information but I'm not sure if my concern is answered. If I turn off icloud (photos) on my phone will the photos still be in the cloud? I want to start fresh on my phone but don't want to lose the pics I already have.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thank you @Troy Shaw and great question! So first things first. After you get a "Fresh start" on your phone, do you plan to use iCloud Photos again? Also do you mean wiping your iPhone back to factory settings as Fresh start? If you do, the moment you turn it on, it's going to re-download all the photos from iCloud Photos back to your phone that got a "Fresh Start" If you don't plan on using iCloud Photos on your iPhone, then yes, by turning it off, the Photos will still remain in iCloud Photos and would not sync to your iPhone. I look forward to hearing back from you! I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@TroyShaw]

@@Learnwithjoel my plan is to create a new Apple ID for my wife so we’re both not using the same one then adding her to the family plan. Her phone is backed up to the cloud so I’ve heard if she starts a new Apple ID she can use the same cloud and her original pics will still be on the cloud it’s just she won’t have access to them unless she logs in with my account on a computer. Am I correct?

[@rocambole93]

great explanation thanks Joel

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @rocambole93! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@spinrash6000]

Lots info well explain thank you. I hope you are a teacher.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate you and your kind words @Spin Rash! I'm just a person who loves technology and sharing what I know with others. Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@mearkitek3773]

Nice explanation; I couldn’t find Optimize Storage on my iPhone photos?!?

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @MeArkitek! The setting for Optimize Storage should be under the Settings > iCloud > iCloud Photos. I have another video that explains this that may be helpful! Optimizing iPhone & iPad Storage - How to FREE UP SPACE on my iPhone, iPad, or Mac for photos! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHjQf2B5YpuKbaM I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! Also if you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ericashell]

Joel, Thanks for your awesome videos! Have you ever had an issue with your albums from iPhone not synching to your Mac Photos? I have made sure that iCloud is turned on everywhere and restarted multiple times and my albums still aren't appearing. Any tips would be much appreciated!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate the kind words @Erica Thomas! 9 times out of 10 it's because the syncing between each devices hasn't finished yet... A few things to look at...when you go to icloud.com and sign in, do the photos there match your Mac or iPhone? How big is your library? Even though iCloud is signed in, you have iCloud Photos turned on as well? I would start to see which device is in sync with icloud.com and then we start to look at and troubleshoot the device that is not. Hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the support!

[@jamesecurtis1705]

I had to add more storage data to my account. I had 200 and I upgraded to 2 TB. Also my Mom was having the same problem. I upgraded her to the 200 and her problem went away as well.

[@aqur3i]

okay so me and my sister have phones and i just got a new phone. the moment i signed up the icloud for something, the shared photos from my ipad and her phone went on my phone. but even before, our photo library was shared for some reason. we're trying to get rid of it i dont know how or why or what happened thst daused that

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @aqur3i, So when you say you "signed up for iCloud or something" did you create a new Apple ID Account? If there is a shared photo library to your email address, you can check yours and her settings within iCloud to make sure it's not the same account and also that it's not sharing a "Shared Library". The videos below will cover the topic of Sharing Apple Photo Libraries and iCloud in general. Hopefully they will help. iCloud Shared Libraries - Understanding what they are and how they work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKSchoStgKZ7q5o iCloud - What the Purpose is & How is it supposed to work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qonUXqODi5ljm68 Thank you so much for taking your time to watch this video. It is greatly appreciated! If this video has been beneficial, I would be honored if you would consider sharing it with your social media network and expressing your gratitude for its assistance. Kindly subscribe if you have not already done so. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Apologies for the delayed response! With the overwhelming number of comments, questions, and support, I’m genuinely trying my best to address each and every one of you!

[@aqur3i]

@@Learnwithjoel oh nevermind i already figured out the issue. thank you! i js had to turn off icloud photos

[@aqur3i]

@@Learnwithjoel on both devices

[@LTVoyager]

I prefer to synch using my iMac. This does mean things don’t get synced quickly when you are away from home, but it also doesn’t use up all of your cell data if you are on a plan that is not unlimited, which I am. Have you covered how to synch devices using an iMac and saves things to the Mac for backup?

[@daver7013]

Hi Joel, thanks for this video. I have a question I don’t know if this is even possible. But what I would like to do is synchronize my iPhone photos and other items like contacts or messages, etc. with my iPad. I don’t need these stored in a third place, (icloud). My iPad would theoretically be my back up storage for these items. It’s not the cost of extra storage, it’s more, I already have a place for storage, my ipad. So my question is, is it possible and how can I do it? Thanks for your help.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @daver7013! It may be a bit challenging getting information like Photos, Contact, message and anything else syncing from an iPhone to an iPad without using the likes of a big tech cloud service like iCloud. A long time ago when the iPod was introduced, iTunes was the primary piece of software on a computer that allowed users to sync information from a computer to a device like an iPod. You can still do this today. Windows users would use iTunes, and Mac users would use the Finder to sync content like photos, contacts, calendars from a computer to an iPhone or iPad. Downfall is that you need a computer and it takes a long time to plug each device into each other, and not all information is available to sync to begin with. So long story short, that's cloud services like iCloud, Google, and Microsoft all have cloud syncing services that allow you to easily have information among all your devices by communicating through the "cloud". Now depending on your devices, you are able to plug a flash drive or external hard drive into your iPhone or iPad and use the Files app to copy information, but only certain information. You wouldn't be able to transfer messages for example. I hope that helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@donoragonvlog641]

Hi Buddy !! New subscriber from the Philippines .. I went and find your channel because of the problem that you have discussed and it help me and solve my very problem so Thank you- Sending my support and keep safe always..

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for the support @Don Oregon Vlog! I'm so happy I was able to help you solve a problem you were having! Keep safe too and Thank You again! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please support my channel, by clicking THANKS below, or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@MukeshKumar-lb8vc]

beautifully explained each and everything

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate you and your kind words @MukeshKumar-lb8vc! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@ashokp1357]

Great video. Straight facts and was very clear to me the benefits of iCloud. Today Google gives you free storage so it’s an attractive option but like you said the synchronization is not there. Question:Do you gave a videos that explains My Photo Stream? I used it but now doesn’t work and hear Apple is phasing it out! I liked it since it saved me from paying storage and allows me to see it on my other devices. I can’t get it to work again, can you help?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Ashok P! If you're an Apple user, it's a no brainer to start with iCloud. If that doesn't fit the need, there's always other cloud options. Google's free 15GB will run out too for users, it's just a matter of time. I do not have video on "My Photo Stream". I would agree that Apple is most likely phasing it out. I used to have the Photo Stream option, but it's no longer associated with my account. I don't remember specially when it went away, but my hunch is that when you start using iCloud Photos on never operating systems it gets rid of that option. Photo Stream was great where it would consist of your past 30 days of photos or most recent 1,000 photos and it would automatically show up on all of your apple devices. And then if you did not download or save them, they would stay on the device that took the photo, but it would not go to the other devices to be saved. Now it's just iCloud Photos where it syncs everything everywhere. If you create a new iCloud account, it doesn't even give you an option for My Photo Stream anymore. It was a great option for users that wanted to sync recent content without paying much. Sorry to say, but I don't think you'll have much success getting it back. I'll link a few support articles that discuss My Photo Stream, but it seems as though Apple is recommending users to use iCloud Photos instead. About iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream support.apple.com/en-us/HT205743 If My Photo Stream isn't updating support.apple.com/en-us/HT203511 My Photo Stream support.apple.com/en-us/HT201317 I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and the content I’m creating, please feel free to SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS on the video if you haven’t already! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@ashokp1357]

@@Learnwithjoel Thanks Joel!

[@alubchuk]

Thanks for a great content! I have a question regarding a weird syncing issue I have on my Mac. After updating my OS iCloud started loading all the content to my laptop and it's filling all the space I have. “Optimise storage” flag is turned on however it keeps downloading the data until there is not enough space left. Any suggestions on how it can be mitigated?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Alex Lubchuk! So the first thing to look at is what is really taking up the space. When you say you updated OS iCloud and it started loading all content to your Mac, what content? Usually Photos and Videos are the biggest culprit when it comes to files. Also on the Mac, there are two options for "Optimizing Storage". The first one you will find in System Preferences under iCloud. This will reference to files that are saved in iCloud Drive. The second setting you will find is the "Optimize Photo Storage". This is located within the Preferences of Apple Photos. In there you have the ability to either optimize the photo storage, or download all originals. All of this is speculation on my part, but the first thing to do is identify what files or location is taking up the most space. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@plancc4737]

Hi Joel! You said that you absolutely love your flash drive. What is special about it? And is it one that you can recommend?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @PlanCC! Sorry for the delayed response! So I have a handful of the portable SanDisk SSD. They're very compact, fast and pretty durable and reasonably priced for being such a small form factor. I will put a link below to my affiliate amazon store page where I have a few items that I own and love! www.amazon.com/shop/joelfeld I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@eddy802]

If I use the option on my MacBook to download all my iCloud Photos content to the device, and then delete and disable (eventually loosing that content in the cloud) does the downloaded content maintain the meta date like, date/time, location and any of the caption or title detail I may have added while it was in iCloud?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @eddy802, Yes, all of the metadata and information should still be there even if you disable iCloud Photos for syncing after they're downloaded. Thank you so much for taking your time to watch this video. It is greatly appreciated! If this video has been helped you, I would be honored if you would consider sharing it with your social media network and expressing your gratitude for its assistance. Kindly subscribe if you have not already done so. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.

[@simplekdtech1995]

Hi Joel Thank you for the video really helpfull but one thing im not undrestand about Icloud, I have Imac, Macbook pro and iphone everytime I delete something from my iPhone icloud, comes back after few minute. I want to organise my icloud but any pictures unwanted or files I delete comes back. I need advise how to do it properly. thank you

[@allenbeaulieu]

Hi Joel thank you for this video. you do not seam to bother that documents are deleeted from the cloud. Is there a way to have the sync activated but still being able to use the documents without a web connexion? I travel and sometimes I do not have acces to internet. When it happens I can't access all my documents. It is anoying. I tried many way I either have all acces sith an internet connexion or nothing when not connected. Is there a way to use Icloud and still be able to use my documents without the internet? thank you Allen

[@bennykanny]

I lost all of my playlist on Itunes do to Icloud sync issue...14 years of selected songs. So bummed out

[@jamesecurtis1705]

This is a wonderful explanation.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate that @James E Curtis! Thanks so much for watching and if you'd like to support me by subscribing, I would greatly appreciate it!

[@ACarter87]

Great video! Question!!! How do I use cloud or Google drive on my iPhone WITHOUT syncing??? Like I use Google drive because it gives me an extra 10gbs or whatever , but EVERYTHING I upload to google drive IS STILL TAKING UP STORAGE SPACE ON MY IPHONE???? It’s like it’s a completely redundant process??? How do I get it to simply hold my vids/photos on the Google drive/cloud storage and clean them from my phone storage to free up space??? Even everything on my cloud storage that is checked to go the cloud, is not there?? It only shows like 2% of my entire cloud 5gbs???? Is on there??? Why is this? And how do I actually use this free storage space the proper way, so that I can free up space on my phone??? I find it’s almost not even an option and simply an illusion lol???

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks @Adam Johnson! I have so much to say on this topic that probably warrants a separate video... So the simple answer is to turn off iCloud and don't download the Google Drive app. The whole purpose of iCloud, and Google Drive (Microsoft Onedrive) is to sync content to their cloud. They designed to do that. Google Drive gives you 10GB more storage, but that's cloud storage. It's not local storage, so if you take that bait, you're automatically using their cloud and you'll get roped into getting more storage from Google to accommodate all of your files. If your goal is to free up space on your iPhone, then you need to use the optimize storage options within either iCloud Photos or Google Photos/Google Drive. But even with this, you'll need more than the 5GB or 15GB of free storage. Also you need to 100% of what is actually taking up space on your iPhone/device. Most users think it's photos and videos, but often it's text messages. The thing is, the "free" storage is limited, and by nature the Big Tech companies know you'll fill it up and you will be forced to choose either to ignore it and don't use it, which results in your files only on that one device, or you start paying for more cloud storage to combat the annoying messages. So I think your description of illusion for sure represents the free storage that these companies give you. It's just a matter of time that the free storage will fill up and you'll need more. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@Lim1986]

Great video Joel,Could you do a video on the best storage options for photos,4K drone footage and also a backup from iCloud.I was looking at purchasing the Sandisk ssd for a backup.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @Discover by travel! Sorry for the late response! I think i'm actually going to be doing some videos on storage and backup and external drives. If you haven't already, I love those SSD drives from Sandisk!

[@Lim1986]

Hi Joel I eventually got the ssd I have all my apple photos downloaded from the cloud to it plus my drone footage I have saved on it also,But I also went on to get a 2012 Mac mini to download originals and a 2nd back for my drone footage,One problem I faced do maybe also you could do I video on it is on the Mac mini the photos App is version 5 and on catalina while I have a MacBook Air on Big Sur photos app version 6.

[@Lim1986]

Hi Joel I eventually got the ssd I have all my apple photos downloaded from the cloud to it plus my drone footage I have saved on it also,But I also went on to get a 2012 Mac mini to download originals and a 2nd back for my drone footage,One problem I faced do maybe also you could do I video on it is on the Mac mini the photos App is version 5 and on catalina while I have a MacBook Air on Big Sur photos app version 6.

[@vocalschoolofvaughan6393]

Discover by travel: i just did the same. Downloaded everything to a sundisk ssd. Now i cant open the photos library on another laptop bec its using a lower level photos app. Also- when i open the photos app in ssd, the videos are not playing . Any idea why?

[@Lim1986]

@@vocalschoolofvaughan6393 I know their is different versions of the photos app say the newest update is version 7 I had got a Mac mini but only could update to version 5 or something to get around it I would say maybe if have different versions just use another hard drive for each device.

[@stepkycopky9354]

Thanks for another brilliant video.

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @stepkycopky9354! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@peterpaulharnisch]

A fabulous video Joel! I was so confused about iCloud before, not really knowing what it did. I’ve subscribed to your channel. 🤩

[@alejandroq3454]

Hey Joel, thanks again for the easy to understand videos. I am reviewing them as time permits and I am trying to make things work with my particular set of needs and wants concerning iCloud. My business demands a lot of photos and I am forced to save them in folders on my Mac instead of 'photos.library' because they must be jpeg for me to upload them. Let me explain, 'photo.library' apparently saves photos in HEIC format instead of JPEG. So when it comes time for me to grab on of them and upload them into my customer report software it will not upload. If you know of a solution to this problem other than what I am already doing, please let me know. 🙂

[@jofisk]

You can change the format from HEIC to the most comatible (JPEG) by going into the Settings - Camera - Formats then select Most Compatible. This will change it so when taking phots they are in JPEG, downside is they will be larger photos.

[@maicajapanmoments]

What about those pics which are already in HEIC? Is there any way to make them jpg?

[@trebhouser]

@@maicajapanmoments Yes, simply delete "HEIC" and replace withe the letters "JPEG". It will prompt a window (can't remember said window) and you can complete the task from there.

[@vafp1]

I don't know if you still need this but on Mac in Finder, right click on your heic image. A pop up appears, scroll down to the bottom and see Quick Actions - then Convert Image and then you will have option to convert to Jpeg. You can also select multiple files at once

[@marianpavlik6352]

Hello Joel, nice video. Not sure if I missed some info but what I need is to temporarily stop backing up my photos/videos from my iPhone 11 to icloud. Why? When I travel abroad, I sometimes buy a local sim card that I insert into a spare phone and use that phone for hotspot. My i11 recognizes the signal from the spare mobile as "wifi" and starts automatically back up my all new photos/videos from the iPhone11. This causes eating up lot of data from the spare mobile's sim card. I would like to avoid this and temporarily stop synchronizing the data from iPhone 11 to the cloud. Whilst I want to keep all "old" photos/videos in the cloud. I have not found any way how to do so. Or I did not get it from the video. Any advice? Thanks.

[@droidone66]

I lost my Ipad and I was able to download my content to my new iPad with no effort. Thanks iCloud.

[@Learnwithjoel]

When used as expected, it does work great! Thanks so much for watching @Droid one! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@marchiter8811]

Hi Joel. Just to get things clear..does disabling my Icloud in my Ipad deletes all my photos and videos in the Ipad itself? Or just those who are saved in the Icloud?

[@barbclark69]

This didn't really answer my question. I ONLY use cloud to sync contacts, calendar and messages on my devices. I don't want any of my files or photos on cloud. So the question I still have (I need to purchase a new iMac and new iPad Pro), the question is "how do I sync my new iPad Pro to my new iMac?" In the old system, we sync the pad to the mac through iTunes, but that's not there any longer. Thank you for taking the time to reply. -- Barbara Clark

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @barbclark69! You are correct, traditionally iTunes was used to sync content to and from a mobile device to a computer, and now Finder has replaced iTunes (as far as Mac is considered), but is still available on a windows computer. If your goal is to only sync Contacts, Calendars and messages, then you only need those iCloud settings turned on. You can turn off iCloud Drive and Photos so that information does not sync. Below is a video that talks about the basic concept of iCloud and syncing certain information. iCloud - What the Purpose is & How is it supposed to work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qonUXqODi5ljm68 I hope that helps! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@barbclark69]

@@Learnwithjoel, Joel, thank you for that generous reply. That pins down my concerns and answers them. I really appreciate it.

[@carolbianchi7852]

Thank you for these videos, very easy to understand. One thing I have not seen covered, however, is the effect of turning off iCloud for other apps (not photos or vids) such as email & messages. I always use Reminders and Notes in cloud for access on all my devices, but I’m signed into email and messages. What would be the effect if I turn off that sync? TIA!

[@angelopetrelli1083]

Cheers mate, great video, useful information - very good - as all of your videos👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍⭐👍

[@Learnwithjoel]

I appreciate you and your kind words @Angelo petrelli! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@wesf1178]

For the user of iCloud in bush AK where limited uploads and download useage is a concern, photos and video take up a lot of bandwidth. Ignorance is not bliss, it drains the bocketbook. More customer training is needed. Apple make the solution way too easy. Just pay. I need to be educated better but do I know that. No. This video helped a lot. Know if there is just a way to up load certain photos, videos instead of every single one. That’s where customer service comes in. Well done Joel. Need help Apple. Might keep some out of legal issues

[@Learnwithjoel]

Well said @Wes F! I like your idea that I wish you could be selective about what get's uploaded and what doesn't! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and so greatly appreciated! Also if you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@md168]

Nice sharing this good info !

[@Anakena3]

One thing I’m doing to save some money and still keep a benefit of iCloud is a split my library so I only got let’s say three months of photos or a year so the size stay reasonable and then I have an old library which is backed up locally and different discs

[@BuddyBearCreator]

Thanks. Been a mac user all my life and really don't appreciate apple always trying to rack up more fees

[@Learnwithjoel]

I can understand your point of view @Buddy Bear TV | Educational Videos for Kids! Services for all cloud solutions can add up pretty quickly and it can make it a challenge to get out and find a convenient alternative! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and click THANKS below on the video! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, please share it along!

[@MILABRRA]

LOVE YOUR CONTENT

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @MILABRRA! I appreciate you and your kind words! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@jackbaier7849]

Super, great vidieo thanks a bunch!! helped me.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm glad this was helpful @jackbaier7849! THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@LolaLeeTea]

Thank you! This was very helpful. 🙌🏾❤️

[@Learnwithjoel]

You're very welcome @Lola Lee Tea! Thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@leticiasantana-castrejon2828]

Silly me- I once had a dream of being a computer tech until I found out you guys have a whole different language! hyper threading, USB, CPU, RAM, WWW, FBI, CIA and on and on,,,,,,,. Thanks for the info!!

[@jamalaljamal9464]

What if I want to store my pictures on iCloud but I don’t want them to be shared on my other devices ! How can I do that ?

[@adammutolo5800]

This is great. I’m a bit late to this video but if you’re still reading comments a year later, do you have a video on how to set up your family iCloud account like you did… Where it’s one account that you’re paying for monthly that the entire family stuff goes to but everything is organized separate so we don’t see each other stuff?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @Adam Mutolo! No worries, you're not late to the party, and yes I try to respond to as many comments as I can! That topic for a video is surely on my upcoming list, but there's many options that are different in the upcoming iOS16 that are slightly different with the menus of Family Sharing that I'm waiting for the release to do a video. I personally use I Family sharing with my family of 6 and it works pretty well. We all share iCloud storage among iTunes purchases and such. We utilize the screen time feature for child Apple ID's and there's so much to the topic. Stay tuned and thanks so much for watching! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@adammutolo5800]

@@Learnwithjoel Wow, thanks for the quick reply! Definitely got a new sub… great content! Thanks again!

[@Learnwithjoel]

@@adammutolo5800 Much appreciated!

[@ThisIsVersatile]

So how do you delete iCloud content to start over vs it putting it all back on your phone after you cleaned up your phone storage only to lose it again?

[@ucheonobie4521]

Thank you and have a lovely day

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks so much for watching @Uche Onobie! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@bri4926]

Thank you 😊 very informative.

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy it was helpful for you @Ingrid Brouwer! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t subscribed already and would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE and use SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@PatrickMastersProductions]

Any idea why when I remove downloads from the context menu of my iCloud drive turn around and redownload it to my computer. I want to use the space on my icloud drive to store my training and free up space locally until I actually need it but my hard drive fills up every day and then I have to spend forever removing files, sometimes individually inside folders that did not completely download and remove downloads context does not appear. It's driving me insane.

[@LluisZardoyaClips]

helpful, thank you!!

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm happy this was helpful for you @Zartex! Thanks so much for watching! If you would like to support me and my content, please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already and use SUPER THANKS! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@rdkuless]

a Sync service... you mean like Garmin Connect App that keeps your Garmin GPS synced to the maps you have down loaded on the computer..?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hi @rdkuless! I'm not too familiar with Garmin Connect App, but I would imagine that it's designed for a singular task. iCloud syncs a lot of different information. The video below probably explains the iCloud concept a bit better than this video we're commenting on. iCloud - What the Purpose is & How is it supposed to work! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qonUXqODi5ljm68 THANK YOU so much for watching! It is appreciated more than you know! If this video was useful, I’d love for you to SHARE it with on social media and say how it helped you! Please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already, and if you have, THANK YOU for your continued support!

[@cushman47]

Joel great job with your video.

[@Learnwithjoel]

Thanks for the kind words @Rich Keller! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@clawiese]

I've only been shooting in Apple Pro Raw for a few days. Now I have a problem: I will use up my storage space in no time and reach my 200 GB limit of iCloud frighteningly fast. But the sync is not working as fast as I would like. I shoot about 100 pictures a day, which take forever to show up in the Photos app as yet to sync. Now for my question: is this because of the Raw format, that the iCloud is overwhelmed with uploads per day of more than 10 GB or because of my internet connection? Question 2: What is the most practical storage medium for such amounts of data? The cloud must go away for photos after I would otherwise induce horrendous costs. Thanks in advance for any comments!

[@midnitkween8609]

Finally an explanation 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@Learnwithjoel]

I'm so happy it was helpful for you @MidNit Qween! Thanks so much for watching! If you haven’t already, please support me by subscribing! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated! If you know someone who may benefit from this video, feel free to share it along!

[@osXcanada]

Unless your a criminal or a scientist with world secrets, iCloud for the average person is excellent! You lose your phone, you buy another, login with your Apple ID all your pictures are there. You have not lost your pictures. In my case, I use 4 different computers. All my files are in iCloud. No matter which computer I use, I have access to my files. Before iCloud, I spent time trying to figure out, which computer a certain file was on. The convenience is great! A friend of mine is super paranoid, and wants nothing to do with iCloud or any cloud service. Then he constantly complains that multiple devices is too cumbersome or ends up creating problems for himself, that he wants me to sort out! Your video was very good, your title was a bit of a click bait.

[@amazonhealer]

Hey Joel, I found your videos but I am new on backups on a external hard drive. I got a Seagate One Touch. How do I transfer only my photos and videos to the external hard drive. Could I separate the videos from the photos on the external hard drive? I appreciate your time

[@Learnwithjoel]

Great question @Angel A F! The first thing I would ask is where are you currently storing your photos and videos on your Mac? Are you using Apple Photos, iMovie or Final Cut Pro? Or do you just have your photos and videos in folders? Naturally you should be able to drag the files to the external hard drive while connected and it will copy them to that location, but if you're files are in an Apple Photo Library or iMovie Library, there are some things to take note of, specifically if you're using iCloud Photos. I'll link some videos below for reference to photos: How to MOVE your iCLOUD PHOTO LIBRARIES and APPLE PHOTO LIBRARIES to an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXLVnICojsqbiJo iCloud Apple Photo Library VS Referenced Apple Photo Library - the DIFFERENCE & WHY it MATTERS! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqvGn6F6asuapdk Understanding iCLOUD PHOTOS - Syncing iPhones, iPads, and Apple Computers IN-DEPTH kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2q8m5eYnZaEbpo Thanks so much for watching, I hope that helps! If this video was helpful and you learned something new, please SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t already! If you want to support my content click THANKS below or better yet, SHARE it with a friend on social media and say how it helped you! It helps more than you know and is greatly appreciated!

[@amazonhealer]

Thank you so much for explaining the differences about where my photos are located. It's all on my Apple Library and iCloud. I will follow up with your videos

[@cyd_notter]

Hi Joel, I need help. I switched to a new Iphone and used Icloud to back up, but I don't want the syncing and now I'm having trouble getting it off my systems. I watched one of your videos and I "signed out" on my phone, but now I can't access the photos on my computer and I'm so unfamiliar with this, I'd just to book you for your help to walk me through it. I don't see a way to contact you from your website. How should I proceed in order to ask a couple of questions before I book the call? Thanks, Cyd Notter

[@normaljosy2493]

BypassRa1n worked for me Hi, I am a UK viewer and waiting for my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Your video has been very helpful (only got as far as Chapter 3 so far). I agree with the comment about continuous movement of the iPhone. Better to have it placed at an appropriate distance, which would meet all your description requirements. Also, I suspect that some of the features you mention will be specific to the USA, and will not have a UK variant? Many thanks

[@BakerMadness]

Brand New Apple enviro user... like, since July I have 2 M1 devices an iPhone 11 and a watch. I shoot videos etc, but am not comfortable with my content in the cloud. if I disable the cloud for photos and videos, can I still download my photos from my iphone to my iMac with the cord? Like I used to do with my old Samsung Phone and Dell windows 10 heap...?

[@Learnwithjoel]

Hey @BakerMadness! Welcome to the Apple Family! Yes, iCloud Photos syncs all photos and videos taken with an iPhone or iPad to iCloud and return syncs it to Apple Photos on the Mac. If you don't use iCloud Photos, there are a handful of other ways to import your videos manually. The Mac treats your iPhone just like a digital camera. I'll link some helpful videos below for importing Apple Photos - Just plug your iPhone in and open Apple Photos, you will have prompts to import. HOW TO add and IMPORT pictures into APPLE PHOTOS kzbin.info/www/bejne/joPMkmB8abaNY8k iMovie: Open an iMovie library and click the import button, or File > Import and you will be able to manually import your videos from your iPhone to iMovie IMPORTING VIDEOS into iMOVIE on your MAC! - Guide to GETTING STARTED! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmnNY5akmq9gaZI You can also use an App called "Image Capture" on your Mac. It's very very basic tool for importing and you pretty much just choose a destination for the files to go and click import. Hope that helps! Thanks so much for watching and if you'd like to support me by subscribing, I would greatly appreciate it!

[@Criticalmaze]

8:30 This confuses me because you can’t really free up space more than once can you? What happens when you sync then delete photos off your phone? Then what happens when you want to offload a second time?

[@indranidasgupta8982]

I still have questions, well, basically, two: 1) How can I keep icloud from downloading originals AND duplicates of my photos from my iphone into my windows PC (not mac), and 2) how do I keep those photos on my icloud ONLY? I have more space in my icloud account (because I bought space there) and less in my PC. I'm running out of space in my PC and trying to free up space, so now I'm having to manually delete all those duplicates from icloud that have been downloaded into my PC. Is there an easier way out of this mess?