Saving photos to icloud...configuration questions

[Sawday]

My wife, having dropped, and rendered unusable, her iPhone has purchase a new SE 2022. She has lost all the photos taken since she last copied them to Photos on her Macbook about a month ago. To avoid this in future she is looking to have her images backed up automatically to iCloud. However, reading the details this means that (a) all her images will be stored in the cloud rather than her phone (b) this will require internet access to view her photos (c) this will sync the photos with photos on her mac. Can someone with more knowledge refute or more fully explain all the above. I'm afraid the Apple online guide is borderline useless.. We live in a rural area and several friends have no telephone signal, she would want to view and show photos without having to rely on icloud access and finally no way does she want her phone images to sync with her Macbook as she wants control over exactly what images are held on the Macbook.

 

[Sawday]

Supplementary to the above. I have a backup from back in the day (2018 in fact) of my wife's iPhone which was probably her iPhone 4s (but don't quote me). It will have most of her 100+ contacts on. I know a restore will restore 'everything' but does that include the operating system (yikes!) or just contacts, photos, apps and misc data. Is it possible/feasibly to set up her new iPhone (it's still in the box), do a restore from 2018 without upsetting too much on the new phone and then having updating any apps as required doing a new backup to save everything.

 

[IWT]

Possibly a slight misunderstanding going by your first post.

The Photos & Videos that are on the iPhone remain there when they are synced to iCloud. Therefore, your wife will always have access to all her pics/vids. True: she could sign in to her Apple ID and view them there; but there absolutely no need for that.

Furthermore, she could - only if she wants - sync all her pics/vids to another Mac Device eg iPad, Mac computer. BUT - NB syncing lots of pics/vids may exceed the free iCloud sync service which is 5GB. Not much.

However, for less than the cost of a decent cup of coffee/month, she can get 200GB of iCloud use (sync and storage) = £2.99/month. Not bad.

Bottom line: no matter where you live, rural or otherwise, what pics/vids she takes with her iPhone will remain there for access whenever she wants.

One possible drawback with living in a rural area with poor/slow Internet access, is that the syncing process will take time. My suggestion is she leaves her iPhone plugged in over night which allows the syncing process - AND a full iPhone backup - to complete (assuming she wants to BU her iPhone to iCloud which I thoroughly recommend).

no way does she want her phone images to sync with her Macbook as she wants control over exactly what images are held on the Macbook

Now; I've got an idea about that. Yes, syncing, syncs ALL the pics/videos. BUT what she could do is go into the Photos app on her MacBook; then click on the items she wants to remain "Private", then Right Click on any one of them, and from the menu, choose HIDE. This puts all these in its own album which is PW protected. If/when she wants to see them, she Clicks on the Hidden Album, puts in the PW which BTW - is the same as her Login/Admin PW - and there they are.

As an additional precaution, she can Click on the "View" icon in the Top Menu Bar and from there choose "Hide Hidden Photo Album" so that nobody knows she even has one. When she wants access, Click on View > Show Hidden Photo Album and it will reappear on the left and she Clicks on that + PW.

Worth a thought??

Ian

 

[IWT]

I know a restore will restore 'everything' but does that include the operating system

No. The full restore process restores all her Data, Pics/Vids/, Settings, Passwords, Internet details etc. NOT the iOS. With a new iPhone or older one which has been wiped, it's necessary to download the latest iOS for that iPhone, then restore from iCloud etc.

As an addition to my first Post to you, she could, of course, ignore iCloud syncing and backup all her Photos/Videos to her Mac via USB Cable.

Indeed, she could backup everything on her iPhone to her Mac and forget iCloud if she so desired.

Ian

 

[Sawday]

Ian, Thank you for the reassurance that "The Photos & Videos that are on the iPhone remain there when they are synced to iCloud." I cannot immediately find the Apple article that I read earlier that suggested otherwise. To be honest I going to have to persuade my wife to steer clear of iCloud it's just to nebulous for my liking so I shall have to get her into the habit of backing up to her Macbook regularly. She already copies he photos to Photos (just not regularly enough!).

Thank you also about the restore process. Can you confirm that restoring from 2018 will not give any issues. Does it overwrite any new apps or are they classed as being part of the OS and will not be touched. Just trying to balance the benefit of getting the majority of her contacts back versus the work involved in tidying up her new Phone.

 

[IWT]

Can you confirm that restoring from 2018 will not give any issues. Does it overwrite any new apps or are they classed as being part of the OS and will not be touched.

This is more difficult to give a categorical statement. Usually, there's no problem; but the following has to be considered:

Her backup is from 2018; but you think that relates to an iPhone 4 or thereabouts. First question is what was the final iOS on the old iPhone? That could be a problem. There may/may not be a Firmware difference as well.

Also, this backup you have: is it on a Mac or in iCloud. That can make a difference. When I've faced this problem, I've always found it easier to do so from a Mac (either via iTunes in the past or Finder currently).

As regards the Apps - well obviously the old apps will either be upgraded or deleted if no longer available for the current iPhone. Her Contacts should be OK.

I realise that my response is a bit "wooly". I think you can only try and see if it works, or dispense with the backup and move on with the new

Ian

 

[Sawday]

Thanks for your time and knowledge Ian. The backup is on a mac (mine) which helps. It's a shame Apple hasn't thought to allow people to restore just their contacts (or just their photos), but we have to accept that. We will debate the pros and cons over lunch and sort her phone out this afternoon.

 

[IWT]

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

To be honest I going to have to persuade my wife to steer clear of iCloud it's just to nebulous for my liking so I shall have to get her into the habit of backing up to her Macbook regularly.

That is, to be honest, not the best path for her. If you set her phone to sync pictures from the Photos app on the iPhone to the cloud, then she doesn't have to think about or try to remember to back up regularly. Similarly, you can set the iPhone to back up to the cloud automatically for her. That way she doesn't have to remember to do that, either. Basically, Apple is trying to make it painless to protect your pictures and data on the iPhone by helping you store it in the cloud without having to do so manually.

 

[Sawday]

That is, to be honest, not the best path for her. If you set her phone to sync pictures from the Photos app on the iPhone to the cloud, then she doesn't have to think about or try to remember to back up regularly. Similarly, you can set the iPhone to back up to the cloud automatically for her. That way she doesn't have to remember to do that, either. Basically, Apple is trying to make it painless to protect your pictures and data on the iPhone by helping you store it in the cloud without having to do so manually.

I wish I could find somewhere on the Apple site that is clear about what this actually entails. She certainly does NOT want to have to access the cloud in order to view images which Apple implies. Also, if she should accidentally delete an image from her phone isn't that deletion also reflected in the cloud? If so what is the point?

 

[IWT]

NOT want to have to access the cloud in order to view images which Apple implies.

Honestly, I mean no offence; but your lady does NOT, repeat, Not have to go anywhere near iCloud to view her photos. They will always be on her iPhone - until she deletes any.

I, truthfully, can't recall when I last Logged In to iCloud. I have 2+ thousand pictures and videos within the Apple Photos app which are backed up to various sources, but synced and backed up to iCloud.

If I want to view a pic/video, there they are on my iPhone, my iPad and my Mac.

if she should accidentally delete an image from her phone isn't that deletion also reflected in the cloud? If so what is the point?

There, you do have a valid point. Yes, she accidentally deletes a pic/video and yes that is reflected in iCloud - BUT after 30 days. That is, anything she deletes on her iPhone is "saved" for 30 days.

If she opens her iPhone, Taps on Photos, then at the bottom of the screen, Taps on Albums, she only need to scroll down to the bottom where the final album is "Recently Deleted". And there they will remain till the 30 days are up.

(incidentally, that's also true if a pic/vid is deleted from any Mac Device including a Mac computer: there is a recently deleted Album on all Devices)

And this is true of iCloud as well. They are held in the "Recently Deleted" Album there for ditto days.

So really, there is no reason to worry about an accidental deletion.

Others can confirm if you doubt my comments if you require that.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

In addition to Ian's excellent post, if your lady backs up her phone more than once every 30 days, and saves the backup, even if the deleted photo gets deleted after the 30 days, she can restore the phone from the backup that HAS the image. Of course, then she will have to export that image to somewhere other than Photos, do another restore to the most recent backup and then import that image, but it's there.