iCloud keeps bringing in entire photo archive onto my iPhone!

[cgone]

Hi, apologies if this has been answered already. I imagine it has but I couldn't quite find the same issue upon searching the forum. Please link me to an old post if so.

My issue:
I have 13,000+ photos going back almost 20 years, all backed up to iCloud (w/ the 200gb storage upgrade).

I currently have a new iPhone 12 and I'd like to only have recent photos (i.e. photos I've taken with this phone) on it. However I'd also like it to automatically back these up to iCloud.

I'm not interested in having instant access to any of my old photos on my iPhone, either at full res or optimised. However, regardless which mixture of settings I change (and I've tried plenty) - every now and again I'll see that all of a sudden, all 13,000+ of my old photos are suddenly on my iPhone again, and have filled up the storage (64gb). How can I ensure this doesn't happen in the future, once and for all?

**In short** I want the iCloud backup to be a one-way system: for photos i take with my phone to automatically backup to my iCloud, but I never want older photos from iCloud to appear back on my phone.

Any help would be hugely appreciated, before i have to take this into an Apple Store and speak to a Genius.

 

[J. A.]

Welcome to iPhone Forums!

iCloud Photos is not a backup option, it syncs images between devices. When you remove some of them on one device, they will also be deleted on your other devices connected to your iCloud account (Photos enabled).

If you disable iCloud Photos, your recent pictures will not be synced by iCloud. You can find them on the device where they are stored, nowhere else. If you use iCloud Photos, all the images synced by iCloud will be found on every other device as well.

Shared Albums, on the other hand, don‘t use storage space on your iPhone, and are also synced between devices by iCloud. You don‘t have to invite someone else, you can also send an invitation to another email address you‘re using.

How to use Shared Albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Shared Albums let you share photos and videos with just the people you choose — and they can add their own photos, videos, and comments.

support.apple.com

 

[cgone]

Thanks for clarifying J.A.

I use an additional backup via the Photos app on my desktop, so will just ensure to use that more then probably just disable and clear iCloud photos.

 

[J. A.]

Glad to help.