It’s a common scenario: you want to free up space in your Google Photos account, but you’re not ready to part with those precious memories on your phone. Deleting backed up photos from Google Photos while ensuring they remain safely stored on your device is indeed possible. This guide will walk you through the steps to remove photos from Google Photos cloud storage without affecting the local copies on your phone or tablet.
First and foremost, to delete backed up Google Photos without losing them from your device, you need to disable the backup and sync feature on any device where you intend to keep the photos. Here’s how to proceed:
Steps to Delete Photos from Google Photos While Keeping Them on Your Device:
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Turn off Backup & Sync: On your mobile device (phone or tablet), open the Google Photos app. Navigate to your profile picture or initial, usually located at the top right corner. Tap on “Photos settings” then select “Backup & sync” and turn it off. This crucial step ensures that any changes you make in Google Photos won’t be immediately reflected on your device, and vice versa, after you delete photos from Google Photos, they won’t be deleted from your device if backup is off.
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Access Google Photos on the Web: Open a web browser on your computer or mobile device and go to photos.google.com. Log in to your Google account. Managing your photos on the website provides a more comprehensive view and control over your backed-up photos.
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Select and Delete Photos from Google Photos: Browse through your Google Photos library on the website. Select the photos and videos you wish to delete from Google Photos. Once selected, click on the “Delete” icon (trash can symbol), typically found at the top right corner. Confirm the deletion when prompted. These photos will be removed from your Google Photos cloud storage.
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Verify Photos on Your Device: After deleting photos from Google Photos, wait for a few minutes and ensure your device is connected to Wi-Fi. Then, close and reopen the Google Photos app on your device. Navigate to your Photos view or Camera Roll/Device Folders to confirm that the photos you deleted from Google Photos online are still present on your device. These are now local copies, independent of your Google Photos backup.
To double-check the backup status of a photo and confirm it’s a local copy, you can follow these steps within the Google Photos app on your device:
- Check Backup Status: Open the Google Photos app and tap on the photo you want to verify.
- View Details: Tap the three vertical dots “More” icon at the bottom right of the photo.
- Scroll to Details: Scroll down to “Details.” If backup is turned off and the photo was deleted from Google Photos online, it should indicate that it’s only a local copy and not backed up.
Important Considerations:
- Backup Benefits: Remember that by turning off backup, you will lose the advantages of automatic cloud backup for new photos and videos taken on that device. Consider the benefits of backup before disabling it permanently. Learn about Google Photos Backup.
- Re-enabling Backup: If you decide to turn backup back on in the future, be aware that there’s a possibility, though less likely after recent updates, that the deleted photos might re-sync or the local copies might be affected depending on the timing and your settings. Learn how to turn on backup.
By following these steps, you can effectively manage your Google Photos storage and remove backed-up photos while keeping your local copies safe on your devices. This ensures you have control over your cloud storage and device storage independently.
