It’s a common question for Google Photos users: how do you remove photos from your Google Photos account to free up storage, without losing them from your phone or device? Many users want to manage their cloud storage without affecting their local photo library. This guide will walk you through the steps to delete photos from Google Photos while ensuring they remain safely on your device.
To successfully remove backed-up photos and videos from Google Photos but not from your phone, you need to follow a specific process. The key is to manage your Google Photos library through the website interface after disabling backup on your devices. Here’s how to do it:
Steps to Delete Photos from Google Photos While Keeping Them on Your Device:
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Turn Off Backup: The first crucial step is to disable the backup feature on any device where you wish to keep the photos or videos. This prevents Google Photos from syncing changes and potentially deleting local copies.
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Access Google Photos on the Web: Using your computer or a mobile browser, navigate to photos.google.com/login and sign in to your Google account. It’s important to use the website, not the mobile app, for this process to ensure you’re directly managing your cloud storage.
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Delete Photos and Videos: On the Google Photos website, select and delete the photos and videos you want to remove from your Google Photos cloud storage. These actions will only affect your online Google Photos library.
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Verify Local Copies: After deleting from the website, give your device a few minutes and ensure it’s connected to Wi-Fi. Then, close and reopen your Google Photos app on your iPhone or iPad.
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Check Backup Status: To confirm that the deleted photos are indeed local copies and not still linked to your Google Photos, tap on a photo in your app. Then, tap the More icon (often three vertical dots) and scroll down to “Details.” This section will show you the backup status of the photo.
Important Considerations:
- Backup Benefits: Remember that by turning off backup, you will lose the advantages of automatic cloud backup, such as access to your photos from any device and protection against device loss. You can learn more about the benefits of backup to understand what you might be missing.
- Re-enabling Backup: If you decide to turn backup back on in the future, be aware that in some instances, photos you previously deleted from Google Photos might be re-backed up, or conversely, local copies might be deleted to align with your Google Photos cloud library.
By following these steps, you can effectively manage your Google Photos storage and delete photos from the cloud while safely keeping them on your personal devices. This method gives you control over your photo storage and ensures you don’t accidentally lose cherished memories from your phone.
