Photos & Video not uploading to iCloud HELP!!

Paleface · Sep 15, 2015

I own an iPhone 5s and have ran into an issue with iCloud. My phone recently has gotten full and needed more space... I was also getting a notification that iCloud was also full. So I went ahead and purchased more space on iCloud (I now have 20 gigs) so I could upload a bunch of pictures and videos and then delete a bunch from my phone to free up room.

I have auto upload on for my pictures and videos, and iCloud indicates it has 19.5GB of space available. I'm also signed into iCloud, yet nothing is uploading even when connected to a wifi signal. It keeps saying 433 items to upload.... But nothing uploads. That number has not changed in over 24 hours.

I'm not sure what the heck to do, but I need to get this stuff uploaded and free up some space on my phone fast. As it is now, I only have like 200mg free on my phone.

J. A. · Sep 15, 2015

Do you intend to store these on iCloud only?

If you use iCloud Photo Library, photos and videos will be removed from iCloud as soon as you delete them from your device, which means you'll lose them. iCloud isn't one of these usual online storage spaces, at least not yet for photos. It's still more thought for syncing photos to other devices. Also, it's not always reliable.

If you want to use online storage, use Flickr. You get 1 TB fro free (photos, maybe videos too), and you don't have to show them in public, you can keep them private. It's also possible with Flickr to automatically upload photos from your Photos app, so you don't have to think of doing this every time you take photos.

There are other options as well, with less storage space: OneDrive, Copy, Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, ...

Another possibility would be to load images and videos to your computer and store them there.

Paleface · Sep 15, 2015

I saw there was an option for "optimized iPhone storage" within iCloud.., this option will keep copies of photos (possibly videos to) on your iPhone, but a far less resolution version. It will use iCloud to store the regular high quality version to be used later if needed.

I have this option checked and was hoping this would free up some space on my iPhone.

iCloud sounds like it's definitely not the best storage around or the best way to share things.... But non the less I need to get this phone to upload so I'm sure my phone is properly backed up. If it's not doing the pictures correctly, what else is it not backing up you know?

J. A. · Sep 15, 2015

With iCloud Photo Library enabled, your photos and videos are not included in an iCloud backup.

Here's more information about iCloud backups:
iCloud: iCloud storage and backup overview

Paleface · Sep 16, 2015

Kinda confused here. It specifically states its stores your entire library in iCloud to access photos and videos from all your devices.

J. A. · Sep 16, 2015

Paleface said:
Kinda confused here. It specifically states its stores your entire library in iCloud to access photos and videos from all your devices.

Correct. And when you remove photos from one device, they'll also be removed on your other devices, and iCloud.
You can test this. Go to www.icloud.com, use a browser on your computer, and login. Access your photos. Delete one or more of them on one of your Apple devices. Make sure it's connected to Wi-Fi. As soon as it syncs with iCloud, those removed on your Apple device will disappear from iCloud.

Paleface · Sep 18, 2015

You know, the weird thing is I logged onto my iCloud threw a computer yesterday and noticed it's blank.

There are no photos, videos, even contacts aren't there.... The only contact is myself.

I don't get it.... My phone was telling me that iCloud was full, so I purchased more space, but when I look into iCloud I see nothing.

J. A. · Sep 18, 2015

It's also possible that the space taken in iCloud are your backups.

Paleface · Oct 2, 2015

Well, I downloaded iCloud Drive app from the App Store, and it's also blank.... Doesn't show a thing. I know our iPhones just updated to the new iOS version..... Is there any new functions or things iCloud can do at this point with the new update?

I took your advice and got a Flickr account and app to save my pictures too, only thing is you can't upload your videos from your phone (which is the main thing taking up space).

I can't believe iPhone even sells 16GB phones... I literally have such a small about of pictures, music, and apps; and the damn thing is full to the brim. The OS and whatever else junk takes up so much damn space your left with a few GB for yourself when it all comes down to it. And your screwed again because you can't add a memory card to expand your storage space. I mean, it's ment to be a iPod that you can makes calls\text\email with.... But I can't even load a decent sized music library on the thing for such lack of space. It's not even like a iPod to me now, it's just a plain ass phone that seems to do less that all the androids I've owned in the past. Kinda getting frustrated here.

J. A. · Oct 3, 2015

The new update contained a few bug fixes:

There are flash drives that can be connected to the iPhone, as well as devices which build up their own Wi-Fi, and you'll be able to transfer/stream music, videos, ...
Some are mentioned in this post: Ipad 2 external storage?
You'll find an article about USB flash drives here:
The best iPhone/iPad USB flash drives with Lightning connectors

Paleface · Oct 11, 2015

Interesting about the flash drives, didn't know about those.... Of course when I meant I wish it had expandable space, internal space is what I had in mind, but those drives are pretty cool.

I just had to delete more music off my phone because it kept telling me it was low on space. I'm down to like 400MB of music now. It's telling me I have like 4.8GB of photos on my phone (iTunes is while the phones synced to it), and something like 500+ pictures in it. But in my actual phones "photos" app, I only have 58 photos and 17 videos (all videos like a minute or less).... Far cry from the 500+ about iTunes is telling my phone is taking up around 5GB worth of space.

Any idea what could be going on here? Not sure if anyone is still listening to this thread since I posted about a month ago and it's kinda gone from one topic to another, so I might start a new post with this question \ issue. But thanks again.

J. A. · Oct 11, 2015

It's not necessary to start an extra thread. I've just read your reply, and I'm sure other members will join soon, and try to help.

Have you tried connecting your iPhone to iTunes on a computer? Especially take a look at the storage space of your iPhone displayed in iTunes. If there's a storage space called "Other", and it's more than 2 GB, try restoring your iPhone. Make sure there's a most recent backup before you restore.

Paleface · Oct 12, 2015

Connecting my phone to iTunes is what prompted me to the issue.... iTunes is saying my iPhone has over 500 pictures on it and taking up around 5GB of space. Yet on my actual iPhone, I only have around 60 pictures and 15 videos (all videos are mostly 30 seconds, with one or two of them being about 2mins long).