Offloading iPhone photos

[Catherine B]

I read a previous thread about Google Photos and it doesn't look like the perfect solution - and maybe there isn't one. Are there any new ideas about how to free up memory on an iPhone for more photos along the way. Thanks.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I read a previous thread about Google Photos and it doesn't look like the perfect solution - and maybe there isn't one. Are there any new ideas about how to free up memory on an iPhone for more photos along the way. Thanks.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+up+memory+on+an+iPhone+for+more+photos

 

[Catherine B]

Update: doing some more research. Has anyone had any experience with an iBridge or similar memory device that plugs directly into an iPhone?

 

[Pilar]

We had success with downloading pictures from our iPhones to a SanDisk memory device. It has a lightening end to go into the iPhone or small iPad and a USB end for the computer. 64 GB and not real expensive especially if you find one on sale. I am low tech and had no trouble. It fits in a tall, skinny pill bottle to protect the ends.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Update: doing some more research. Has anyone had any experience with an iBridge or similar memory device that plugs directly into an iPhone?

I have an Android smartphone and have been looking into a connector called a USB OTG (OTG = On The Go). Keeping it simple it is a connector that allows various USB devices to connect to the phone. This includes flash drives, memory cards in adaptors and even keyboards and mice. Your mention of the iBridge sparked a thought in my head that this may be a similar product for the iPhone. I did a quick look and it does seem to be close but it connects only to a built-in flashdrive (which though can be connected to another iPhone or some device that accepts USB.) I don't know if it exists or not but I think you would do better if you could find a similar attachment to connect to the phone at one end and your choice of memory at the other.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

We had success with downloading pictures from our iPhones to a SanDisk memory device. It has a lightening end to go into the iPhone or small iPad and a USB end for the computer.

Just what I was thinking of.

Edit: I forgot to mention this page that may be helpful: https://www.wired.com/2015/04/ios-flash-drives/

 

[Waka]

Having all Apple devices at home I found that when I took pictures on the camino they downloaded to my home computer via iCloud. My other half would then put them on the system so I could then delete from my phone. This worked for me in 2015, it meant that I didn't have to take any other devices to download pics onto.

 

[Pibrac]

Buy à Samsung and insert a SD card into !

 

[Colette Z]

iCloud

 

[alaskadiver]

Update: doing some more research. Has anyone had any experience with an iBridge or similar memory device that plugs directly into an iPhone?

The SanDisk iXpand is the perfect solution, imo. It's super lightweight and tiny. Fast USB 3.0 transfer. More memory than you will use and can be set to automatically backup your photos when you plug it into your phone. Great way to free up memory on you phone so you can keep taking pictures and video. The 64GB one is selling for $57.80 on Amazon right now.
It's part of my packing list on my blog.

 

[CaminoJoy123]

We had success with downloading pictures from our iPhones to a SanDisk memory device. It has a lightening end to go into the iPhone or small iPad and a USB end for the computer. 64 GB and not real expensive especially if you find one on sale. I am low tech and had no trouble. It fits in a tall, skinny pill bottle to protect the ends.

Sorry to jump on this so late. How come you didn't put your iphone photos into the cloud?

 

[Paddington Bear]

I hate iCloud it is so difficult to use with so many restrictions. I use Flickr and other can see what you allow them to see. It's quick on wifi.

 

[Pilar]

I don't like keeping track of the "rules" for iCloud either. You end up having trouble deleting pictures and having them reappear. I just like the ease of a hard device and then the ability to transfer them to my computer when I get home. You don't need a connection to manage your pictures in the evening.

 

[Catherine B]

Sorry to jump on this so late. How come you didn't put your iphone photos into the cloud?

I believe that if you delete photos from your iPhone you also delete them from iCloud when you synch so that doesn't solve the problem. I've considered using Amazon or Google but I then I'd have to rely on a good internet connection.

 

[alaskadiver]

The iXpand drive is ideal. You can download the photos and videos to it and free up space on your phone. It's tiny and weighs nothing.

 

[Latecomer]

I read a previous thread about Google Photos and it doesn't look like the perfect solution - and maybe there isn't one. Are there any new ideas about how to free up memory on an iPhone for more photos along the way. Thanks.

Actually, some people would think that Google Photos is a perfect solution. Free unlimited storage for life! I uploaded more than 5000 photos via WiFi in Asia last year - It allowed me to free up space and organize the photos (by location, person, album, contents, etc.)

The app is free and the only real prerequisite is having a Google (e.g., Gmail) account. Give it a try with the existing photos on your phone - you don't need to delete them from the phone or other tools if you don't want to. Do give the batch processes a few days to do the initial indexing to see the real magic. After a couple of days, wander through all of the menus in the app (or login to photos.google.com on your computer).

In the hopefully unlikely event that your phone is nearly full before freeing up space, take these additional steps:
https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128843?co=GENIE.Platform=iOS&hl=en

Two important notes:

• Only use the 'garbage can' in Google Photos to Permanently delete photos that you do not want - Use "Free up space" or "Delete device copy" to free up space on your phone.
• (Assuming normal settings), Android devices back up new images as soon as you connect to WiFi, iOS devices only begin backing up when you connect to WiFi and open the app.

It is important to use and understand any non-trivial app (Maps, Cloud Storage, etc.) prior to using it in the field.

Finally, if your experiment with Google Photos on your phone is successful, you will probably subsequently want to install the Google Photos Desktop Uploader (https://photos.google.com/apps) on your Mac or Windows computers. I uploaded tens of thousands of images which I previously stored on external drives.

 

[peregrina2000]

Sorry to jump on this so late. How come you didn't put your iphone photos into the cloud?

I am by no means qualified to make many tech comments. I am dealing with an iphone that has little room left and I'm about to leave for the Camino and hope to be able to take pictures on my phone. But a light bulb went on today when I asked my IT help person why having an icloud account and paying apple 99 cents a month didn't solve the problem that I have with my phone filling up.

She told me -- Icloud is a sync-ing program, not a storage program. It will make all your phone pictures visible on your ipad, etc etc, but it does not store anything that you delete.

So that means I can save my 99 cents a month, download my photos onto a USB stick, and then delete them from my phone. Because having an icloud account will not increase the storage capacity of my phone. At least that's how I understand it.

 

[CaminoJoy123]

The iXpand drive is ideal. You can download the photos and videos to it and free up space on your phone. It's tiny and weighs nothing.

I've been checking this baby out. When was it invented? Sheer genius.

 

[CaminoJoy123]

We had success with downloading pictures from our iPhones to a SanDisk memory device. It has a lightening end to go into the iPhone or small iPad and a USB end for the computer. 64 GB and not real expensive especially if you find one on sale. I am low tech and had no trouble. It fits in a tall, skinny pill bottle to protect the ends.

Thanks for this awesome tip.

 

[CaminoJoy123]

Actually, some people would think that Google Photos is a perfect solution. Free unlimited storage for life! I uploaded more than 5000 photos via WiFi in Asia last year - It allowed me to free up space and organize the photos (by location, person, album, contents, etc.)

The app is free and the only real prerequisite is having a Google (e.g., Gmail) account. Give it a try with the existing photos on your phone - you don't need to delete them from the phone or other tools if you don't want to. Do give the batch processes a few days to do the initial indexing to see the real magic. After a couple of days, wander through all of the menus in the app (or login to photos.google.com on your computer).

In the hopefully unlikely event that your phone is nearly full before freeing up space, take these additional steps:
https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128843?co=GENIE.Platform=iOS&hl=en

Two important notes:

• Only use the 'garbage can' in Google Photos to Permanently delete photos that you do not want - Use "Free up space" or "Delete device copy" to free up space on your phone.
• (Assuming normal settings), Android devices back up new images as soon as you connect to WiFi, iOS devices only begin backing up when you connect to WiFi and open the app.

It is important to use and understand any non-trivial app (Maps, Cloud Storage, etc.) prior to using it in the field.

Finally, if your experiment with Google Photos on your phone is successful, you will probably subsequently want to install the Google Photos Desktop Uploader (https://photos.google.com/apps) on your Mac or Windows computers. I uploaded tens of thousands of images which I previously stored on external drives.

This sounds like a pretty smart approach for people with thousands of photos.

 

[alaskadiver]

I've been checking this baby out. When was it invented? Sheer genius.

LOL! I don't know when they invented it but I only just discovered it this year when I decided not to take my DSLR camera. It's also a great storage device for movies that you don't want/can't to store on your iPad during a long trip.
It's not waterproof like the sandisk SD cards so be sure to keep it in a ziplock bag (or whatever you're using to store electronics, so it doesn't get wet.

 

[CaminoJoy123]

LOL! I don't know when they invented it but I only just discovered it this year when I decided not to take my DSLR camera. It's also a great storage device for movies that you don't want/can't to store on your iPad during a long trip.
It's not waterproof like the sandisk SD cards so be sure to keep it in a ziplock bag (or whatever you're using to store electronics, so it doesn't get wet.

Wait, hold on there. I thought you cannot put a movie on the San disk and then watch it on your ipad while it's on the san disk? You'd have to put it back on the ipad, thus defeating the purpose of creating room on the ipad! Or you have to use some strange viewer app to watch it from the san disk and everything crashes?

Are you talking about Hollywood movies or videos you shot on the iphone / ipad?

Can you explain?

 

[alaskadiver]

Wait, hold on there. I thought you cannot put a movie on the San disk and then watch it on your ipad while it's on the san disk? You'd have to put it back on the ipad, thus defeating the purpose of creating room on the ipad! Or you have to use some strange viewer app to watch it from the san disk and everything crashes?

Are you talking about Hollywood movies or videos you shot on the iphone / ipad?

Can you explain?

With the iXpand you can watch movies straight from the device. As well as take photos directly to the device when attached. Formats supported are: WMV, AVI, MKV, MP4, MOV
You can watch any movie as long as it's in the right format.

 

[Paddington Bear]

I don't like keeping track of the "rules" for iCloud either. You end up having trouble deleting pictures and having them reappear. I just like the ease of a hard device and then the ability to transfer them to my computer when I get home. You don't need a connection to manage your pictures in the evening.

The sandisc ixpand is a great idea and a very neat solution but at $79AUD for 16GB it's not a choice I'm prepared to take ATM as I have a tablet that I back up into as well as Flickr when I travel. I'll definitely watch for sales, though.

The ixpand has a few glitches that I am sure they will iron out but it's a fantastic idea. Thank you.

 

[alaskadiver]

The sandisc ixpand is a great idea and a very neat solution but at $79AUD for 16GB it's not a choice I'm prepared to take ATM as I have a tablet that I back up into as well as Flickr when I travel. I'll definitely watch for sales, though.

The iXpand has a few glitches that I am sure they will iron out but it's a fantastic idea. Thank you.

I haven't had any glitches emerge but I've read about some minor annoyances with the app. It sucks that the conversion rate is not in your favor. That's a big difference in price from USD.

 

[Paddington Bear]

I haven't had any glitches emerge but I've read about some minor annoyances with the app. It sucks that the conversion rate is not in your favor. That's a big difference in price from USD.

Yes we miss out on so much here. Apparently people get annoyed they can't transfer more than 4G in one item. Not a problem that I would worry about. It also doesn't support some music tracks and uses a lot of phone battery. Better than not being able to transfer at all because your silly external hard drive needs to be plugged in!

I think the scandisc ixpand is a great idea. I'm waiting for a special or until the competition makes one then the price will plummett.