iCloud Photos won't sync due to 'low storage' on iPhone SE

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iCloud Photos won't sync due to 'low storage' on iPhone SE

I have an iPhone SE with 64 gigs of storage. For many months my storage has been completely full. After an unsuccessful battle to par down my apps and photos, I decided to buy the $0.99 per month upgrade for 50 gigs of icloud storage. However, my photos will not sync to icloud - the message says "low storage". I bought icloud + to fix my low storage issue, but how am I supposed to utilize this new service if I cannot upload my photos to Icloud until there's more storage on my phone? I feel like I purchased the upgrade for nothing, and I desperately need to free up space so I can update to iOS 18.6 as my phone has been bugging terribly lately. Please help!!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Icloud Photos wont sync

iPhone SE, iOS 17

Posted on Sep 29, 2025 1:35 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 30, 2025 10:32 AM in response to lore_92

lore_92 wrote: … I feel like I purchased the upgrade for nothing,

That may be true if you want something that iCloud is not used for. iCloud is not an addition to your phone's storage. iCloud is used to make your pictures and files available to other devices. iCloud is a synchronization service.

iCloud offers a service to Optimize Storage, but that just doesn't change the fact that your phone is so full it can't do anything. You have to fix that before you can take advantage of iCloud's optimization and synchronization. See if you can start by deleting small things, so you can get enough room to delete larger things. Delete apps. Games take up lots of space.

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