Google Pics - Deleting Pics From Device, Keeping On Cloud

[V8RX7]

My phone is full of pics so to clear space I'm "deleting from device" and leaving them on the cloud

But I can still see them on my phone

So is it downloading info each time I look at them or are they smaller files or... ?

[Orchid1]

If you're viewing the photos on Google Photos then essentially you're accessing your online library of photos through the app as far as I understand? It shouldn't download the photos to your actual phone at all.

[V8RX7]

Orchid1 said:

If you're viewing the photos on Google Photos then essentially you're accessing your online library of photos through the app as far as I understand? It shouldn't download the photos to your actual phone at all.

Sorry I meant using data to view it

Although I've just tried it in Airplane mode and the pics are still there - presumably it runs a cache

Effectively I'm wondering if there is a downside to removing all my pictures from my phone - currently I've just removed the ones I don't need on a daily basis

[Road2Ruin]

Google photos will initially show you a thumbnail low res version. If you click on it though it will download a higher res version. Still not that high res though, but good enough.

[The_Jackal]

The only downside is forgetting your google password.
Also, posting on facebook will require the photo to be held locally, as their gallery only shows local photos.

[V8RX7]

Thanks - if I'd realised how it worked, I'd have done it sooner

[Corso Marche]

Tip: Launch the Google Photos app, open the side menu and tap on Free Up Space.
It'll automatically remove/delete the local copies of photos on your device which have already been backed up.
Which means you don't have to delete any local photos yourself. The process can be automated.

[V8RX7]

Corso Marche said:

Tip: Launch the Google Photos app, open the side menu and tap on Free Up Space.
It'll automatically remove/delete the local copies of photos on your device which have already been backed up.
Which means you don't have to delete any local photos yourself. The process can be automated.

Yes it's been offering me that option for ages but I assumed I'd loose the pics on my phone, I use it like a notepad so that didn't suit me and I ignored it until now because I desperately need the space.

[Brother D]

Personally I'd really recommend keeping a local copy in case google decides you shouldn't have access to your photos...

I have all photos backed up to my PC, NAS, Google (and Amazon).

[Corso Marche]

I've similar, all stored on Google Photos, automatically being removed from my phone as they are backed up.
Regular camera photos are stored there too.
But once a month I launch Google Takeout and save a ZIP archive of the previous month's photos to a local NAS. One local copy, and one cloud copy in G Photos.
The NAS has a periodic backup done to another drive too, for the day that eventually fails.

[V8RX7]

Yes my IT friend keeps telling me if it's not backed up in three places it's not backed up.

I'll have to get around to doing that.

[xx99xx]

V8RX7 said:

Yes my IT friend keeps telling me if it's not backed up in three places it's not backed up.

I'll have to get around to doing that.

I imagine Google have a decent backup protocol? What are the chances of Google losing data? If it's anything higher than medium probability then I should think about another backup. I'm not too worried about losing access temporarily. Guarding against permanent loss is my concern.