Removing original images from the Lightroom iPhone: Unsync if it a Collection?

[reidthaler]

Operating System

1. Windows 10

If anyone has a short bullet point process for managing Lightroom iPhone images that would be great. I checked with ChatGPT and believe I got incorrect info:

While ChatGPT has been helpful with workflow philosophy, I question the specifics in recommends. For example, I asked, "What is the best way to remove original images from Lightroom on the iphone that have synced to a Lightroom catalog and may be in collections? Should I make a screen shot of the collections, uncheck the syncing function, then remove from All synced photo, then re-sync the collections so the smart previews will still show in Lightroom on the iphone?

The Response

I believe this is incorrect because if an iPhone image is in a Collection and I don't unsync the Collection, and remove images from All Synced Photos, Lightroom will remove images from regular Collections as well. I seem to remember the process is to screenshoot synced collections, unsync them, remove image from All Synced Photos, then re-sync. Please verify.

If you have a bulleted workflow that would be great. I want verify the process before I create a workflow. My brain is spinning now and I think I need some feedback first.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Like this one? https://www.lightroomqueen.com/remove-photos-cloud-sync/

ChatGPT is great but I've seen plenty of situations where it gives dangerous advice.

 

[reidthaler]

Yes.
Thanks, As I thought. ChatGPT was incorrect since it stated that removing all synced photo would still keep them in Collections.

 

[reidthaler]

I called out ChatGPT for being incorrect, and it acknowledged so and suggested what's below. Any thoughts? It sounds like Lightroom would replace iphone originals with smart previews once they synced:

So what can you do to minimize space?​

This is where the real workaround lives — and it’s entirely on the iPhone side, not in Classic.

Correct solution for your goal​

1. Leave the photos synced (do NOT remove from All Synced Photographs)​

1. On the iPhone:
   
   • Lightroom Mobile → Settings → Storage
   • Set Store Originals Locally = OFF
   • Clear cache
     

Result:

• Photos remain in Collections
• Only lightweight previews are stored
• Originals stream on demand
• Minimal device storage used

Yes — they still exist in the cloud, but they are not stored on the phone.

 

[Jim Wilde]

I called out ChatGPT for being incorrect, and it acknowledged so and suggested what's below. Any thoughts? It sounds like Lightroom would replace iphone originals with smart previews once they synced:

So what can you do to minimize space?​

This is where the real workaround lives — and it’s entirely on the iPhone side, not in Classic.

Correct solution for your goal​

1. Leave the photos synced (do NOT remove from All Synced Photographs)​

1. On the iPhone:
   • Lightroom Mobile → Settings → Storage
   • Set Store Originals Locally = OFF
   • Clear cache

Result:

• Photos remain in Collections
• Only lightweight previews are stored
• Originals stream on demand
• Minimal device storage used

Yes — they still exist in the cloud, but they are not stored on the phone.

Well, it's better but still has errors. Specifically, on the iPhone there is no single tab called "Storage" in the App Settings, there are two tabs which contain the word "Storage", and both of them have to be used to implement the procedure:

App Settings>Cloud Storage & Sync - ensure that "Only download reduced-resolution" is enabled ("Store Originals Locally" is an option only in the Lightroom Desktop app, not any of the mobile apps).
App Settings>Local Storage - use the "Clear Cache" option periodically to remove originals which have been downloaded on demand.

 

[reidthaler]

To follow up on my original discussion, I'll be traveling and using my iPad to download my images. As I've done so before, is the easiest way to clear images off the iPad to delete the Lightroom app so I don't have to worry about removing images from collections?

Victoria's link is how to remove images from the cloud, I'll looking for the easiest, least destructive way to remove from devices.

Thanks,

Reid

 

[clee01l]

Don't worry about it. If you are not using the iPad Camera and the Photos app. your images imported into Lightroom Mobile are sent to the cloud. Lightroom keeps in Cache only those photos that you work on in Lightroom. It apparently does a pretty good job of managing the cache and you can manage the size of cache in local storage. (I have my Lr cache set to 10GB even though I have 1TB of total storage available.). You can clear the cache locally in Lr settings and this does not affect anything stored in the Adobe Cloud.

I have never been unable to get the images I need to work on when working Lightroom on the iPad.

It is not clear to me that you are going to be importing new images from the camera card . This is what I do and it works well. If you are importing from the camera card you will store temporarily full size images which will be replaced with smaller smart previews as soon as Lightoom has synced to the Adobe Cloud.

If you are only going to be accessing images from the Adobe Cloud, I have about 15K images in the Adobe Cloud and can access all of them from the iPadPro. Lightroom downloads only a smart preview from the Adobe cloud which is fine to work with in Lr on the iPad. If you want to export full size images to another app or social media, Lightroom will download the largest size available in the Adobe Cloud create a derivative and export the derivative.

 

[reidthaler]

Thanks. Very helpful. I just assumed that the full rez RAW files were still on the iPad from the previous trip, but see, as you noted, that they are removed after they are synced.

It's really great how we can download to an iPad, work on images, just close the cover and order another drink on the beach, and go home and all your images, ratings, and optimizations just sync to your catalog. So much better than the travel catalog we had to implement previously.

Good, one more thing I can check off my list before my travels.

Thanks again,

 

[clee01l]

Good, one more thing I can check off my list before my travels.

It is a good idea to do a ‘dry run’ importing to the iPad and following the process through sync to there master catalog BEFORE your trip to work out any wrinkles and surprises.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[reidthaler]

Yes a dry run is always good as is redundancy. Plan on everything failing and think of your back up. For example, I'll bring my cord to connect my Nikon to the iPad if my hub with a card reader fails.

I've attached my handout if people want it for a reference for using Lightroom when traveling.