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lottes
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Keep old photos on iPhone 13 and sync new photos on iPhone 17 and MacBook

I have an iPhone 13, a new iPhone 17 and a MacBook. I want to keep all my old photos exclusively on my iPhone 13 and remove them completely from my MacBook and not transfer any to my iPhone 17. I want my MacBook and iPhone 17 to start fresh and sync only new photos with each other, without any of my old photos transferring over. How can I do this without losing any of my old photos on my iPhone 13?

Posted on Nov 10, 2026 2:28 PM

4 replies

Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 10 (105,996 points)

Nov 10, 2026 3:19 PM in response to lottes

Your iPhone storage is not going to be enough. If that device is using the same Apple Account as your other 2, purchasing more iCloud storage will make no difference as there is only 1 iCloud associated with the Apple Account.


If you want 2 different iCloud account to be independent of each other, then the iPhone 13 would need to be using one Apple Account and your Mac and iPhone 17 would be using the other Apple Account.


Please don't rely on iCloud as a backup, and you should have a backup of all those old photos on your Mac in a folder, USB Drive, or other external storage. .

Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 10 (105,996 points)

Nov 10, 2026 2:45 PM in response to lottes

On your iPhone 13, you would have to go to Settings > [name on top] > iCloud > Photos and since you said it is syncing to iCloud, you should see the option to Download and Keep on your phone and you would want to do that. It will take some time for those to be downloaded and you will need to have the storage available on your phone in order to have them saved there. I believe there is a progress indicator on that same page.


Once that sync is complete, then you would need to turn off iCloud Photos on the iPhone 13 so no other photos are synced. When that is done it is always a good idea to verify you are now seeing all of your photos on the iPhone 13, before proceeding to delete the iCloud Photos on your iPhone 17. With only your Mac and iPhone 17 syncing photos to iCloud now, they will not be removed from your iPhone 13.


Any new photos taken with your iPhone 17 now will appear on your Mac and it will just be those 2 devices syncing the Photo Library in iCloud.

lottes Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Nov 10, 2026 2:54 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Hi, thank you for your reply.


How much storage do i need on my Iphone 13 for this? I only have around 8GB remaining and i am using 55.4/50gb with icloud storage. Do i buy more icloud storage and free up some space in my main storage too?

lottes Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Nov 10, 2026 3:27 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

I have not set up my iphone 17 yet. Are you saying i should create a new apple account for my iPhone 17 and connect that one to my macbook instead? So basically i just un sync this apple account (my iPhone 13) from my macbook and sync to my new one that i will make. Will this effect my old photos that i want to keep separate from everything else on my new phone?

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256392220