Understanding photos in my gallery with different cloud symbols

[horseaholic73]

I have a Note 20 Ultra with lots of photos on it that are needed to be removed for storage space purposes. I'm currently using Google photo storage. Some photos have a cloud symbol in corner with a check mark with-in cloud assuming this means photos are successfully uploaded on a cloud(Google hopefully) However, there are plenty of photos with a cloud symbol with a tall rectangle symbol with-in cloud. What does this mean? Not backed-up or loading or cloud somewhere other than Google or??

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Where do you see those icons? I don't see that on my Pixel 6 Pro nor my Galaxy A32 5G.

It may be that the cloud with the rectangle means that the photo is both saved to the cloud and is still saved locally to the phone.

Please register on this forum, which will allow you to engage in discussion more easily, as well as post images. https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html

 

[mustang7757]

You use one drive? It comes now default on Samsung devices

 

[horseaholic73]

I have a Samsung Note 20 Ultra with lots of photos on it that are needed to be removed for storage space purposes. I'm currently using Google photo storage, and I think there is s Samsung storage offered, too. Some photos have a cloud symbol in corner with a check mark with-in cloud assuming this means photos are successfully uploaded on a cloud(Google hopefully) However, there are plenty of photos with a cloud symbol with a tall rectangle symbol with-in cloud. What does this mean? Not backed-up or loading or cloud somewhere other than Google or?? I have One Drive, but don't know how to even use that for photos.

 

[B. Diddy]

I merged your threads and made you the owner of the original guest post to make it easier to find.

That screenshot is from the Samsung Gallery app, not the Google Photos app. I confirmed on my A32 5G that the cloud icon with the check means that the photo is in your cloud (the OneDrive cloud, not the Google Photos cloud) but not physically saved to the phone's storage, while the cloud icon with the rectangle (which is supposed to represent a phone) means that the photos is in the cloud and also on your phone.

I tested this by using the Free Up Space option in Google Photos (which locally deletes any photos that it knows it has backed up to Google Photos in the cloud) -- after doing this, all of the photos that had that cloud with phone icon changed to cloud with checks only. Oddly, I couldn't find any way in Samsung Gallery to delete photos locally but keep them saved to the cloud -- the Delete button in Samsung Gallery gets rid of the photo everywhere (which kind of defeats the purpose, since part of the reason to save photos to the cloud is to allow you to make more space on your phone).

 

[mustang7757]

See if your signed in one drive ? Seems like they were backed up by cloud storage and reinstalled check also sd card

 

[horseaholic73]

THANK YOU!!! I have been wondering for over a year what photos I can manually remove from my phone to make storage space with-out loosing from a cloud I enjoy and use (Google) I have searched high and low for answers. THANK YOU!!!
My next big challenge is tackling "other" in my almost full storage to delete what is not necessary and hopefully make more room. I may ask that question next with a photo showing my dilemma......