iTunes synching? I just plug the iPhone to my Mac with iTunes open. An iPhone icon shows up on the upper left of iTunes, and if you click on it, it shows your iPhone. Clicking on one of the categories on the list on the left allows you to select what you can sync for that category.

For example, for Music, you can select playlists or albums to sync (or everything). After making your selections, click Sync on the bottom right.

How you do it?

I now use Flickr, which has been a solid photo storage utility for many decades. I also use a Google Photos, an excellent free service with unlimited storage. Google has been known to shake things up as well but they always provided the option to transfer my photos to any new storage facility.

While neither of these apps provide the ideal syncing option of iCloud, for me it boils down to security and price.

Perhaps you can check the Recently Deleted album and empty it?

But does it really delete them? Or do they just stop showing up and get deleted in the 30 days. I ask because I have tried this, and the “recently deleted” file shows no photos, but my available storage space does not change (I tend to delete many photo/movie files at once). From what I can tell, the photos still exist somewhere on my hard drive, they just don’t show up. And then the app deletes them when the 30 days are up. What I’d like to do is delete photos w/o the 30 day delay. Just wondering if you have any insights on this.

Don’t do it through iCloud, turn off iCloud – airdrop to Mac – import to photos