Great article.  My wife just had the same issue.  I've got an Android and eventually I won out to convince her to use Google Photos.  However, for my mum all her stuff is Apple based now so I pushed her into doing exactly as you've suggested here.  Guess I'm saying it needs to suit what other family members do as well as what other devices you have.

I think it's important to note a few things such as:

• The key here is the
• Optimize iPhone Storage
• and that should be emphasised.  If it's
• not
• checked then you'll still run out of space on your phone

• Alternative supported platforms e.g. Google Photos.  Google photos is
• free
• if you choose to upload only high quality versions of your photos (versus originals) and for the majority of us that's fine.  Another handy addition to Google Photos is multiple accounts... I ended up setting up a family Google account that we all sync our photos to.  Not sure if you can do that with Apple?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for paying for a service though it would be good to know what the other options are if you are in fact just starting out.

Here's what I use as a free alternative:
https://photos.google.com/

Here's the app for iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-photos-free-photo-and-video-storage/id962194608?mt=8

@Rob, why not have mum run the Google Photos app under iOS?

Thanks, Rob.  you bring up some great points that definitely are worth consideration for different user types.

Personally, I use HDR photos because I got sick and tired of looking at the photos on my laptop or phone because I noticed that zooming really degraded the quality of the photo.  And when I tried to share those on other social platforms, those places reduced the quality of the photo even more!

Google Photos is a great alternative free option, with some caveats of course, like 16 megapixel photo max and 1080p videos max.  They do sell 100gb for $2 I read if you want to not be restricted in photo/video size.

Apple has its restrictions, but $12 a year is a small price to pay knowing that my photos will always be available to me from any device or computer, and at the quality I captured the moment in.

Hmm.  Interesting.  I guess I'm wondering why would you delete the photo and expected it to still exist somewhere else?  Its not taking up space on the phone.  What you're seeing is just a view of the photo.  If you browse just the camera roll all the time, I can see how it is inconvenient to have tons of photos in no particular order except by most recent date, but then that's why you would create and manage albums by selecting photos from the camera roll.

Is your statement meant to be like a "oh crap I remember deleting that picture, but that's ok I know its over here so I can just get it from there" kind of situation?

If you didn't know already, deleted photos are retained for up to 30 days in the 'Recently Deleted' album.  So, you have at least 30 days to restore the photo or they're gone forever.

HDR photos? Did you mean High Def ie resolution, or High Dynamic Range?  HDR photos take up the same space as other photos...

some caveats of course, like 16 megapixel photo max and 1080p videos max

I think that depends on your use... 16 megapixel will still allow you to print your photo in perfect quality up to almost A3 (11" x 14") and in reasonable quality up to 30"x40" and that would also depend on the inks and printer you used too.  What I'm getting at is the sizes they offer on Google are more than enough for the average user.

I guess I'm wondering why would you delete the photo and expected it to still exist somewhere else?

For freeing up space on your phone. Personally, I prefer to use "cloud" storage like an external hard drive.

For freeing up space on your phone.

Now I'm wondering why you need to free up space on your phone? lol.  My article is showing an iPhone user how my steps DO NOT use storage on the physical phone.

I just don't like the clutter of having a million pictures on my phone. I want to save them, but I don't want them on my handheld device. Maybe I'm in the minority here?

You're not.  I think trying to manage the Camera Roll is an endless task.  That is why my steps to use iCloud storage will help with this process because
1) You won't need to delete photos anymore just to 'manage' them on your device.
2) This enables you to organize photos from the Camera Roll into albums.  This way you DO NOT have to go looking for a photo in your Camera Roll because...I mean, hundreds of thousands of photos to scroll through is just ludicrous. :D
You can them look for photos in your albums.

I'm headed to Alaska tomorrow to embark on a bucket list adventure - to see the Northern Lights.  Like most people who use their smartphone as their primary camera, I'm paranoid that something might happen and I'll lose my phone or the phone dies - with no backup evidence of this epic adventure.  And since I'll be in the middle of nowhere and my iPhone can't back up to the iCloud, I found this super cool device to offload my photos - making the Camera Roll less of an endless task.

https://www.sandisk.com/home/mobile-device-storage/ixpand

That's a great option!

Hey that's a really cool device, Matt.  Thanks for sharing.

Definitely Matt.  I'm always paranoid or looking for a wifi connection to backup to when I'm travelling so to have a simple solution like that is awesome... takes me back to when I was travelling in 2004 and had a portable CD Burner with inbuild card reader for my CF storage from my Camera haha :D  I had two sets of CDs going too...

And if you're really looking for a redundant backup for your GoPro - this is the newest edition to my family.  Turn it on, pop in the SD card, and backup is complete!

https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html

Nice.  I shared that with a buddy of mine who uses his GoPro on his drone.