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stop lightroom mobile from syncing all photos

Engaged ,
Mar 30, 2018 Mar 30, 2018

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Is there a way to stop lightroom mobile from syncing all photos on my phone? And to remove all the photos it's already synced without deleting them from my phone?  I only want lightroom to sync photos i specifically tell it to sync. It's already uploaded a batch of photos I didn't want it to, and if i just try and delete them from lightroom.adobe.com it says it's going to delete the photo from all synced devices as well. (who is the genius that thought it's a good idea to delete photos everywhere without giving the option to only delete locally?)

I just turned off auto add in the preferences so I'm guessing that will stop LR from adding any more photos. But how do i remove the ones it's already synced without deleting them from my phone?

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Mar 31, 2018 Mar 31, 2018

This is a real design flaw in LR CC mobile. If you enable the auto add feature, it will start uploading every single image you have ever taken with your phone and all phones before if you use an iPhone and use the iCloud photo library feature. You can't just have it automatically upload just newly shot images to Adobe's cloud which is what most people really would want. Worse, if you realize that it is doing this wrong and disable the auto-add feature, it will just keep uploading everything anyw

...

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Community Expert ,
Mar 31, 2018 Mar 31, 2018

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This is a real design flaw in LR CC mobile. If you enable the auto add feature, it will start uploading every single image you have ever taken with your phone and all phones before if you use an iPhone and use the iCloud photo library feature. You can't just have it automatically upload just newly shot images to Adobe's cloud which is what most people really would want. Worse, if you realize that it is doing this wrong and disable the auto-add feature, it will just keep uploading everything anyway. There is no way to stop it from doing that except for completely removing the Lightroom CC app from your phone and reinstalling it from the app store. You can tell I ran into this problem too 😉

Lastly, the only way to remove the images already uploaded is manually deleting them from Lightroom CC either on your phone or in lightroom.adobe.com or in Lightroom CC on a desktop computer. They will still be on the photo roll on your phone (yes it duplicates them!) and in iCloud photo library. They will only be removed from Adobe's cloud.

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New Here ,
Aug 07, 2018 Aug 07, 2018

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Just ran into this problem as well - supremely aggravating, especially because it never confirmed a choice to sync all old photos, and as others have mentioned it does not stop syncing even when turned off. The problem is I now likewise have thousands of duplicate images in my Lightroom desktop library and if I go to edit or change one, I can't be sure which version I may be working on, cloud or desktop, without having to check and verify this for every image, and risk putting a cloud image into a collection and then having it potentially disappear at a later date due to any bugs with cloud syncing. I don't trust having one copy of an image that exists only in a cloud managed collection as that seems to be asking for trouble if some bug in the cloud software decides to delete or move around images and then having to track that down. I prefer to know where I put all my images manually and then sync selective collections with the cloud for only a small subset of images that need to live across devices for reviews, current work, etc.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 08, 2018 Sep 08, 2018

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I had the same problem and turned off the setting. It managed to upload 500 photos first, most of which I don't want in LR, however there are a few that I DO want and had already placed in albums. Has anyone found a clever way to delete all of the (mistakenly synced) photos in LR Mobile EXCEPT those that are in an album? The various filter and sort options can't show this, AFAIK. And there is no way to create a smart album on mobile. (There is an "edited" filter which is almost helpful, but there are some photos that I want to save, placed in albums, which have not been edited yet.)

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 01, 2019 Jan 01, 2019

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Thanks.  This is a horrible design decision.  At best, sucking in camera roll photos should be an opt-in setting.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 13, 2019 Jan 13, 2019

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Terrible how the default is to sync rather than making it an intuitive option. I hate it when an app is doing something without asking and potentially makes storage run out, which will then lead to extra costs. I guess THAT's what's behind the decision to have this feature so darn embedded without a clear signposting to switch it off.

Also not impressed with the warning that deleting from Lightroom CC will also delete from all synced devices. That's bad UX right there.

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New Here ,
Jan 28, 2019 Jan 28, 2019

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Everyone uses their phone for personal and professional uses. It’s inevitable: the best camera is the one you have on you, right?? Who wants personal photos stored on their phone co-mingled in adobe cc cloud used for work (assuming many users of adobe cc  the tools in their professional life). This is a nightmare. Imagine presenting  (or pitching, even worse) on your laptop or iPad (or phone even) and someone asks, “Well, we were there last year, too... pull up some of those photos real quick; I want to make sure we’re assessing this correctly.” Now, you have to sift through the most private vault of your life -- your iphone library — to find those work photos. And someone is looking over your shoulder, or more likely, directly at your screen. Even If the photos aren’t risqué or otherwise damaging, it’s a pain and it looks unprofessional (because it is). Adobe, lead the way, please: make us a pro tool, for pros. This includes thinking about issues like these when you design your products. There must be a better way, in this age of syncing everything, to maintain privacy, effectiveness and decorum.

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 12, 2019 Nov 12, 2019

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1. Open the Settings gear icon
2. Choose the Import item
3. turn off "Auto add from Camera Roll" (there's separate settings for video, photo, and screenshots)

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New Here ,
Sep 23, 2023 Sep 23, 2023

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LATEST

Where is the "settings gear icon"? I don't see it under Lightroom>Preferences... 

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Contributor ,
Nov 14, 2019 Nov 14, 2019

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I did this.  It is not automatically uploading my entire gallery (THANK GOD!!!).  But it is uploading pictures I take with the lightroom camera app.  I might actually want to use this feature selectively, but I cannot because it sends everything to the cloud?  Like I said, I would not mind this so much as I could go back and delete stuff later from a laptop.  However, I do not want it gobbling up all this data and/or hogging my phone resources/bandwidth with my garbage photos uploading to the cloud.

 

I currently, do not have it set to auto upload and would never choose this setting in a million years unless I had unlimited data and a better phone that could actually work and sync perpetually.

 

And the app does not seem to allow you to use hand gestures to activate a selfie.  That's annoying too!!  Otherwise, I rather like this app as I think it takes better pictures from what I can tell.

 

UPDATE:  Since I have scoured everything on the internet regarding this, and since I believe there is no solution, I am now wondering if I have to do the following"

 

Turn off all data and wifi while taking pictures.  Delete all the bad stuff and then allow it to sync to Lightroom Cloud over wifi when I am not busy doing other things (trouble is, remembering to do all this).

 

UPDATE#2  I tried the above workaround and it is truly a disaster.  I took about 15 photos.  Most of them are bad.  So I saved the good ones to my device and deleted the rest.  Now, it will not sync at all.  I am stuck with a cloud icon that has beens spinning for a good few minutes now.  I can only assume it is belatedly uploading every photo I took (including the bad ones) and then going back and deleting them.   Way to ruin something that could have really been great because the Samsung camera I am using would be fine except it has a tendency to bounce between modes whenever I try to zoom or do anything that involves touching the screen [another thing that has been driving me to the brink of madnes trying to MAKE IT STOP].

 

Anyway, I unpaused the sync and it is only on 5% after ten minutes of hogging my phone's resources.

 

Just like we share to device.  Why can't we selectively "share to cloud?"

 

I think I will have to delete everything now and start over.....again.  I have literally spent two whole days just on this...

 

UPDATE #3  Forgot to mention that there is nothing AND I MEAN NOTHING I can do to make the camera app stop saving to my internal storage.  I thought I had the answer by going to "Settings" >"Apps" and moving everything to the SD card.  No dice.  WTF?????????  Driving me over the edge of lunacy this.

 

And it scatters the photos all over the place.  As I am taking them, it created a folder entitled "Adobe Lightroom" in my DCIM.  However when I select "save to my device" from the share icon in Louche mode, it saves them to something it created called "Pictures" and inside that was "Lightroom Photos."  I never would have figured out that it was junking up my internal drive THIS bad had I not been conducted very methodical and exhaustive experiements.

 

It's too much of a mess for me to actually use this app.  I don't want my phone's internal storage all clogged up.  Now that the app is on my SD drive, will it move back with the next update?  I didn't want to place the app there, just all the files and junk that it generates.

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Community Beginner ,
May 29, 2020 May 29, 2020

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I may be a bit late to this party, but I'm going with those who think auto upload should be off by default. I've just found a new version has turned it on. 
I'm a Lightroom CC user. I import all my iCloud folders into Lightroom CC, cull them, rename them and add metadata before syncing them. I've got lots of transient junk photos in iCloud that I simply don't want in my serious photos.

I also note because I'm using Lightroom CC, anything added on my mobile doesn't end up in my catalogue anyway. 
I think this is a thoughtless design for Lightroom CC users. 

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 16, 2020 Jun 16, 2020

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Thanks for your fast reply but I don't use the Lightroom CC and all the photos are captured with professional cameras and imported with a card reader.

I also always have the sync paused.


PZ

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New Here ,
Jul 23, 2020 Jul 23, 2020

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I did an online chat with someone at Adobe about this ... he confirmed that the only way to stop/prevent/disable syncing photos in LR Mobile to the cloud is to pause it just like you're doing... there is no option to just disable the cloud / opt not to use it or just plain not have it.  They could make this a great app if there was an option to choose to sync a photo to their cloud when you create a version of the photo you're editing instead of just a free for all sync every image and suck up bandwidth.  Come on Adobe ... give the user a bit more control over this.

 

I only use LR on my iPad, don't have my photos anywhere else unless I'm done editing them and move them to my local cloud network cloud storage.  I'm sure for a lot of people, cloud access and multiple device editing capabilities everywhere is a great idea, however, where I live, broadband internet is not available ... no cable, no DSL, no clear view of the southern sky for satellite ... only a mediocre cell signal and a monthly data cap before throttling kicks in ... yes, I chose to live here, but it would be nice if companies like Adobe (and others) would realize that not everyone's lives includes a hardwired high bandwidth connection to the internet. Give me the option to make a $100 purchase of this fairly decent app and avoid the cloud service monthly subscription, because it's not an option for me to use.

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Engaged ,
Jul 17, 2020 Jul 17, 2020

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Can someone please answer how to get to Auto Add so I can switch it off please? 

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New Here ,
Jul 22, 2020 Jul 22, 2020

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Hi MissSparkles ... I'm using LR on my iPad ... on the start screen, tap on the '...' in the upper right corner.  In the menu that comes up, tap the bottom option 'Settings' (with the gear icon).  Tap on Import.  Disable any one or all of the three options under "Auto add from camera roll" ... photos, screenshots, videos.

 

Hope that helps.

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New Here ,
Aug 25, 2021 Aug 25, 2021

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Clearly this is designed to rope people into Adobe Cloud storage. They could sync small smart previews and have the option to not upload DNG / RAW.  It is designed for them not for the convenience haveing access to the photos.  It is why the storage they give you is 100gig which to any professional is nothing. 

 

The system would be fine id it was all about smart previews. The other issue seems to be that you can just export smart previews use them on an iPad and then export the back to the larger files on a desktop with Classic. 

 

I am also not sure that you can have it upload the DNG to the cloud and then pull them into Classic.  Its really a half assed system that is designed only around month fees. 

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New Here ,
Nov 03, 2022 Nov 03, 2022

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Any soloutions yet..?

 

Just had lighroom import over 2,000 images from my camera roll which I have to now go through and manually delete all these images.

 

Mixed in with my actual photography shots I already had on there...

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New Here ,
Jun 14, 2023 Jun 14, 2023

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I have 13,000 iphone photos that auto synced.  I don't want any iphone photos on my lightroom that I don't add manually.  Any way to delete all photos that aren't in albums?

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