Can iCloud do two-way photo syncing (deletion) between the iPhone and a PC?

Solution 1:

As per the requirements and criteria of my question's description:

The premise ... is that after taking dozens of shots ... and then deleting the ones I don't like ... I'm not left with ... photos on the iPhone device which I no longer want.

I can answer that NO, Apple does NOT provide a way to two-way sync iPhone device photos. iCloud's two-way syncing between a PC and an iPhone only works for the 'My Photo Stream' folder. What I was looking at on the iPhone, where I was not seeing photos being deleted by PC two-way sync, was the Photos tab in the iOS Photos app - the default view of the Photos app when the user first starts using iOS. This is actually the Camera Roll folder, and there is no way to do two-way sync with these original iPhone images on the device using iCloud (or any other service).

However, to answer the question's (more open) title itself: YES, Apple DOES provide two-way sync between the iPhone and a PC, BUT only for sharing/syncing selected photos from the device (and only for 30 days at that) - NOT for editing, or managing the original set of Photos on your iPhone device. To see the (near simultaneous) two-way sync in action on the iPhone, go to the Albums tab in the Photo app where in the My Photo Stream folder you see as it currently designed. To manage or delete original photos themselves, you will have to manually delete and edit them via non-cloud-syncing methods.

Solution 2:

I have good news for you this time: this functionality is possible by setting up a Photo Stream on iCloud. The only downside to this method is that you will need to back up your Photo Stream every once in a while.

Follow these set up instructions, and then use this troubleshooting guide and FAQ page if you have any follow-up questions. The set-up instructions are comprehensive, but I've summarized the steps below:

1. On your iPhone, in your settings, tap iCloud > Photo Stream, then switch My Photo Stream on.
2. On your PC, open your iCloud Control Panel, then check the Photo Stream checkbox, then click the Apply button.

Note: Photo Stream was reworded to Photos between iOS 6 and iOS 7; same for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Now, to directly answer your concern about deletions, this deletions guide explains how to delete photos from the Photo Stream depending on what device you want to delete them from. Below I've summarized the relevant pieces of information:

Note: The following assumes you have iCloud Control Panel 3.1 for Windows, iOS 7, and Windows 7; if you have other specs, refer to the entire deletions guide link above.

Delete photos from iPhone

• Open the Photos app, then tap Albums > My Photo Stream > Select, then tap one or more photos, and then tap the Trash icon. Then confirm the number of deleted photos by tapping the Delete N Photos dialog box, where N is the number of photos your checked to delete. The changes should then be reflected once you view your Photo Stream on your PC.

Delete photos from PC

• Open a Windows Explorer window, and select Photos under Favorites in the side panel. Then double-click My Photo Stream to open it, and then select the photo or photos you want to delete. Right-click and select Delete. The changes should then be reflected once you view your Photo Stream on your iPhone.

Once again, to confirm, I asked an Apple Support rep the following question:

I want to use iCloud to do two-way photo synchronization between iPhone to PC so that when I sync photos from my iPhone to my PC, I can edit/delete them on my PC, and then have those edits/deletions be reflected automatically on my iPhone.

The response I got was the following:

Two-way photo syncing is possible using Photo Stream between iPhone and PC.

In case you ever do switch to a Mac, I believe two-way syncing is also possible between an iPhone and a Mac computer.

Lastly, you must occasionally archive and back up your Photo Stream

As specified in the FAQ page (linked above):

The photos on iCloud via My Photo Stream are only available for download for 30 days.

This is because your Photo Stream storage is separate from your iCloud storage. Therefore, you must archive your data to back it up permanently. The instructions for archiving and backing up are a bit long to get through, but hopefully it will be worthwhile in the long run.