Journal
The Optimize Storage trap
iCloud can evict the original. We cannot send a ghost.
This is the most important technical sentence in the product.
Keep originals on this iPhone if you want a real second copy.
Otherwise we are backing up a preview.
The Optimize Storage trap sits inside a simple product: original-quality iPhone backup, quiet on Wi‑Fi, a restore that brings the dates back. Not a feed. Not a compressed cousin.
You set it up once in the iPhone app. New photos leave when the phone is calm. If the handset dies, you sign in on the next one. That is the whole job.
Two sizes. Same engine. $12 a year for 100 GB, $20 a year for 1 TB. Coupons, if you have one, are entered in the app at checkout.
Paid in the iPhone app. $12 / year for 100 GB, or $20 / year for 1 TB.