Guides

Four intents: backup, free space, switch phones, local disk. One primary query per article.

Backup

Original quality versus Optimize iPhone Storage

Azalea copies system assets. iCloud Optimize replaces originals with placeholders. A green progress bar is not a quality guarantee.

Android original-quality auto backup

MediaStore scan, SAF or object storage, WorkManager foreground service. minSdk 26. Limited photo access shrinks the set.

Backup iPhone photos without iCloud

Add your own bucket or a USB disk in Azalea and export PhotoKit originals. Reproduced on an iPhone 15 with 18,432 items in March 2026.

Storage

When 4K video fills the phone, back that up first

Video first, stills second. One delete frees gigabytes. Tiny HEIC files collapse USB 2.0 average rate.

Offload originals after a backup you have actually opened

Yes, after pending is zero and you have opened real files. That offload is the OS photo setting, not an Azalea toggle.

iPhone storage full — keep the photos

Back up originals to USB or your own bucket, spot-check, then turn on Optimize or delete only verified videos. March 2026: Photos went from 88.1 GB to 41.6 GB on the phone; the disk stayed 86.41 GB.

Migration

Switch-day photo checklist (and how to roll back)

Pending zero, spot-check, claim, compare counts, then think about a factory reset. A blank claim is not a reason to wipe the old phone.

Move an Android camera roll onto an iPhone

Finish the Android backup, claim on the iPhone. Google’s “move to iOS” path is not an original-file pipe.

Transfer photos from iPhone to Android without a computer dump

Finish the iPhone backup onto a shared bucket or disk, then claim it on Android. Do not use iCloud export as the main path.