How to keep photos out of iCloud

With iCloud Photos on, every photo in your library is uploaded, including the Hidden album. There is no switch to exclude a single photo. Here are the options that work.

Turn iCloud Photos off

Settings, your name, iCloud, Photos. This stops the upload for the whole library, which is rarely what people want.

Keep the photos outside the Photos library

A photo that is not in the Photos library is not uploaded by iCloud Photos. That is what a local photo vault does: it keeps the file inside the app.

Then check the second door: iCloud backup. Apps are backed up by default, so a vault can still end up in iCloud that way. Lockal excludes its vault from iCloud and computer backups.

Steps with Lockal

1. Add the photos to Lockal.
2. Accept the offer to delete the originals from Photos.
3. Empty Recently Deleted in Photos. With iCloud Photos on, this also removes them from iCloud and your other devices.

What you give up

No cloud means no rescue. If you forget the passcode, delete the app or lose the iPhone, the photos are gone. Keep anything irreplaceable in a second place you trust.