How do I download originals for a certain album in Photos when using “Optimize Device Storage” on iPad? I use Optimize iPad Storage in the Apple Photos app for my iPad, but sometimes I want an entire album offline to show someone. Is there a better way to do this than flicking through the photos one by one and waiting for them to download?

If this is not possible, I don't mind downloading all the photos. Selecting Download and Keep Originals doesn’t seem to download the photos until I view them.
There are actually multiple levels of download. Even when you view an image, a device-optimized version is retrieved. Only when you Edit or Share a photo is it fully downloaded from iCloud (possibly when you zoom in all the way, also).

With that being said, you can’t bulk-Edit; however, you can bulk-Share. Here are the steps that worked for me:


Go into the album you wish to download locally.
Tap Select.
Tap Select All.
Tap the Share icon in the bottom-left hand corner.
Select Email.
Wait for the Preparing progress indicator to complete. This may take a while depending on how large your album is and on the speed of your connection.
When your email is ready, Cancel out of it.


Remember that these photos are eligible for purging if your device becomes low on storage.

Note: I tried this on a relatively small album (20 photos and videos). I don’t know if your iPhone might crash attempting to share 500 photos at once.

If you choose to Download and Keep Originals, I believe your iPhone does that while your device is locked, on Wi-Fi, and has sufficient charge. It might help to have Photos as the foreground app when locking the iPhone.