Photostream not deleting photographs after 30 days...?!?!

What's the problem with just leaving them there? Alternatively, just delete the ones you don't want.

Just delete them if it bothers you.

Here's how Apple describes Photo Stream in their marketing.

Apple's Photo Stream page wrote said:

1000 of your latest photos. With you all the time.
iCloud manages your Photo Stream efficiently so you don’t run out of storage space on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you have Photo Stream enabled on your iOS device, every single photo you take appears in a special Photo Stream album that holds your last 1000 photos. You can delete any photos you don’t want from the Photo Stream.1 To touch up a photo or keep a favorite shot permanently, simply save it to your Camera Roll. iCloud stores new photos for 30 days, so you have plenty of time to connect your iOS device to Wi-Fi and make sure you always have your most recent shots handy.

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Maybe you have more than 30 days of photos but less than 1,000 photos, so it keeps them all? Just a guess. I've never used Photo Stream myself.

Maybe these links will help:
http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/photo-stream.html
http://help.apple.com/iphoto/index.html#phtac7ec5f4

MasterHowl said:

No but that's my point, I shouldn't have to manually do it. It should do it automatically.

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It should, but it doesn't. So, until it works like you want it to, just delete them yourself if it bothers you that much.

The last 1000 photos are stored on your iOS device. All photos are stored in iPhoto for Mac. They stay in the cloud for 30 days. They will begin automatically deleting off of your iOS device once you hit 1000 photos. then the oldest one will be deleted.

applefanDrew said:

The last 1000 photos are stored on your iOS device. All photos are stored in iPhoto for Mac. They stay in the cloud for 30 days. They will begin automatically deleting off of your iOS device once you hit 1000 photos. then the oldest one will be deleted.

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That is not accurate.
All photos don't necessarily stay in iPhoto. It depends on how you have it configured.
The 30 day/1000 photo limit doesn't work as you describe as the OP has stated.
The fact is that Photostream's behaviour is quite unpredictable.

imacken said:

That is not accurate.
All photos don't necessarily stay in iPhoto. It depends on how you have it configured.
The 30 day/1000 photo limit doesn't work as you describe as the OP has stated.
The fact is that Photostream's behaviour is quite unpredictable.

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Yea they do. I have all 7 months of photo steam in iPhoto on my Mac. And that's exactly what Jobs explained.

Each month of photo stream is separated into different events. And in the photo stream tab, they're all there together.

As I said, it only works that way if you have configured iPhoto to locally store the photos on your Mac. That has nothing to do with what is stored in Photostream or the OP's issue.

Photo stream deletes photos from the cloud after 30 days. Not from your device.

applefanDrew said:

Photo stream deletes photos from the cloud after 30 days. Not from your device.

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Have you read the first post in this thread?
Photostream is supposed to delete after 30 days, but it doesn't, and that is what this thread is about. I have photos in my Photostream from 7 months ago.

imacken said:

Have you read the first post in this thread?
Photostream is supposed to delete after 30 days, but it doesn't, and that is what this thread is about. I have photos in my Photostream from 7 months ago.

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Yes I have. And it does. Turn photo stream off on an iOS device then turn it back on. The oldest photo that will reappear will have been added 30 days ago. I've done this several times and it does work.

applefanDrew said:

Yes I have. And it does. Turn photo stream off on an iOS device then turn it back on. The oldest photo that will reappear will have been added 30 days ago. I've done this several times and it does work.

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Then your experience is different to others, and just highlights the inconsistency in Photostream's behaviour that has been reported on many times.
Anyway, why should you have to turn a facility on and off to get it to work as specified?

imacken said:

Then your experience is different to others, and just highlights the inconsistency in Photostream's behaviour that has been reported on many times.
Anyway, why should you have to turn a facility on and off to get it to work as specified?

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You don't. I was showing you how I've tested if it works correctly. If you have less than 1000 photos in Photo Stream on an iOS device it won't delete the old ones. Once you hit that 1000, oldest gets deleted first. That's why photo stream isn't deleting photos from the OPs iOS devices. He evidently has not reached 1000 photos.

As for iPhoto for Mac, what configuration? I signed in with iCloud under settings, turned on every switch, and it has stored all my photos ever since. Exactly as advertised.

applefanDrew said:

You don't. I was showing you how I've tested if it works correctly. If you have less than 1000 photos in Photo Stream on an iOS device it won't delete the old ones. Once you hit that 1000, oldest gets deleted first. That's why photo stream isn't deleting photos from the OPs iOS devices. He evidently has not reached 1000 photos.

As for iPhoto for Mac, what configuration? I signed in with iCloud under settings, turned on every switch, and it has stored all my photos ever since. Exactly as advertised.

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Not entirely true. Your point is true IF you reach 1000 photos before 30 days.

Photo Stream is supposed to keep, at most, your 1000 most recent photos for 30 days.

Example, if you take 2 photos on day one, 200 on day 2, 58 on day 3, 500 on day 4, and then no more for the rest of the month. What will happen is that on day 31, or day one of the next grouping of 30, the pre-existing day 1 photos will be removed. It all works on a First In, First Out system.

FlatlinerG said:

Not entirely true. Your point is true IF you reach 1000 photos before 30 days.

Photo Stream is supposed to keep, at most, your 1000 most recent photos for 30 days.

Example, if you take 2 photos on day one, 200 on day 2, 58 on day 3, 500 on day 4, and then no more for the rest of the month. What will happen is that on day 31, or day one of the next grouping of 30, the pre-existing day 1 photos will be removed. It all works on a First In, First Out system.

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No that is incorrect. It keeps the last 1000 photos period. It doesn't start deleting from ios devices until that is reached. It isn't suppose to delete from the device after 30 days. It deletes only from their servers after 30 days. But yes, it is a FIFO system.

applefanDrew said:

No that is incorrect. It keeps the last 1000 photos period. It doesn't start deleting from ios devices until that is reached. It isn't suppose to delete from the device after 30 days. It deletes only from their servers after 30 days. But yes, it is a FIFO system.

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Sorry, but you are not correct. You are describing how it SHOULD work, not how it DOES work.
I say again for about the 4th time here, Photostream behaves very inconsistently, and it is something that needs to be sorted out. It has been BR'ed many times to Apple.
I'm glad that it works for you, however.

applefanDrew said:

No that is incorrect. It keeps the last 1000 photos period. It doesn't start deleting from ios devices until that is reached. It isn't suppose to delete from the device after 30 days. It deletes only from their servers after 30 days. But yes, it is a FIFO system.

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I know this has been quoted once already in this thread, but allow me to do it again.

1000 of your latest photos. With you all the time.
iCloud manages your Photo Stream efficiently so you don’t run out of storage space on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. If you have Photo Stream enabled on your iOS device, every single photo you take appears in a special Photo Stream album that holds your last 1000 photos. You can delete any photos you don’t want from the Photo Stream.1 To touch up a photo or keep a favorite shot permanently, simply save it to your Camera Roll. iCloud stores new photos for 30 days, so you have plenty of time to connect your iOS device to Wi-Fi and make sure you always have your most recent shots handy.

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Source

FlatlinerG said:

I know this has been quoted once already in this thread, but allow me to do it again.

Source

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Exactly. Which proves my point.

applefanDrew said:

Exactly. Which proves my point.

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Noo...you are looking at it like it's one or the other, but it isn't. They are two points that affect the photo stream at the same time. Max of 1000 and no longer than 30 days.

I PROMISE you this is the case. I know that over the internet, this is useless, but just trust me on this.

FlatlinerG said:

Noo...you are looking at it like it's one or the other, but it isn't. They are two points that affect the photo stream at the same time. Max of 1000 and no longer than 30 days.

I PROMISE you this is the case. I know that over the internet, this is useless, but just trust me on this.

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Unless your an engineer that worked on it I can't believe you. It says the PHOTO STREAM ALBUM holds the last 1000. Then it says ICLOUD holds for the last 30 days. Which proves my point.

imacken said:

Have you read the first post in this thread?
Photostream is supposed to delete after 30 days, but it doesn't, and that is what this thread is about. I have photos in my Photostream from 7 months ago.

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The OP's system works fine. The problem is just that he didn't know how it works. The way the OP describes it is perfectly in line with what's supposed to happen.

(The problem you have, I think, is that you think Photostream in iCloud and Photostream on your phone are the same thing. They're not. They are 2 different things and do not contain the same photos at any given moment.)

The '30 days' thing is for photo stream in the cloud only. The OP specifically mentioned his iPhone, iPad, and iPhoto as what he is talking about. Those are not the cloud and, thus, don't count for the whole 30 day thing.

In other words, OP, it's doing what it's supposed to do. As far as I can see, applefanDrew is the one who has been correctly explaining it.

Small White Car said:

The OP's system works fine. The problem is just that he didn't know how it works. The way the OP describes it is perfectly in line with what's supposed to happen.

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Not necessarily, as I have explained already.

(The problem you have, I think, is that you think Photostream in iCloud and Photostream on your phone are the same thing. They're not. They are 2 different things and do not contain the same photos at any given moment.)

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No, I don't think that. I am very familiar with how Photostream works, and have been answering similar questions many times in other forums over the last 6 or 7 months.

In other words, OP, it's doing what it's supposed to do. As far as I can see, applefanDrew is the one who has been correctly explaining it.

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Again, as I said before, he has described how it SHOULD work, but many users experience the erratic behaviour of Photostream. Just do a search, it's a common problem.
Just to give you another example, I have photos in my stream from about 7 months ago. Even if I switch PS off on my iPhone or iPad, they still come back when I switch it back on.
May be that will explain to you a little better.
Personally, I don't care about the quirky nature of PS, but it does bother others.