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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Though iCloud Photo Library was available during the iOS 8 beta testing period, Apple appears to have demoted it to beta status and removed it from the iOS 8 golden master, the software that will be distributed to the public next week.

Apple has also stripped mentions of iCloud Photo Library from its iCloud preview page, where it used to be prominently featured at the top of the site. Apple's preview page now focuses on iCloud Drive, the new iCloud storage plans, Family Sharing, and iCloud Photo Sharing, with iCloud Photo Library getting no mention at all.

icloudphotolibrary.jpg
It is unclear why Apple has demoted iCloud Photo Library back to beta status and removed it from the golden master, but it is possible that the company has decided to push it back in light of the negative press iCloud has received in recent weeks due to the celebrity photo leak.

Along with iCloud Photo Library, it appears that Apple has also decided to delay the SMS Relay feature of Continuity until October as well (via iLounge). According to Apple's iOS 8 press release from Tuesday, SMS Continuity will be added to iOS 8 in October, while iCloud Photo Library will be available as a beta during that same month.

Touted as one of the major features of iOS 8/OS X Yosemite, SMS Continuity lets Macs and iOS like iPads receive SMS text messages and phone calls through the iPhone.

Though it will be missing a few features, Apple has plans to release iOS 8 to the public on Wednesday, September 17, two days ahead of the September 19 release date of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Article Link: Apple Pushes iCloud Photo Library Back to Beta as SMS Continuity Delayed to October
 

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
Bummer. But it's aiiight, not getting my new iPhone until October anyway, and Yosemite launches that month as well.
 

Ries

macrumors 68020
Apr 21, 2007
2,315
2,828
Its not removed from the GM. It is dynamically added. My iCloud Photo option has vanished and pop'ed back into the settings. Think the option removes itself when they work on the cloud (aka they can remote remove it).
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,285
4,031
Florida, U.S.A.
I'm able to send an SMS from my iPad without any issues.
I'm also able to make calls and receive calls.
But I do notice both features have been working erratically.
I'll keep testing.
 

Anonymous Freak

macrumors 603
Dec 12, 2002
5,561
1,252
Cascadia
Yup, beta tested and now needs Yosemite.

My guess as well. Along with Continuity - it's literally useless without Yosemite; so delaying it to October is a reasonably clear sign that Yosemite is coming in October.

My guess is that post-GM developer betas of iOS 8 will become available to continue to test Continuity with beta Yosemite.
 

Lucky736

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2004
994
662
US
So what was thought to be the GM build won't be then. The latest Dev Build under Photos in Settings it allows you to turn this on and off, and mentions Beta in parenthesis. This article mentions it is removed altogether.
 

profets

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
5,114
6,146
So disappointing. Really loved the idea and execution of it during the betas. Was surprised with the GM to see the Beta tag thrown on it.

I guess if they can launch it all at once with a Photos app on Mac it won't be so bad.
 

DoctorKrabs

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2013
689
882
Really? It's unclear?

You must be joking.

I thought exactly the same. iCloud Photo Library was the #1 problem for me during the beta period. And it's still eating over 1 GB of my storage even though I deleted it.

I couldn't have imagined it being out yet.
 

smarch

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2007
129
79
I hope they put icloud photo library on icloud.com when it comes. Would be a perfect photo solution if you can access from a web browser.
 

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,285
4,031
Florida, U.S.A.
Its not removed from the GM. It is dynamically added. My iCloud Photo option has vanished and pop'ed back into the settings. Think the option removes itself when they work on the cloud.

I thought I saw it last night, but it then disappeared.
Also, There's no Camera Roll anymore. It's now a confusing conglomerate we need to figure out; it's most likely a simple concept, but since Apple still is adding and removing features, it's hard to figure out how it all works.
 

ButteryScrollin

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2014
862
1,781

Amazing Iceman

macrumors 603
Nov 8, 2008
5,285
4,031
Florida, U.S.A.
It also works with the iPad. I've been using it to SMS friends without iPhones and its been working really well.

I just tested sending from the iPad, and the message appeared on my iPhone, but on the iPad continued saying: Sending and after a while it said "Not delivered"; however, the message was received at the other end, but the reply never reach the iPad, only the iPhone.
 

Chocolatemilty

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2009
653
113
Los Angeles, CA
Well, this is mildly disappointing. I was looking forward to using iCloud Photo Library to leverage upgrading myself to the iPhone Plus 16GB instead of the 64GB iPhone 6 (I know, wtf why?! I had a long discussion about this with my good homie yesterday and we both arrived at this conclusion since we stream everything with an unlimited plan). Hopefully it'll be ready when I'm ready to get my iPhone Plus.
 
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