Sharing Photo Library with Family Members

Jarrodbcall said:

Hey all,

From what I understand there isn't a way to let multiple family members use the same iCloud photo library. For example, I am helping my parents set up their photos and they each have their own apple IDs. They want to be able to fully share their photos and have access on their main computer (mom's apple ID) as well as my dad's laptop (dad's apple ID). Is there any way to facilitate this? Can my dad use his apple ID for his notes and calendar and use my mom's for photos? I am at a loss with this one.

Thanks!

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It sounds like you have to set up both devices to use your mom's iCloud account with Photo Library enabled. Then add your dad's iCloud account to his phone. He'll have his own Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, and Notes, but he'll have to share with this wife the others, like iCloud Drive, Photos (the whole point of this), Safari synced items, Passbook (I think), Backup, Keychain, and Find My iPhone. I think I've got the two lists correct.

I'd like to do something similar, but I don't like the trade-offs. I wish we could just go into the Photos settings and set up the Apple ID there, similar to selecting an Apple ID for Messages, FaceTime, and the App/iTunes Stores. But that's not how iCloud works to my disappointment.

Shared Album

There isn't a perfect solution, but the best work around I've found is to use a shared album.

Make sure that both your parents have access to edit the album using their own Apple IDs ("invite" them to join the album). All of the pictures they want to share between them should go in the shared album, and they can each add / edit / delete the pictures from there.

The trick is to treat the shared album as if it were their main Photos library. This solution allows them to each use their own Apple IDs on their respective devices. So there isn't co-mingling of contacts, notes, etc. So long as the device they are using is logged on using one of the Apple IDs, they should have access to the shared album.