While I'm not fussed on the 1000 photos/30 days function of Photo Stream - I'm *really* going to miss taking a picture on my phone and having it automatically appear in the main album of my iMac. No messing, no cables, no importing - it just worked. Been with Apple since iPhone 4/iPad - I might look elsewhere this year...
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Apple's 'My Photo Stream' Service Shuts Down on Wednesday, Here's What You Need to Do
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...also Photo Stream disappeared from my devices weeks ago despite the July date being circulated...
a feature a small amount of people used that overall confuses new users and isn't quite convenient as you might think it is
Thanks for this Ersan as I wasn't aware you could set it up like this, I'll probably give this a try going forward (probably won't have as many hiccups either). No need to hand out $120 / yr to Apple just cause they killed off their (admittedly) glitchy photo syncing functionality.
They are only there for 30 days, with a maximum of 1000 images.
Syncing them automatically from the phone to the Mac was still "in the cloud" PhotoStream is a cloud function.
I bet the number of people who use photo stream is very small now.
Apple is ruthless about killing features that they think have outlived their usefulness and/ or hardly anyone uses. That’s what they do.
Apple is ruthless about killing features that they think have outlived their usefulness and/ or hardly anyone uses. That’s what they do.
Doesn't this just sync folders from the pc to device though? I sync with my pc and it's never transferred anything from my camera roll to the pc
You can, very easy get a large external HDD, (preferably a RAID 1) copper drag your "photos" folder to it and then go into the photos app and point it to the external HDD. I have an external for Photos and a second one for Music" both are 2TB RAID 1 externals.
How is this any different to iCloud Photos?
I take a picture on my phone and it appears in the main album on my iMac, my Mac Studio and my MBA. No messing, no cables, no importing. It just works.
Good riddance. In my experience PhotoSteam sucked. Anytime I had a family member using it, they would complain about photos not showing up on other devices regularly. Eventually, I got them moved over to iCloud Photos and now I never hear anything on that topic.
Also, I think this service was hard to communicate to the average user in today's world of cloud services. I think most people are used to a central store (truth) in the cloud.
Also, I think this service was hard to communicate to the average user in today's world of cloud services. I think most people are used to a central store (truth) in the cloud.
The difference is that Photo Stream does not require any iCloud storage space, nor do you need your photo library stored in the cloud. You could be on the free 5GB plan with no space let, yet still be able to sync all the photos you took.
With iCloud Photos, you need iCloud storage space to store your entire photo library in the cloud. 5GB isn't enough for a lot of people, so now they have to upgrade/pay to use the seamless syncing feature...or maybe they don't want their photos stored in the cloud in the first place.
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FYI - My mother-in-law was in a panic even though she is using iCloud Photos because Mac Rumors used a pictures of the Photos app! It was like 30 minutes trying to figure out why she thought "they're getting rid of Photos" and it turned out that despite the detailed text, she was basing it all off the icon MR chose to use for the main picture. 😵💫
Wow, so many people who don't seem to remember the point of Photostream in the beginning. It wasn't a place to keep photos but to have one stream that let people see photos you have the originals stored elsewhere.
This is one change I really hate.
Photo Stream "just worked" without additional cost or confusion. And when it didn't, just reboot and it works again.
Right down to the folder type. Now I can't really tell right away which pic was taken by what device.
If only they had modified it to allow live photos, videos etc - that would've been so much more of a value proposition.
But that doesn't sell subscriptions - I finally had to buy an iCloud subscription for the photo functionality.
So kudos on forced purchases, I guess?
EDIT: and anyone threatening to look elsewhere outside the Apple ecosystem, stop lying to yourself, man/woman - we all know you aren't going anywhere. I'll bet money you won't switch your platform.
Photo Stream "just worked" without additional cost or confusion. And when it didn't, just reboot and it works again.
Right down to the folder type. Now I can't really tell right away which pic was taken by what device.
If only they had modified it to allow live photos, videos etc - that would've been so much more of a value proposition.
But that doesn't sell subscriptions - I finally had to buy an iCloud subscription for the photo functionality.
So kudos on forced purchases, I guess?
EDIT: and anyone threatening to look elsewhere outside the Apple ecosystem, stop lying to yourself, man/woman - we all know you aren't going anywhere. I'll bet money you won't switch your platform.
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Then you wouldn’t be using photo steam anyway because it’s way past the limits for that with a limit of 1000 photos and they are deleted after 30 days
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Mine is.
My iMac has my entire library on it in full quality, all other devices are set to optimise storage.
Similar thing here. The person in question had iCloud Photo Library turned on and this was not an issue, so Apple made them worry unnecessary.
Suspect that this email went out to anyone in the last five years or so that used photo stream & Apple doesn’t want any bad publicity etc from people losing any photos.
I realize some are reluctant to pay for cloud storage. For me, iCloud is the bargain of the century. Every photo and video I’ve taken since 2007 is backed up safely. I don’t need to worry about whether my hard drive crashes. I don’t need to worry about an off-site backup. I don’t need to worry about my photos if my device is stolen. Please take my money for iCloud.