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Can someone explain Photos/Photostream/iCloud Photo Library to me please?

K

karansaraf

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 18, 2010
230
8
Just installed iOS 8.

Previously there was a camera roll and my photo stream.

Now there are "recent photos" and all the photos I've ever taken in the Photos tab.

Are the photos in the "photos" tab all stored locally or on iCloud? If I delete them from the photos tab, will they be removed from my iCloud (and thereby not contribute to my 5GB limit?)

I want to prune the photos that are taking up space in my 5GB limit - previously I would have to delete them from my photo stream and my phone, now do I just delete them from the "photos" tab, and can be confident they will not be contributing to my storage limit?
 
A

almostirish

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2013
52
2
Ireland
karansaraf said:
Just installed iOS 8.

Previously there was a camera roll and my photo stream.

Now there are "recent photos" and all the photos I've ever taken in the Photos tab.

Are the photos in the "photos" tab all stored locally or on iCloud? If I delete them from the photos tab, will they be removed from my iCloud (and thereby not contribute to my 5GB limit?)

I want to prune the photos that are taking up space in my 5GB limit - previously I would have to delete them from my photo stream and my phone, now do I just delete them from the "photos" tab, and can be confident they will not be contributing to my storage limit?
Click to expand...

Came here to ask the same question except I want to store all my photos in iCloud instead of on my phone to clear space. How do I do that?

Thanks
 
DarkAnnie

DarkAnnie

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2006
105
1
You can't! It's all in one big album, deleting a photo will get rid of it everywhere. And if you want to find a certain photo you took ages ago, and you don't remember the year or where it was taken, good luck! :(
 
R

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
2,030
almostirish said:
Came here to ask the same question except I want to store all my photos in iCloud instead of on my phone to clear space. How do I do that?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Turn on "My Photostream" in the Photos settings.

This is really a cluster **** by Apple.

I don't know if my photos will still go up into the cloud and appear in iPhoto on my desktop like they always have, since Photos is not ready for desktop. I guess I'll continue to use Image Capture as usual to back them up to my hard drives until Apple sheds light on what's going on.

Recently Added is just an album, and therefore in the "Albums" section. Photos is ALL your photos. Shared photos are the ones you shared. Those sections make sense and users need to used to it. It's more simplified and I don't see a problem with it.

I just want to know how long does "recently added" apply? 30 days? 2 weeks?
 
Hustler1337

Hustler1337

macrumors 68000
Dec 23, 2010
1,842
1,595
London, UK
DarkAnnie said:
It's. All. ****ed. Up. Hate it so damn much I actually want to shed tears.
Click to expand...

LOOOL, i'd have to agree with you there. It all seems messed up at the moment, but I guess they've simplified it, just that we're not seeing what we're used to and everyone's freaking out. Your comment made my day :)
 
A

AudioAw2015

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2014
8
0
Basically, any photos or videos you take will be uploaded to iCloud library if you enabled it and it'll disable your camera roll backup. This includes videos as well which I find to be a pain because they take quite a long time to upload.

And when you delete the photo from your phone, it sort of deletes it from the cloud. Actually, it just moves them to this recently deleted folder so that you can recover some photos within 30 days. But there is a flaw with this because this folder actually uses your iCloud storage so if you keep taking photos and love to delete a bunch of them, you gotta remember to clear that recent folder out. Otherwise it'll just keep piling up.
 
Last edited:
M

matttye

macrumors 601
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
This is the most bodged release to date. Features pulled at the last second...I had an app which updated with health kit features earlier but it has updated again and removed those features since because Apple found critical bugs in it at the last minute.

Sort it out Apple!
 
S

Steviejobz

macrumors 68020
Jun 19, 2010
2,122
363
SoCal
Apple forgot to include iCloud Photo Library in this release. #epicfail

So all camera roll is mixed in with other albums sorted by year. The "photos" tab within Photos app is dumb, not well thought out and should be flexible. Moments, collections are useless for just random photos shot with phone. I want those in a separate album that I can manage, delete, download, etc.
 
redman042

redman042

macrumors 68040
Jun 13, 2008
3,051
1,629
I just upgraded to iOS 8 on a 5s and iPad Air. Don't see My iCloud Photos setting or anything like that. There is a My Photo Stream.

Did Apple automatically convert Photo Stream to iCloud Photos and remove the 1000 photo limit? If so, why do photos not show up as an item using storage in my iCloud?

I understood iCloud Photos to include removing full res photos from your phone and storing them in the cloud, with lower res versions stored locally. Is it still doing that? If so, what happens if I plug my phone into my PC and want to pull off full-res photos?

If photos are on iCloud, why do they not show up on iCloud.com?

I don't get what's happening and unfortunately all of the info I've found online is based on the keynote announcement and not the details of what was actually released.
 
A

AudioAw2015

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2014
8
0
I'm using the iCloud library right now, and i think it's just going to replace photostream in the future. I was given the option to switch to it during iOS beta.

It's the same idea as photostream, but uploads full res photos instead and uses your measly 5gb of iCloud storage. Havent tried the optimize local storage option yet, but I think it'll require you to install the iCloud control panel on pc to gain access to the full res photos.
 
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