i find it weird that iCloud photos don't support Live Photos. So basically I have to store all these files on my phone or computer if I want to view the live portion?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iCloud photos don't support Live Photos?
- Thread starter Dmaynard83
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Huh? They do on mine, when I hover over a photo in the OSX photos app it shows the live photo version. I have optimize storage enabled on both
Well, there does seem to be an issue with this. While the live part is still present, part of it is missing. I only see 1 second of moving video instead of 3 for most photos I took and that are now in iCloud. I assume this is an iCloud bug, although it could well be something else.
Last edited:
Works fine for me with iCloud Photo Library enabled. I can see the live photos on all my devices.
1) Live Photos are two files. .jpg and .mov So I think iCloud Photos downloads the .jpg first but if you wait long enough it gets the .mov and gives you the Live button
2) Live Photos works on my MacBook Pro (with Force Touch Trackpad) but not my 2012 MacBook Pro 15". Not sure why.
3) Clicking a button in photos and watching a video unobstructed by a Force Finger is much more practical than being "Forced" to use a finger to activate it on the phone and getting that annoying blur transition (as it switches from .jpg to .mov).
4) My 2015 MBP13 can view Live Photos but my 2012 MBP15 never seems to get them. Is it because my MBP13 has a Force Touch Trackpad?
Overall, I'm getting better at taking Live Photos but I'm also realizing how much I don't need to fill my library with a bunch of (arbitrarily) proprietary files. I'll keep trying it out but I'll likely go back to shooting short movie clips.
2) Live Photos works on my MacBook Pro (with Force Touch Trackpad) but not my 2012 MacBook Pro 15". Not sure why.
3) Clicking a button in photos and watching a video unobstructed by a Force Finger is much more practical than being "Forced" to use a finger to activate it on the phone and getting that annoying blur transition (as it switches from .jpg to .mov).
4) My 2015 MBP13 can view Live Photos but my 2012 MBP15 never seems to get them. Is it because my MBP13 has a Force Touch Trackpad?
Overall, I'm getting better at taking Live Photos but I'm also realizing how much I don't need to fill my library with a bunch of (arbitrarily) proprietary files. I'll keep trying it out but I'll likely go back to shooting short movie clips.
Well, I just tried it on iOS 9.0.2. I have "half" live photos. The part before the photo is there, the part after is gone. I just took another photo: everything works fine. I try the same photo 5 minutes later and the after part is not there anymore!
How can you verify the mov files? how are they accessible?
Update: the problem seems to be random. Photos that are affected are not anymore later on and vice versa. So the files themselves still seem ok
Update 2 - Figured out my issue: Live Photos only works when force touching a selected photo. When peeking into a thumbnail only the first part is shown so that the image stops when the actual photo is shown. So my complaint is not a bug but a feature. And has nothing to do with iCloud.
How can you verify the mov files? how are they accessible?
Update: the problem seems to be random. Photos that are affected are not anymore later on and vice versa. So the files themselves still seem ok
Update 2 - Figured out my issue: Live Photos only works when force touching a selected photo. When peeking into a thumbnail only the first part is shown so that the image stops when the actual photo is shown. So my complaint is not a bug but a feature. And has nothing to do with iCloud.
Last edited:
I have the same issue. I upload Live Photo’s to iCloud Drive/Files app and when I save them back to my phone, the live portion has gone leaving me with just a still picture. Very annoying. Only figured out today which is a shame because I upload all my pics to the drive app and delete locally. If I had known this, I would have just kept on my phone.