iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

[AdamJD]

I agree. I still sync photos from a folder on my Mac and won't move to iCloud until if/when a few changes are made like the option to move images to a folder instead of a alias and the ability to export but retain the date created/modified.

I've been cleaning out my phone and just now thinking I'll switch iCloud on.

After reading your concern I tried importing a pic to Photos, changing the exif date, then exporting. If I export as an unmodified original file, I can opt to use the title as the filename. As you pointed out, there's no way to have the original photo with the new exif date. However, when I export as a .jpg (the original file format for my example), I'm seeing any exactly 1byte difference in file size. I'm not sure if there's compression going on, but I'm really not seeing anything else indicating that the image itself has been altered.

Maybe someone else can weigh in. Since EXIFTool and many other tools can modify original file exif data, I don't get why Photos cannot.

 

[AdamJD]

I actually just pressed the delete shared library button to see what it would say. Gives you the option to keep the stuff you out added or everything. Says all other users will get the same option.

Thanx so much for following up on this, Rick. Just to clarify...what you're saying is that you actually get the option to retain pics others added to the shared file as well? This is what I'm hoping for. (It would be unfortunate for everyone in the group to lose the pics that all contributed from a family trip.)

So...if you are saying everyone gets the options to save all pics, are the deleted libraries/photos from the shared library sitting somewhere in iCloud like Recently Deleted images where the host could actually zap everything, get their space back and, as a result, remove the 30 days window for the group.

 

[rick987611]

Thanx so much for following up on this, Rick. Just to clarify...what you're saying is that you actually get the option to retain pics others added to the shared file as well? This is what I'm hoping for. (It would be unfortunate for everyone in the group to lose the pics that all contributed from a family trip.)

So...if you are saying everyone gets the options to save all pics, are the deleted libraries/photos from the shared library sitting somewhere in iCloud like Recently Deleted images where the host could actually zap everything, get their space back and, as a result, remove the 30 days window for the group.

I’m not sure on the timelines, but here is the dialog.

I’d imagine there is at least a 30 day period.

 

[zorinlynx]

How do shared libraries work on the Mac when "Optimize Storage" is turned off? I like having a complete copy of my photo library on my Mac, backed up with time machine, and this should include stuff in the shared library. I especially want the complete library including shared to be fully accessible if something goes wrong with the iCloud copy.

 

[rick987611]

How do shared libraries work on the Mac when "Optimize Storage" is turned off? I like having a complete copy of my photo library on my Mac, backed up with time machine, and this should include stuff in the shared library. I especially want the complete library including shared to be fully accessible if something goes wrong with the iCloud copy.

It brought down a copy of everything in the personal and shared library for me.

 

[BellSystem]

Can't wait for the first post when released "What happened to my photo library? Everything is gone!" One bug and this quickly becomes a nightmare. It's bad enough that I have 50 random photos in my iCloud Photos library that won't download or be included with downloading all iCloud files. Apple looked at it and shrugged. I don't trust iCloud with my photos alone anymore. Have Google Photos as the backup. Once you get in the hundreds of gigabytes of photos....it doesn't "just work" anymore sadly.

 

[pavelbure]

Just a word of warning, do not turn on shared libraries if you also have a mac that hasn’t or can’t update. It moves all photos to the shared folder and just a few stay in the personal folder. The older mac or idevice will only see what’s left in the personal folder.

Chronosync deleted all of my backup pictures because my Mac wasn’t on the beta.

 

[rick987611]

Can't wait for the first post when released "What happened to my photo library? Everything is gone!" One bug and this quickly becomes a nightmare. It's bad enough that I have 50 random photos in my iCloud Photos library that won't download or be included with downloading all iCloud files. Apple looked at it and shrugged. I don't trust iCloud with my photos alone anymore. Have Google Photos as the backup. Once you get in the hundreds of gigabytes of photos....it doesn't "just work" anymore sadly.

You should always have your photos in a secondary location regardless of how much you trust where you store them. In case of bugs or user mistakes.

 

[zorinlynx]

Can't wait for the first post when released "What happened to my photo library? Everything is gone!" One bug and this quickly becomes a nightmare. It's bad enough that I have 50 random photos in my iCloud Photos library that won't download or be included with downloading all iCloud files. Apple looked at it and shrugged. I don't trust iCloud with my photos alone anymore. Have Google Photos as the backup. Once you get in the hundreds of gigabytes of photos....it doesn't "just work" anymore sadly.

Literally the reply under yours. That was quick.

 

[zorinlynx]

You should always have your photos in a secondary location regardless of how much you trust where you store them. In case of bugs or user mistakes.

Yeah. If you have large photo library that you care about, you should have at least one Mac syncing it with "Optimize Mac Storage" turned off so it has a complete copy of the photo library. Then, back up that Mac with Time Machine.

Don't trust iCloud (or any other cloud provider) completely with your data.

 

[BellSystem]

You should always have your photos in a secondary location regardless of how much you trust where you store them. In case of bugs or user mistakes.

100%. I used to import everything into Aperture many moons ago. RIP. The desktop Photos app is not reliable at all and probably screwed my library in the first place. Maybe if you have like 20 gigabytes you are fine....but a large library does not seem like something Apple has accounted for.

 

[condor]

I am curious how this works with tagging people. I have a huge photo library with most people tagged with their name. My wife does as well. Much of this is done automatically using Apple’s built in facial recognition. If we set up a shared library for all our photos what happens to our individual “People” albums that we both have? Is it smart enough to merge them? And I use HomeKit which ties into this same database for facial recognition on my security cameras. How will a shared library impact that?

 

[en0x]

Finally, a solution that might be easy to use. Some people keep sending bunches of photos in messages all the time taking up a lot of space there. When’s the iCloud limit going up, Apple knows they want more subscribers...2 TB is not enough.

if you subscribed to apple one highest plan (premier) you get 2 tb of iCloud storage and then you can also buy another 2tb in iCloud -> iCloud storage plan

 

[reggoboy]

You can automate it so that all photos automatically go into the Shared Library by default.

Can you? The article says you cannot.

 

[reggoboy]

The idea a photo actually has to be “moved” from your own library into the shared library is ridiculous… a pointer should simply be used to the original.

That’s all it’s doing: moving the pointer. No data is moving.

 

[rick987611]

Can you? The article says you cannot.

You cannot. You can set it to automatically default to share on two criteria: You are within Bluetooth range of someone in the group, or you are at home. You can turn one or both on.
You can also toggle it inside the camera at any time.
It is very simple to filter by personal library and quickly move photos to shared though.

 

[reggoboy]

The older mac or idevice will only see what’s left in the personal folder.

Yikes! That makes sense since you are basically using a different library with Shared. But wow thanks for the warning.

 

[reggoboy]

You can also toggle it inside the camera at any time.

Right so if you just leave this camera icon on all the time, doesn’t that effectively function as “defaulting all additions to Shared”, notwithstanding those other settings?

 

[rick987611]

Right so if you just leave this camera icon on all the time, doesn’t that effectively function as “defaulting all additions to Shared”, notwithstanding those other settings?

The state of the toggle at camera launch is based on those two rules.

It works quite nice. I take a lot of junk photos for work that my wife would have no interest in seeing. Same for her. The at home and when together covers 90% of what we would want to share. It’s trivial to pop into the personal library and share things on occasion. Still much easier than air dropping or messaging.

 

[TheColtr]

Super excited about this. My wife and I are always swapping pictures, this will make it so much easier to have one source of truth for our family photos.

I’ve kept my photo library as the source of truth, it’ll be great to share this library with my wife.

 

[ninecows]

Tell me about it. I found out, the hard way, years later, that the only copy of some photos I have are like 2 megapixels or something. That's a really poor showing on Apple's part.

Say what!?!? I guess I learned that the hard way… TODAY! (Checking my +20.000 picture library)

Edit: and thanks for the heads up, btw

 

[tkmyzw]

Does anyone know if the photos in the Shared Library include location data?
I and my wife are using Shared Album but one of the complaints is not including location data.

 

[Martin Bland]

This is a feature I requested from Apple years ago.

However, since Apple's CSAM announcement I've completely stopped using Apple iCloud. Apple can't be trusted with photos.

 

[svish]

Like the new iCloud shared photo library. Also like the fact that all can delete/edit images.

 

[MuppetGate]

This is a feature I requested from Apple years ago.

However, since Apple's CSAM announcement I've completely stopped using Apple iCloud. Apple can't be trusted with photos.

🤔 Maybe this is why Apple implemented CSAM on-device. If photos are being shared via Bluetooth then it might be more difficult for them to work out where they came from if they scan when they reach the server.

Scanning on the device means they can be sure where the photo originated.

And when oppressive governments are given access to the CSAM mechanism, then they can be sure they’ve grabbed and tortured the right dissident.