iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

[Mike Boreham]

This does't seem true. There is no extra icon or folder for the "Shared Library" to drag things too. I still can't see how to move photos from my old Shared Album to the new Shared Library but I can't work out how to do it. There should be a wizard to simply "upgrade" a Shared Album to a Shared Library...

Shared Library is nothing to do with Shared Albums. Once you have created a Shared Library, moving pics between Shared and Personal Libraries is simply right-click on a photo or selection of photos and select Move to Personal/Shared.

Not sure why I wrote dragging into. It was sometime ago that I wrote that (might have been confused with Shared Albums myself!... which are drag and drop)

 

[chenks]

Shared Library is nothing to do with Shared Albums. Once you have created a Shared Library, moving pics between Shared and Personal Libraries is simply right-click on a photo or selection of photos and select Move to Personal/Shared.

Not sure why I wrote dragging into. It was sometime ago that I wrote that (might have been confused with Shared Albums myself!... which are drag and drop)

and if you don't have a mac?
considering this thread is about iOS then it's a bit misleading to respond about do it using a mac.

 

[Mike Boreham]

and if you don't have a mac?
considering this thread is about iOS then it's a bit misleading to respond about do it using a mac.

Apologies! Same applies in iOS and iPadOS. There are three dots in a circle bottom right which brings up the contextual menu which includes the move to Shared/Personal option

 

[djplong]

From all the descriptions I've read, this means that I don't retain any control over the original.

I have no problem with making shared libraries. But suppose I add something and another group member edits or deletes the picture - does that, in the worst case, delete my original?

If so, this is a non-starter.

It would be better if edits and deletions were tracked by user. Sure, if you had one picture edited 6 different ways that would mean 6 different copies of the file in iCloud - but the key there would be 6 *different* files and the original would still exist.

 

[mc123]

How do albums work with Shared Libraries?

From what I understand, you can't create Albums within a shared library, which is a shame given that a common situation is "multiple people take pictures in a family, one person tends to be the one who organizes the photos into albums".

Can I still create an album in my personal library, and add items from the shared library? What about mixing personal and shared library photos within my personal library?

 

[Mike Boreham]

From all the descriptions I've read, this means that I don't retain any control over the original.

I have no problem with making shared libraries. But suppose I add something and another group member edits or deletes the picture - does that, in the worst case, delete my original?

If so, this is a non-starter.

It would be better if edits and deletions were tracked by user. Sure, if you had one picture edited 6 different ways that would mean 6 different copies of the file in iCloud - but the key there would be 6 *different* files and the original would still exist.

The key word about the Shared Library is trust. If you don't trust the person/people you are sharing with you should use Shared Albums.

Remember that anything deleted stays in Recently Deleted for 30 days.

 

[Mike Boreham]

How do albums work with Shared Libraries?

From what I understand, you can't create Albums within a shared library, which is a shame given that a common situation is "multiple people take pictures in a family, one person tends to be the one who organizes the photos into albums".

Can I still create an album in my personal library, and add items from the shared library? What about mixing personal and shared library photos within my personal library?

They don't!

I have 78000 of photos organised in 650 albums and folders, which I was hoping to share with my wife. If I put them in our new Shared Library she will see 78000 photos with no albums or folders. This is my biggest disappointment with it.

Each user has to create and apply their own albums and folders.

 

[mc123]

They don't!

I have 78000 of photos organised in 650 albums and folders, which I was hoping to share with my wife. If I put them in our new Shared Library she will see 78000 photos with no albums or folders. This is my biggest disappointment with it.

Each user has to create and apply their own albums and folders.

Can you create your own albums that include both personal and shared photos? Have you tested what happens if your wife deletes a photo that's in your album, from the shared library?

 

[Thisismattwade]

They don't!

I have 78000 of photos organised in 650 albums and folders, which I was hoping to share with my wife. If I put them in our new Shared Library she will see 78000 photos with no albums or folders. This is my biggest disappointment with it.

Each user has to create and apply their own albums and folders.

Are you sure? Another user posted this convo with Apple Support, which seems to indicate folder and album structure transfer. Not doubting you, as it seems you’ve used this service and I’ve yet to pull the trigger! And I know Support agents aren’t always more knowledgeable than MR users.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Are you sure? Another user posted this convo with Apple Support, which seems to indicate folder and album structure transfer. Not doubting you, as it seems you’ve used this service and I’ve yet to pull the trigger! And I know Support agents aren’t always more knowledgeable than MR users.

I have been using it for some time, and my albums and folders did not share, but I haven't tried with latest version. So will test now...hope you are correct!

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have been using it for some time, and my albums and folders did not share, but I haven't tried with latest version. So will test now...hope you are correct!

Unfortunately Albums and Folders are NOT shared. I just created an album of 40 pics and put them in album called TEST ALBUM. Then moved the 40 pics to Shared Library (there is no way to move an album to shared, only individual photos). The 40 photos appeared in Shared on my wife's devices but no sign of TEST ALBUM.

If there is a way I haven't found it!

The subject is discussed quite a bit earlier in this thread eg
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ow.2353459/page-6?post=31308469#post-31308469
...and subsequent.

 

[Thisismattwade]

Unfortunately Albums and Folders are NOT shared. I just created an album of 40 pics and put them in album called TEST ALBUM. Then moved the 40 pics to Shared Library (there is no way to move an album to shared, only individual photos). The 40 photos appeared in Shared on my wife's devices but no sign of TEST ALBUM.

If there is a way I haven't found it!

The subject is discussed quite a bit earlier in this thread eg
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ow.2353459/page-6?post=31308469#post-31308469
...and subsequent.

Yeah, that Rick guy was super helpful in the early days of this feature’s announcement/beta testing.

Sorry it didn’t work for you like the Apple rep said it would. I don’t have a lot of organization at the album level, but I can see how that would be frustrating. :-/

 

[1Peace]

Hi, I’ve created shared library on the iPhone an it works fine. Then moved on iPad to check it and shared album is not there, how to enable it?

 

[BuddyTronic]

How can I back up my photos from the shared library to my MacBook Pro Late 2016 which doesn't support Mac OS Ventura!?

I'm not sure, but I have a similar situation with an older iMac - and I have the same concerns.

I like avoiding headaches and PITA workarounds.

The high road is to get rid of all the old machines and upgrade. I think I am waiting for a new big screen iMac - I gotta check if that has happened already. For you, the answer could also be to think about retiring the 8 year old MacBook Pro like I am going to do with my old "perfectly good and shiny, but antique" iMac.

Despite the high cost of living, it remains popular. Please buy a new MacBook Pro so my AAPL stock can go up. This is the way.

 

[BuddyTronic]

From all the descriptions I've read, this means that I don't retain any control over the original.

I have no problem with making shared libraries. But suppose I add something and another group member edits or deletes the picture - does that, in the worst case, delete my original?

If so, this is a non-starter.

It would be better if edits and deletions were tracked by user. Sure, if you had one picture edited 6 different ways that would mean 6 different copies of the file in iCloud - but the key there would be 6 *different* files and the original would still exist.

Pretty sure YOU would have FINAL CONTROL in the "delete" process.

The example would be - your kid or wife accidentally deletes some photos in the "shared library" and the next thing will be that YOU would get a notification about deleted photos happening and YOU would go to your "recently deleted" folder and have 30 days to decide what you want to do with the photos. IF you forget to check your "recently deleted" album for more than 30 days you might find that yes, indeed you have lost those photos forever. I suppose with the advent of the "shared library" we will all need to be aware of the worst case scenarios. BUT, I think it's something that might evolve a little bit after a few people make up stories of losing their entire library of photos. In the meantime it's probably a good idea to check the deleted photos album and do some offline backups of huge photo libraries just in case the worst thing happens.

Shared photo library is giving shared control of those photos with powers to edit. So it is indeed something new and it is not absolutely "fool proof". I bet Apple will have some updates to the "recently deleted" expiry time period or some other methods to make it more "fool proof".

A good analogy is our shared iMac in the house. I told my family members that it's OK for them to drag things to the trash can, but please do not use the "empty trash" function. Once in a while I'll look in the trashcan and see if any files in the trash don't belong there, and empty it myself - because I am the only guy in the house who can use a computer properly. That kind of thing.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Hi, I’ve created shared library on the iPhone an it works fine. Then moved on iPad to check it and shared album is not there, how to enable it?

Are they both on iOS/iPadOS 16.1. ?
Are they both signed in to same Apple ID?
If not same ID have you sent an invite to the other ID and accepted it?

 

[TIMO_737]

Thanks Apple for adding the 'divorse feature' number one of all times 😂😂

 

[strrmy]

Yea, I’ve been using this for a week or so. Took no time at all to figure out. You can still opt to pull all photos in your shared and personal library down to a computer and backup.

Our family went to Disney yesterday. It was so nice that we all had every photo taken without having to go through the old air drop ritual.

It also freed up storage from 34,000 duplicate photos we both had in our library.

How did you free up those 34000 duplicates? I see no way of detecting duplicates in my newly created shared library.

 

[Kagio]

A lot of people are not getting a lot of the nuances and fine tuned detailed Apple put in many scenarios and preventing potential issues. Im aure this feat will be a success cause the critical moments of decisiones are very clearly guided and describes by Apple.

Read the forum, and I can answer al calm every single soul using what MacRumors shared. Some people don’t even read it all.

 

[Frozonecold]

Am I the only one experiencing issues setting up a shared photo library? I invited my partner to see my library, and when they try to accept the invitation a message appears that the sharing is unavailable and that the host may have stopped sharing. I can't seem to find any information on this error yet.

EDIT: Never mind, apparently the phone did not update.

 

[PhilBoogie]

Oh no, that is sub optimal. The duplicate detection has worked perfectly on a solo library for me at least.

It has only worked once for me...I never update iOS sw, but get the latest version each year when I buy a new iPhone. So I'm always on x.0

And this year I got the 'Duplicates' in /iOS/Photos/Utilities...whcih indeed found some duplicate photos. I have deleted those dups. Days later I imported photos I already had - as a test - and am still waiting for the 'Duplcates' folder to show up in that Utilities section. Seems like the whole Duplicates feature is a one-time-only feature (at my end)

 

[Behemoth78]

I'm using the iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife.

I've activated "Download Originals to this Mac" on my account. I want the photos to be included in my backup strategy. I understand that the Shared Library is included in "Download Originals to this Mac". So a backup of my account includes my Personal Library and the Shared Library.

What i don't like: I also want to backup the photos from my wife's account, her Personal Library. So i have to select "Download Originals to this Mac" on her account again. The Shared Library is included in this option, so the complete Shared Library is downloaded a second time on the same computer but on a different account. And all the Shared Library photos are included twice in the backup of this computer.

Is this right, or is the Shared Library only included in "Download Originals to this Mac" for the organizer of the Shared Library (in our case that would be my account)?

If not, it would be nice, if every Photo Library user could select "Download Originals to this Mac" seperately for his Personal Library and for the Shared Library.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I think you are probably correct. Apple treats each Apple ID as a separate person and in most situations each person would want their own data backed up, not relying on another person/Apple ID to have done it for them.

In a husband/wife situation this does mean the shared library is backed up twice, and options like your suggestion would avoid this. It would be a good feature suggestion (I will do it).

 

[robbomcnobbo]

No average user is going to figure out how to use this and understand what is going on. 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. Even worse, anyone can delete your original content at that point and you wouldn’t have another copy.

How do you know whether it's an old-school "move" (copy + delete), or just a pointer? That level of implementation detail is not shared. Secondly, you *clearly* didn't read the article - so are you one of those "average" users you speak of? - any deleted photos are retained and the original owner is notified and you can put it back in your private library.

"You can opt to get a notification when someone deletes images from the shared library, with the toggle available in the Shared Library heading in the ‌Photos‌ section of the Settings app. When an image is deleted, the person who originally shared the image has the option of moving the image to their personal library rather than having it deleted, and deleted images are stored in the Recently Deleted folder for easy retrieval."

 

[ChromeAce]

How do you know whether it's an old-school "move" (copy + delete), or just a pointer? That level of implementation detail is not shared. Secondly, you *clearly* didn't read the article - so are you one of those "average" users you speak of? - any deleted photos are retained and the original owner is notified and you can put it back in your private library.

The article has been appended to include more detail concerning deleted photos before the feature was actually released out of beta. Which is why it took you 3 months to comment on my comment. In fact, I would suspect the deletion notification and option to save feature was specifically added by Apple BECAUSE of my comment.