So maybe I am missing something and I am asking for your help. Currently with iCloud photo sharing I can upload an "unlimited" amount of photos and share them with it counting against my free 5GB iCloud storage. With the new Photos app for OS X and iOS coming next year it WILL count, causing me to pay for an increase in storage. Am I right? Talk about going backwards if this is true.
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Photos sharing, old vs new...
- Thread starter WJKramer
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Nothing will change next year. The OS X App will essentially mimic the iOS app but for the Mac, using the same data from iCloud. Nothing will change storage wise from what it currently is. If it works for you within the free 5gb, it'll be the same when Apple launches the app.
Apple did significantly lower the price of extra storage to support the feature however. 20gb for one dollar a month is the one I'd pick until I fill it up (If I ever do).
But currently photos do not count towards storage limits.
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Example:
Current
"Do Shared Photo Streams use my iCloud storage?
No. Photos uploaded to Shared Photo Streams do not count against your iCloud storage."
New
"Fill your library, not your device.
Now you can spend more time shooting pictures and less time managing them. iCloud Photo Library helps you make the most of the space available on your iOS device by automatically storing the original high-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and leaving behind the lightweight version that are perfectly sized for each device. You get 5GB of iCloud storage free, and other storage plans start at $0.99 per month."
----------
Example:
Current
"Do Shared Photo Streams use my iCloud storage?
No. Photos uploaded to Shared Photo Streams do not count against your iCloud storage."
New
"Fill your library, not your device.
Now you can spend more time shooting pictures and less time managing them. iCloud Photo Library helps you make the most of the space available on your iOS device by automatically storing the original high-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and leaving behind the lightweight version that are perfectly sized for each device. You get 5GB of iCloud storage free, and other storage plans start at $0.99 per month."
So you're confused on the difference between iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Photo Stream.
iCloud Photo stream stored up to 1,000 photos, only photos, no video. If you had another device running iOS with the feature enabled... the photos wold automatically download to the devices. The photos in the iCloud Photo stream are there just to download to the device. Changing one photo or even deleting won't delete the photo the other device, it just deletes it from the cloud so it won't automatically download if it hasn't already. You can see which photos are in the cloud (possibly on your device)Its very confusing in my opinion.
iCloud Photo Library takes your whole library and puts it in iCloud. Even videos. And not just that, it's your whole library meaning that if you change something on one, it changes it on the other. No auto-downloading is theoretically happening because its all one giant library accessible from any device. The file are stored locally and updated however (basically auto-downloading haha) so if you don't have wifi you can still access it.
The new way is exactly how it should be except now they made it count towards your storage... bummer but worth it? The OS X app that will be released will support iCloud Photo library and the new Photos extensions found on iOS but for Mac. This app will replace Apple's iPhoto and Aperture as well.
You can keep the way it currently works by not upgrading to iCloud photo library and continuing to use iPhoto on the Mac.
Shared photo streams are still there and don't count.
ICloud Photo Library replaces my photo stream which does count against your storage.