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I like storing photo’s with Apple, but the biggest downfall is that there is no way for my wife and I to have our pics automatically sync to one library unless we use same Apple ID. Apple needs to fix this.
 
Here's a good feature - on Google Photos I can search for my 5 year old's name and I get every photo of him from birth to current. I didn't have to tag more than a couple of them years ago, and Google has kept up with his growth. It's amazing, and it's smart enough to not mix in photos of his little brother. They looked alike as babies, but I guess Google is also considering the photo dates to figure out which kid is which.

Does iCloud photos do anything like that? I honestly don't know.
It does the exact same thing although if you had zero photos of another look-alike baby then it is a bit better. I have some (very few though) pictures of my daughter's cousin for example. However, they are extremely alike so it is not surprising.
 
Why would you move from unlimited storage to the most expensive paid storage on the market?
It works well within the Apple ecosystem. And it works really well.

I can take a screenshot on my MBP and it’s instantly available on all of my devices (iPad, iPhone, etc). I realize that Google Photos has this ability to an extent as well on the mobile devices but I’m pointing out Mac OS photos more. Also, my MBP can have the original photo downloaded and backed up with no action taken on my side, while it is backed up on iCloud.

I moved from Google Photos to iCloud years ago and while the initial transition was painful, it’s been a pretty great experience since then.
 
I like storing photo’s with Apple, but the biggest downfall is that there is no way for my wife and I to have our pics automatically sync to one library unless we use same Apple ID. Apple needs to fix this.
This …. This is the biggest thing I miss with Google Photos and the biggest draw for me to use it. Sharing every photo I take with my wife without having to share them was AMAZING (and her photos to me). Apple needs to fix this, agreed.
 
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Interesting...I thought Google loves to devour data, more data is better and storage is cheap, storage is the business of Google after all. Store it and harvest it.

I guess they didn't imagine people were nut jobs storing as much as 40,000 pics per user at 4MB each, and the extra data from all those pictures probably does not bring enough reevenue. They can make enough money harvesting about 5,000 pics from each user.
 
I've completely removed myself from all Google products at this point. If they aren't going to kill/kneecap a service or product they are going to harvest every last shred of data from you.

Switched to Duckduckgo and love having uncensored results once again.

I've basically totally entrenched myself in Apple's ecosystem and see no reason to move, privacy, support, best hardware/software around. Not saying there's not areas Apple can't improve but they pretty much have the best of the best.
iPhone, AirPods, M1 MacBook Pro, Apple Watch all integrated together - show me an alternative to that? This is coming from an engineer who's historically been a Windows/Linux guy.
I'm on the same page, Google cripples something once I'm used to it and have others adopting, incredibly frustrating and not dependable.
DDG also doesn't have the best track record with regards to privacy according to some sources, but it tends to be better as far as not curating results to a particular narrative. For instance, news.google still has articles about a particular event that happened over four months ago, while DDG has news on events that are actually current.
 
What exactly gets sold to third parties? Go buy some/any information on anyone from Google and report back.
Targeted ads. When I was doing data for video games we would pay sometimes more than 50$ per install for highly targeted users that would likely spend a lot on our games. that was Facebook ads . but you never buy the user's personal info
 
Eh, I tried using iCloud after switching from Android to iOS, but the website for it isn't great. Maybe it works better if you also use MacOS and have the Apple's photos app, but I'm on Windows, and Google Photos is really nice on the desktop site. Wish Apple would put a little more effort into making their services a bit more platform agnostic.
 
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Interesting...I thought Google loves to devour data, more data is better and storage is cheap, storage is the business of Google after all. Store it and harvest it.

I guess they didn't imagine people were nut jobs storing as much as 40,000 pics per user at 4MB each, and the extra data from all those pictures probably does not bring enough reevenue. They can make enough money harvesting about 5,000 pics from each user.
What revenue do you think storing the data in your photos bring them. I would say close to zero, except tying you down to their ecosystem and later you buying some cloud storage, or order some prints,. I'm pretty sure they are not as dumb as you think and knew exactly how much people would use unlimited storage. That was part of the plan, knowing they could never maintain this free storage business plan, but is just about grabbing the most users while they can Do you think Google or Amazon makes profit when they sell you a 19$ clock + smart speaker or 4k tv stick with a remote? Of course not but they are buying users, it's an investment into you brand loyalty. Once you have a bunch of cheap Alexa or Google home devices that work together with their assistant, yo' re probably not going to switch . The more picture you have stored on their cloud the less likely you are to move to the competition. everyone in the business provides some free tier, Google tier just happens to be more costly, because its was unlimited (for a limited time), but more pictures means your hands are more tied. Although they are never completely, since you always have a way to migrate. Its just above the average user's ability. Storage gets cheaper with time, people use more and more and more data, but usually the free limits move much more slowly. Google has been offering 15Gb for ages. Not moving this limit is also how they know they will eventually make money
 
Eh, I tried using iCloud after switching from Android to iOS, but the website for it isn't great. Maybe it works better if you also use MacOS and have the Apple's photos app, but I'm on Windows, and Google Photos is really nice on the desktop site. Wish Apple would put a little more effort into making their services a bit more platform agnostic.
Google photos is above the competition in terms of AI & UI. I got my first pixel and the camera app is also unrivalled. I gave up my privacy for the quality of the service :-/
 
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What revenue do you think storing the data in your photos bring them.

They are making money off them some how. Google nearly sells nothing, all their products is free so long as you exchange your data for it. I am sure they had a way to make money of your pictures. Gmail, Search, Docs, Maps, YouTube, Chrome, Android, Translate, ChromeOS, Drive...all free!

Some how they are worth 11x Boeing that builds flying metal ships in the air carrying tons of weight half way around planet earth daily.
 
I'm sorry, please tell me how you can buy "MY" Google Photos data tomorrow? I would love to know that! Your talking about audience segmentation and targeting for Ad's. None of my photo's are leaving Google or being sold which is where the privacy aspect would mater to me. Do I care if I get some targeted Ad's, no not really. I consider that my payment for using free services. Again if you don't like it, do what you do, don't use the service. There are tons of options out there, we all have a choice.
You again are focused on "making your point" and not on listening so you are missing what I am saying. I didn't say I could buy your particular photo, so you didn't need to clarify "None of my photo's are leaving Google or being sold".

Asking me to tell you how I could buy "MY Google Photos data tomorrow" again is misleading. What I said was "You and the data collected from your photos IS being sold on the internet." If you read too much into my use of the word "You" I am sorry for not being more clear. I thought the rest of my post about creating the digital fingerprint though better elaborated on what I meant. Your data is being sold and used for manipulation. Whether or not you are being targeted as a solo target or part of a larger target doesn't change that they are attempting to gather as much data on you as possible and using that data and human behavioral knowledge to manipulate you without your consent or knowing about it.

This is where it goes beyond your generalized "audience segmentation", because using your IDFA and other similar tracking identifiers, a profile about "you" can be built and IS ABUSED. Building algorithms to beat out the part of your brain that would let you think about a purchase decision in a more balanced way is a major part of the "benefits" I was pitched. This is not just audience segmentation, it is audience segmentation with buying manipulation.

Part of what goes into that profile is pulled from what is identified from your Google photos. Example: You take photos of your food and store it in Google Photos. Google identifies food photos, the time of day you took the photo, the type of device you took the photo on, etc... and all of that data is stored in your "identity". The more free things you use, the more data is collected and stored. The more data that is collected and store, the more that psychology can be used to predict your behavior and the more than can manipulate that behavior.

I could message you with a lot more details on HOW they use this data to manipulate buyers if you are truly interested.

If you don't care that they mine data about you from all of these sources (including your photos) and then make this identity available, then cool. You have nothing to be upset about for using Google Photos. My point wasn't to tell you or anyone they can't / shouldn't use Google Photos, my point was to state clearly what I was shown and pitched for how that data is being used and how I believe it is not moral and being intentionally obfuscated. Your life, your decision. I was just trying to share the information that I had personally experienced.
 
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Why move everything OUT of google photos?

I'm working on adding all the photos I can to google photos while it's still free. You get to keep everything you had before the date for free.

It's only what you add later that they count against your storage plan.
 
Just did it yesterday… Switched from Google Photos to Apple Photos.

What I did:

- Evaluate possibilities (other software, NAS (e.g. Synlogoy DS Photo etc.).
=> Must support Face recognition, easy GUI, everywhere accessible

- Storage Space (had 4,6TB of photos in cloud). Take picture and forget. But want to have all pictures on all devices present.
=> Local Storage is at least on mobiles a no go.

- support for my used platform. Must support all my desktops, tablets and smartphones. Since I’m in Apple ecosystem and often tried to switch and came back every time, iCloud wouldn’t be a big problem. Furthermore I could potentially access it via Web.


Ok, at this point it is just a thing between Google Photos and Apple Photos. It is already everything present in Google and worked flawless all the years. Within the last few month (even on Android tries) I got frustrated by ads (buy photos etc), the new price structure, etc. I need to pay for any service so it doesn’t really matter for which one. But the Desktop usage was a all time pain when fastly looking for a picture. The search engine itself, as wel as the face recognition is absolutely perfect. So I just gave it a try with a few Test pics on iCloud. Seems to work but would need some adjustments. Fair enough to test it parallel…

1. Bought 6TB external drive
2. Downloaded all albums from Google Photos via Takeout as 50GB parts (just klick all ones and wait to finish the download).
3. Day later I unzipped them and dragged them Album per album to Apple Photos and cleaned finally all the mess up.
4. Still processing the face recognition and hopefully not too much to re adjust later
5. My 5GB iCloud space is fully blown up, now. Waiting for the results of the face recognition. Of everything is good enough, I’ll buy the 2TB space and will just be happy.

What still bothers me:
In my country there isn’t any possibility to increase the iCloud Drive to more than 2TB. I’m really sure to hit it in near future, what will I do? Can just hope Apple will provide bigger storage packs soon.
 
Just did it yesterday… Switched from Google Photos to Apple Photos.

What I did:

- Evaluate possibilities (other software, NAS (e.g. Synlogoy DS Photo etc.).
=> Must support Face recognition, easy GUI, everywhere accessible

- Storage Space (had 4,6TB of photos in cloud). Take picture and forget. But want to have all pictures on all devices present.
=> Local Storage is at least on mobiles a no go.

- support for my used platform. Must support all my desktops, tablets and smartphones. Since I’m in Apple ecosystem and often tried to switch and came back every time, iCloud wouldn’t be a big problem. Furthermore I could potentially access it via Web.


Ok, at this point it is just a thing between Google Photos and Apple Photos. It is already everything present in Google and worked flawless all the years. Within the last few month (even on Android tries) I got frustrated by ads (buy photos etc), the new price structure, etc. I need to pay for any service so it doesn’t really matter for which one. But the Desktop usage was a all time pain when fastly looking for a picture. The search engine itself, as wel as the face recognition is absolutely perfect. So I just gave it a try with a few Test pics on iCloud. Seems to work but would need some adjustments. Fair enough to test it parallel…

1. Bought 6TB external drive
2. Downloaded all albums from Google Photos via Takeout as 50GB parts (just klick all ones and wait to finish the download).
3. Day later I unzipped them and dragged them Album per album to Apple Photos and cleaned finally all the mess up.
4. Still processing the face recognition and hopefully not too much to re adjust later
5. My 5GB iCloud space is fully blown up, now. Waiting for the results of the face recognition. Of everything is good enough, I’ll buy the 2TB space and will just be happy.

What still bothers me:
In my country there isn’t any possibility to increase the iCloud Drive to more than 2TB. I’m really sure to hit it in near future, what will I do? Can just hope Apple will provide bigger storage packs soon.

If you really are stuck and need the extra space you can do the Family plan of 2TB of storage and then sign up for the personal 500GB, 1TB, or even 2TB plan for a total of 4TB. Not the least expensive option and can be tricky if you don't have more people for a "family plan" (add a fake person but make sure to make their birthday about to turn 14 so you can easily remove them later) but it is possible to get double the storage.
 
If you really are stuck and need the extra space you can do the Family plan of 2TB of storage and then sign up for the personal 500GB, 1TB, or even 2TB plan for a total of 4TB. Not the least expensive option and can be tricky if you don't have more people for a "family plan" (add a fake person but make sure to make their birthday about to turn 14 so you can easily remove them later) but it is possible to get double the storage.
Thanks for the hint, but here in German it would only get an overall size of 2,2T 🤨😢

I had a NAS before, after this Google. Was happy with Google but ok, time to move forward. ATM I’m running both at the same time… Still uploading the images to iCloud. Several pics are already synced, but the related albums are still missing. Hope they’ll be created as on my local source afterwards (do not know how the sync works, but would have expected that first metadata like directories/albums are created).
 
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Thanks for the hint, but here in German it would only get an overall size of 2,2T 🤨😢

I had a NAS before, after this Google. Was happy with Google but ok, time to move forward. ATM I’m running both at the same time… Still uploading the images to iCloud. Several pics are already synced, but the related albums are still missing. Hope they’ll be created as on my local source afterwards (do not know how the sync works, but would have expected that first metadata like directories/albums are created).

I am not familiar with how iCloud works in Germany :( but I was able to find this link on Apple's site so I wanted to make sure you were seeing what I was saying:


"
Euro3 (Euro)
50GB: 0.99 €
200GB: 2.99 €
2TB: 9.99 €
"

It seems to indicate that someone in the EU can have a family sharing iCloud storage of 2TB. It also seems to show that you can have 2TB on a personal plan. Apple allows you (in the US) to have both a Family and a Personal plan active at the same time, hence the potential 4TB maximum. So is the limitation they don't let you have both active at the same time?
 
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I am not familiar with how iCloud works in Germany :( but I was able to find this link on Apple's site so I wanted to make sure you were seeing what I was saying:


"
Euro3 (Euro)
50GB: 0.99 €
200GB: 2.99 €
2TB: 9.99 €
"

It seems to indicate that someone in the EU can have a family sharing iCloud storage of 2TB. It also seems to show that you can have 2TB on a personal plan. Apple allows you (in the US) to have both a Family and a Personal plan active at the same time, hence the potential 4TB maximum. So is the limitation they don't let you have both active at the same time?
Hmm, could give it a try, but that means, that I need to be invited to a shared 2TB family plan. Atm I share my 2TB with my wife, could take a look if she could potentially book additional 2TB. That means that I’d need a dedicated account (as a meta acc) for family sharing that invites my wife and me and we both could book additional 2TB for each personal account?
 
Hmm, could give it a try, but that means, that I need to be invited to a shared 2TB family plan. Atm I share my 2TB with my wife, could take a look if she could potentially book additional 2TB. That means that I’d need a dedicated account (as a meta acc) for family sharing that invites my wife and me and we both could book additional 2TB for each personal account?

You don't need any more people than just you and your wife. You just sign up for the 2TB plan and then use the interface to use it for family sharing. Then once that is complete and you and your wife are sharing the 2GB, go back into "iCloud" on your phone, Manage Storage, Change Storage Plan, and then you can add the additional 2TB. It will actually show you that you would have a total of 4TB. Of course if your wife needs data and you don't want her eating up the shared 2TB, you can have her get a personal plan too! :)
 
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Thanks, just got in touch with Apple, this option is not possible in Germany (as well as we don‘t have the One Prem. option).

Sucks! Sorry man. Wish cross country boundaries were less restrictive. I have had to deal with it personally but not nearly as much as people outside the US due to come big players being based here. Maybe one day it will be different :p
 
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