Shared library vs. Shared album?

[Gix1k]

What’s the difference other than sharing directly from camera? I’ve been adding photos to a shared album for years.

Now on 16.1 when I go to shared library, it shows my old shared albums as well. Trying to find the advantage to this “new feature “.

 

[dcp10]

Same as the difference between an individual library and albums. Library is all the photos on the phone and can be viewed by time period where as albums are just a group of pre-selected photos. The real power is in the search tab which cannot be used within an album

Shared library just allows photos from multiple users to be kept together in one place

 

[Gix1k]

Same as the difference between an individual library and albums. Library is all the photos on the phone and can be viewed by time period where as albums are just a group of pre-selected photos. The real power is in the search tab which cannot be used within an album

Shared library just allows photos from multiple users to be kept together in one place

…but that’s the same way I’ve been using shared albums. I have a shared album called “Family”, I added kids and wife. I move pics to that album, they see it on their phone, they add photos, I see them.
Is that not the idea behind shared library?

 

[arazeleternal]

…but that’s the same way I’ve been using shared albums. I have a shared album called “Family”, I added kids and wife. I move pics to that album, they see it on their phone, they add photos, I see them.
Is that not the idea behind shared library?

I’ve wondered the same things as well.

 

[dcp10]

I’ve wondered the same things as well.

Correct, but it’s still an album which means you lose the search tools.

 

[Gix1k]

Ok I think I found the difference. With shared albums, if I add a photo to it, that very photo remains in my library(Recents)in addition to the shared album.
With shared library, when I add a pic to it, it’s now removed from my Recents and only appears in the shared library recents. If I choose to display both libraries, then it appears in my Recents, but it’s technically only in the shared recent.

Hope that makes sense….lol

 

[BBDDVV]

in addition to what you mention, with the new shared library:

* Setup rules allow you to easily contribute past photos based on start date or people in the photos when you set up or join a library
* Library filters for quickly switching between viewing the Shared Library, your Personal Library, or both libraries together
* Shared edits and permissions let everyone add, edit, favorite, caption, and delete photos
* Sharing toggle in Camera lets you choose to send photos you take straight to the Shared Library, or enable a setting to share automatically when other participants are detected nearby using Bluetooth

 

[pw5a29]

Share albums, the original file is kept on your own library, a 0.3 megapixel is shared among all within the album.

Share library, the original file is stored in the shared library of the uploader (depending on whose photo was that), everyone else have access to this library and photo, this photo is of original size.

 

[Gix1k]

in addition to what you mention, with the new shared library:

* Setup rules allow you to easily contribute past photos based on start date or people in the photos when you set up or join a library
* Library filters for quickly switching between viewing the Shared Library, your Personal Library, or both libraries together
* Shared edits and permissions let everyone add, edit, favorite, caption, and delete photos
* Sharing toggle in Camera lets you choose to send photos you take straight to the Shared Library, or enable a setting to share automatically when other participants are detected nearby using Bluetooth

Thanks for this. Here’s a question, can you name the shared libraries? For instance, can I have one called “Matt”, “Jess”, etc.? I can’t test this because I’m the only one with 16.1 in my home. When I send them and invitation as of now, it says “shared library unavailable”, as they are on 16.0.3.

 

[BBDDVV]

about naming the shared library: not that I know of; as far as I know:
1. you can only create 1 shared library and the shared library can have max 6 people, the organizer and up to 5 invitees.
2. you can only be part of that 1 shared library, i.e. when you share a library you can't be part of anyone else's shared library... When you're part of a shared library as non-organizer, you can't create your own shared library.

When the above is correct (note that this info is only from what I've read about it, I also only have 1 iPad running 16.1 RC, couldn't try this out yet), then it's of (very) limited use to me, and sharing albums is more flexible, albeit with its own shortcomings...

 

[ipoddin]

So with a shared library you are limited to the 6 people. But with a shared album I can share with different people per album. Seems like a shared library is something you’d only want for immediate family and still need to use shared albums for one offs with other people.

The shared library seems too limiting for me. Sometimes I want to share vacation pics with just my fiancé. Other times we may be somewhere and I share with her and her family. Or other times it’s an album I share with my family. But I would want all those people in one library and even then, it’s limited to 6 people. So struggling to find a real use case for a shared library for me that a shared album doesn’t cover.

Also shared library counts against the iCloud plan for the person who sets it up. So great way for Apple to get you to buy more space!

Can a shared library also have albums inside it?

 

[james948]

So with a shared library you are limited to the 6 people. But with a shared album I can share with different people per album. Seems like a shared library is something you’d only want for immediate family and still need to use shared albums for one offs with other people.

The shared library seems too limiting for me. Sometimes I want to share vacation pics with just my fiancé. Other times we may be somewhere and I share with her and her family. Or other times it’s an album I share with my family. But I would want all those people in one library and even then, it’s limited to 6 people. So struggling to find a real use case for a shared library for me that a shared album doesn’t cover.

Also shared library counts against the iCloud plan for the person who sets it up. So great way for Apple to get you to buy more space!

Can a shared library also have albums inside it?

Can't answer your question yet but this helps me understand it.

One thing I can't quite get is why all my albums are listed in the shared section. They're empty but, nevertheless, not sure i want my family to see the title of my albums even if they are empty. "Class A drugs '04" for instance. Is this happening for anyone else?

 

[ElliotF]

This explains it pretty well: https://www.technomayo.com/blog/icloud-shared-photo-library-vs-shared-album/

 

[shamus99]

Good info thanks… shared album works better for us but I dont want to lose pic quality.

Anybody know how to make a backup to my mac mini when it wont download the shared library now due to me not being able to upgrade Ventura?

 

[ipoddin]

This explains it pretty well: https://www.technomayo.com/blog/icloud-shared-photo-library-vs-shared-album/

Thanks, that is very helpful with actual examples. Now I can see a benefit with my fiance. I"m always having to airdrop or imessage photos to her that I take, since I have the better camera and talent And with a 200 shared album limit, I've almost reached that. This way, for anything we do together, I can use shared library. And for events where there are other people, use a shared album.

Can you create albums in a shared library to organize the photos by events, locations, etc? All the same search and filters in a shared library?

 

[james948]

This explains it pretty well: https://www.technomayo.com/blog/icloud-shared-photo-library-vs-shared-album/

Thanks. Good article.