Have you ever taken photos on one Apple device and then seen them pop up on another? That’s the work of My Photo Stream, a service Apple is shutting down later this month.
Users shouldn’t be concerned about losing their photos – as long as they take the right precautions.
Apple launched My Photo Stream in 2011. It temporarily uploads photos taken on one device for viewing on any other device with the service enabled on it. An option to import them to the library on those devices is also offered.
“Photos remain in My Photo Stream for 30 days – up to 1,000 photos at any given time – and are then automatically deleted from iCloud,” Apple explained.
While the My Photo Stream feature was offered to make things easier for Apple users, it also had a downside, according to OSX Daily, which called it a “love or hate” feature.
“My Photo Stream actually duplicates those 1,000 photos and puts an exact copy of them into their own album on the same device, within the Photos app. Yes you read that correctly, if ‘My Photo Stream’ is enabled on your iPhone, and you use the iPhone (or iPod or iPad) for photography, you probably have 1,000 duplicate images sitting around on the device, wasting about 1GB or more of capacity,” said the outlet in 2013.
Before My Photo Stream is shut down on July 26, users should make sure that iCloud Photos is enabled on all of their devices to make sure their photos are saved.
“You don’t need to do anything else – your photos are already uploaded and stored in iCloud,” said Apple. My Photo Stream is a separate service from iCloud Photos.
Apple recommends that users check whether they already use iCloud Photos. To do this, and keep photos shared across devices, users should find “iCloud” under “Settings” and make sure it is toggled to “On” for each Apple device. Desktop users can go under “System Settings” to find their name, then click “iCloud” and mare sure it is set to “On” next to photos. This service is available for all devices with iOS 8.3 or later, iPadOS 8.3 or later, or Mac with OS X Yosemite or later.
New photo uploads to My Photo Stream already stopped on June 26, though photos uploaded before that date will remain for 30 days and appear on My Photo Stream enabled devices. By the shutdown date, there will be no photos in the stream.
“If you don’t use iCloud Photos, you can save photos currently in My Photo Stream to your device,” Apple explained. Prior to July 26, users can save photos in the My Photo Stream album to any device they pop up on. To do so, they can go to “Photos” and tap “Albums” and select “My Photo Stream” where they can tap the share button (a square with an arrow pointing up) and then “Save Image.”
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