How To Use Photo Stream and iCloud Sharing

Learn how to make the most out of photo stream and iCloud sharing.

Updated Nov 03,2016 | by Mike

There are many who manage multple Apple devices. It's not just for fun or show off, Apple has made our lives quite good with the mobility it offers through its products and we love to take advantage of that mobility. Though it also is a stressful task to keep track of data, which data is stored in which device is quite a headache sometimes. In this in mini guide, we will discuss how to make the most out of photo stream and iCloud sharing.

Photo Stream:

Photo Stream provides a great deal of ease when it comes to gallery management. Photo Stream is an application build into the Photos app of the iPhone.

It persistently reads any new picture or screenshot taken, and instantly sends it to Apple's servers whenever it's connected through wifi. Next, it sends that picture to all of the devices that share the same Apple ID. Photo Stream can store up to a thousand photos.

iCloud Photo Library:

iCloud photo library, while it may look like a ditto-copy of Photo Stream, is actually quite enhanced. Like Photo Stream, iCloud also uploads all your new photos to your cloud drive and pushes them into all your devices.

Where iCloud is different is that it does not have any limitations, it saves the photo with the original size (i.e it does not degrades the quality to decrease the size of the photo) and does not have any maximum photos restriction. Moreover, iCloud also handles you videos along with photos.

The only downfall would be that iCloud Photo Library saves everything on your personal drive. And because of that, your cloud storage has a high chance of running out of space sooner.

Setting up Photo Stream:

•Open your settings application on iPhone or iPad.

•Tap on iCloud to open iCloud related services.

•Tap on Photos.

•Under the photos section, tap on the "My Photo Stream" switch and flip it to open. However, if it is already turned on, don't bother doing anything else as it is already set up.

Same steps are to be taken if for some reason you want to turn off the Photo Stream feature.

Setting up iCloud Photo Library:

Obviously there are no complicated steps that you need to follow to the letter in order to set up iCloud Photo Library. In fact, I've never came across any Apple service which is hard to set up.

•Open Settings application on your iPhone or iPad.

•Scroll down through the categories, tap on Photos and Camera section.

•The first option on the right side would be labelled "iCloud Photo Library". Tap on the switch to flip it on. If it is already turned on, you don’t need to change anything.

Q. Can you use iCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream both at the same time:

Yes, even if you turn on any one of Photo Stream or iCloud Photo Library, you will still have the option to turn on the other one too. Of course herein lies the question "Do you really want to turn them both on?" It would seem to be a pointless choice, though there is a condition where using both at the same time is necessary.

Imagine a scenario where your Mac is connected to your iPhone through iCloud and you iPad is connected to your iPhone through Photo Stream. Now you will have to turn on Photo Stream to stay in sync with your iPad and also turn on iCloud to stay in sync with the Mac.

Learn more in our comprehensive guide for photo stream.

iCloud Photo Sharing – How to Turn On and Use iCloud Photo Sharing

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