Submitted by Frank Macey on
Apple has announced the upcoming shutdown of its "My Photo Stream" feature, set to take place on July 26, 2023. This free service, which debuted alongside iCloud in 2011, allowed users to sync photos across their Apple devices. However, with the introduction of the more advanced iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream is being phased out completely.
This means new photo uploads to My Photo Stream will stop on June 26, 2023, one month before the shutdown. Any photos uploaded prior to this date will remain in iCloud for 30 days and will be accessible on devices where My Photo Stream is currently enabled. By the final shutdown date, all photos will be removed from My Photo Stream, and the service will be discontinued.
To make sure that no photos are lost during this process, iPhone owners will need to save them to the Photos app. If a photo is not already saved, make sure to store it locally on an Apple device before the shutdown. Apple is also encouraging users to switch over to iCloud Photos, which delivers high-quality, secure image storage and syncing across all Apple devices.
Of course, iCloud only comes with 5GB of free storage space. This means for most users, uploading all photos to iCloud will require a monthly subscription to increase storage on Apple's servers. iCloud+ plans start at $0.99 for 50GB. Learn more about the difference between iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream here.Follow these steps to save photos from My Photo Stream to your device:
On the iPhone or iPad
- Launch the Photos app
- Tap Albums -> My Photo Stream -> Select
- Select the photos to save
- Tap the Share button and choose Save Image
On the Mac
- Launch the Photos app
- Open the My Photo Stream album
- Select the photos to save
- Drag the images to your Library