iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

[Nicky.tbhp]

I created shared library with my wife. I have IP12 and wife has IP12 mini. We couldn't find any duplicate photos. We both have 200gb plans individually.
After created shared library, my icloud photos space taken increased from 150gb (before creating shared library) to 200gb+ and got error that I am out of space and icloud sync stopped. Even got error on my wife's iphone that host of this library is out of space that's why sync is stopped.
for now, I have deleted my shared library and everything reverted back to original state on both phones.
I couldn't understand why my icloud photos took more space after creating shared library?
It might be the feature that host's icloud space is taken, but then with individual icloud plan, I am in loss. I thought of shifting to 2tb family plan but it will almost double my billing for no reason.

 

[Thisismattwade]

I created shared library with my wife. I have IP12 and wife has IP12 mini. We couldn't find any duplicate photos. We both have 200gb plans individually.
After created shared library, my icloud photos space taken increased from 150gb (before creating shared library) to 200gb+ and got error that I am out of space and icloud sync stopped. Even got error on my wife's iphone that host of this library is out of space that's why sync is stopped.
for now, I have deleted my shared library and everything reverted back to original state on both phones.
I couldn't understand why my icloud photos took more space after creating shared library?
It might be the feature that host's icloud space is taken, but then with individual icloud plan, I am in loss. I thought of shifting to 2tb family plan but it will almost double my billing for no reason.

It switches the shared photos to the host’s iCloud storage plan. I’m guessing you invited your wife to the sharing? Same thing happened to my wife, and we shared all photos, but my iCloud storage dropped to like 45 MB (some weird screenshots of something)! We’re on the 2T plan, but I can see how this would bug you.

 

[bryan42]

Warning to others. If you move your <favorites> photos to the shared album then someone else in the group can unfavorite them which removes it from your own favorites list. This is a deal breaker for me after my daughter unfavorited 1000 of my photos. 1 by 1. This feature needs a lot more thought put into it. It's not cool that someone can just go trash all of your photo metadata but all you get is an option to salvage the photo if it is deleted. All other metadata, including CONTENT from edits, is fair game to be trashed.

 

[AppleSpain]

Hello,

I am trying to set up the photo library shared with my wife so that only photos of her, our daughter and me appear. To do this, I have previously selected our faces to make that happen, as in Google Photos. To my surprise Apple Photos has shared 99.99% of both photo libraries with many useless photos where none of us appear (photo of yesterday's dinner pizza, photos of the dog, photo of a piece of furniture that I liked from IKEA...) I would like to ask if that is normal or if there is something that I should adjust for it to work well.

Regards!

 

[Mike Boreham]

Hello,

I am trying to set up the photo library shared with my wife so that only photos of her, our daughter and me appear. To do this, I have previously selected our faces to make that happen, as in Google Photos. To my surprise Apple Photos has shared 99.99% of both photo libraries with many useless photos where none of us appear (photo of yesterday's dinner pizza, photos of the dog, photo of a piece of furniture that I liked from IKEA...) I would like to ask if that is normal or if there is something that I should adjust for it to work well.

Regards!

Sorry I have no solution, but interesting idea! I had no idea that it was even possible to set Shared Library up to automatically put specified faces in the Shared Library...where do you even start?

 

[AppleSpain]

Hello, this option is found when configuring the shared gallery. The system asks you which people you want to appear in the shared gallery, which from what I see, as much as you do, then Apple Photos selects what it wants.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Hello, this option is found when configuring the shared gallery. The system asks you which people you want to appear in the shared gallery, which from what I see, as much as you do, then Apple Photos selects what it wants.

Thanks. Yes I see it mentioned in Set up or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library in Photos on iPhone....I skipped over that bit, not that I will use.

 

[kepano]

No average user is going to figure out how to use this and understand what is going on. The idea a photo actually has to be “moved” from your own library into the shared library is ridiculous… a pointer should simply be used to the original. Even worse, anyone can delete your original content at that point and you wouldn’t have another copy.

I set up a shared library with my wife and really liked the idea of the shared photo library initially, as permanent sharing on a per person basis is so much easier than setting up a new shared album every chance I get.
However, I have now accidentally discovered that she has deleted about 100 photos, with the effect of removing them completely and as originals from my library!!!! This shared library seems like a terrible failure to me.

 

[jaknudsen]

However, I have now accidentally discovered that she has deleted about 100 photos, with the effect of removing them completely and as originals from my library!!!! This shared library seems like a terrible failure to me.

Aren't you getting a notification when she deletes one of your photos from the shared library?

 

[CaliMac]

I'm using the iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife.

I've activated "Download Originals to this Mac" on my account. I want the photos to be included in my backup strategy. I understand that the Shared Library is included in "Download Originals to this Mac". So a backup of my account includes my Personal Library and the Shared Library.

What i don't like: I also want to backup the photos from my wife's account, her Personal Library. So i have to select "Download Originals to this Mac" on her account again. The Shared Library is included in this option, so the complete Shared Library is downloaded a second time on the same computer but on a different account. And all the Shared Library photos are included twice in the backup of this computer.

Is this right, or is the Shared Library only included in "Download Originals to this Mac" for the organizer of the Shared Library (in our case that would be my account)?

If not, it would be nice, if every Photo Library user could select "Download Originals to this Mac" seperately for his Personal Library and for the Shared Library.

I am having a hard time confirming that "Download Originals to this Mac" includes both your personal library, as well as the shared library. Seems like a basic back-up strategy question, but I can't find a definitive answer anywhere.

 

[lnjustin1]

I'm using the iCloud Shared Photo Library with my wife.

I've activated "Download Originals to this Mac" on my account. I want the photos to be included in my backup strategy. I understand that the Shared Library is included in "Download Originals to this Mac". So a backup of my account includes my Personal Library and the Shared Library.

What i don't like: I also want to backup the photos from my wife's account, her Personal Library. So i have to select "Download Originals to this Mac" on her account again. The Shared Library is included in this option, so the complete Shared Library is downloaded a second time on the same computer but on a different account. And all the Shared Library photos are included twice in the backup of this computer.

Is this right, or is the Shared Library only included in "Download Originals to this Mac" for the organizer of the Shared Library (in our case that would be my account)?

If not, it would be nice, if every Photo Library user could select "Download Originals to this Mac" seperately for his Personal Library and for the Shared Library.

Did you ever figure out the answer to the download originals question: can you download originals for a personal library without also downloading originals for the shared library? Any idea what the folder structure looks like inside the photos package? Are there separate folders for personal library and shared library?

 

[profdraper]

Family sharing iCould+ Photos.
This seems impossible to set up here w/ iOS 17.1.1 on iPhone 14 Pro & iPhone 13 (wife's phone). And yes I am aware of the instructions, have career ICT knowledge etc. I'm suspecting that the instructions leave out an important requirement:

That the family /receiving phone needs to also have iCloud photos turned on [?] Otherwise there is nothing to indicate on my wife's phone that see can see my Family iCloud photos library. At setup I am loath to therefore interfere with her phone and where to enable a shared iCloud+ or her, this deletes her local photos library & then uploads & syncs to cloud ...

The literature would have it that this is not necessary and that she should be able to see my Family libary without any such alterrations to her phone; & that her local library should remain local, but she can see my iCloud + photos.

However this does not seem to be the case. Can anyone advise?

 

[Thisismattwade]

@profdraper This article repeatedly says you must have iCloud Photos turned on.

How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support

iCloud Shared Photo Library lets you share photos and videos seamlessly with up to five other people, so everyone can collaborate on the collection and enjoy more complete memories. Learn how to set up and use a Shared Library.

support.apple.com

Turning on iCloud Photos would not delete her local Photo Library. Shared Library is a totally separate Library. You chose which files go where.

It’s a great feature. We’ve had it turned on since iOS 16 debuted, or whatever release enabled the feature.

 

[profdraper]

@profdraper This article repeatedly says you must have iCloud Photos turned on.

How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support

iCloud Shared Photo Library lets you share photos and videos seamlessly with up to five other people, so everyone can collaborate on the collection and enjoy more complete memories. Learn how to set up and use a Shared Library.

support.apple.com

Turning on iCloud Photos would not delete her local Photo Library. Shared Library is a totally separate Library. You chose which files go where.

It’s a great feature. We’ve had it turned on since iOS 16 debuted, or whatever release enabled the feature.

Thanks for this, appreciated. But it still doesnt work & I’ve also had some of the wierdest answers incl from Apple who said that I shouldnt be logging into my wife’s phone with my account … I never said anything remotely like this.

I mustn’t be expalining myself correctly, I’ll try again, simply:

1) I set up iCloud photo sync on my phone using 50gb of iCloud+. That all looks good and works/looks as it should.

2) Next I send an invitation to share this with my wife on her phone as family.

3) She receives the notification & accepts.

4) Then nothing happens. Ever. None of my lib can been seen on her phone. There is no pull down menu on her Photo app to show shared or both etc.

Final comment: the idea of a ‘shared’ photo library goes much futher back than iOS 16 & user to be the conventional way of sharing files with anyone.

Since iOS 16, iCloud+ Family sharing was introduced and this seems to be a different feature - send an invite for up to five family members and that’s it (incl. if requied, shared payment, auto share new photos etc etc).

But as above, accepting the invite doesnt work - google it and this error comes up commonly, but with a plethora of suggestion that go on but, yeah nah.

 

[Thisismattwade]

Weird, sorry I’m not super technical. My only thought is that you mention you have iCloud Photos enabled, but does your wife also have iCloud Photos enabled? Do you iCloud accounts each have enough storage available?

It seems like you’re confusing iCloud Shared Photo Library with iCloud storage Family Sharing. You can do each uniquely. For a while my wife was on a separate Family Sharing iCloud storage plan from me, but we still used the shared photo library, and no one else in her separate Family Sharing iCloud storage plan could see her/our Photos Library. Now we’re on the same Family-shared iCloud plan, and she didn’t have to do anything unique to her/our Shared Photo Library. They were two separate buckets, if you’ll permit the metaphor.

 

[profdraper]

Weird, sorry I’m not super technical. My only thought is that you mention you have iCloud Photos enabled, but does your wife also have iCloud Photos enabled? Do you iCloud accounts each have enough storage available?

It seems like you’re confusing iCloud Shared Photo Library with iCloud storage Family Sharing. You can do each uniquely. For a while my wife was on a separate Family Sharing iCloud storage plan from me, but we still used the shared photo library, and no one else in her separate Family Sharing iCloud storage plan could see her/our Photos Library. Now we’re on the same Family-shared iCloud plan, and she didn’t have to do anything unique to her/our Shared Photo Library. They were two separate buckets, if you’ll permit the metaphor.

Thanks, but no, I didn't 'confuse' - exaclty as mentioned in the eariler post - Shared Photos libraries have been aroud for donkey's years, & I was using those mayby a couple of decades ago; yes, iCloud storage Family Sharing is a completely new 'invention' first introduced in iOS 16.

Have asked these questions a couple of different times - including on Apple support etc - in a couple of diiferent ways but haven't got any appropriate answer as yet. This time, will try to keep it as simple as possbile:

FIRST ISSUE

• Have set up an iCloud+ account on my iPhone 14 Pro /iOS 171.1.1, synced all my photos and albums, then activated Family Sharing. Sent an invite to my wife's iPhone 12 /iOS 17.1.1.
• She finds the invite & clicks accept. But then nothing happens for her, ie, there is NO new menu under Photos where she should be able to Select from 'Both Libraries'' or 'Personal Library' or 'Shared Library' or a Shared Library indicator like in my phone. Family Sharing of My Photos does not work on her phone.

What gives? This appears to be a bug & there are other sites which seem to acknowledge this & provide any number of suggested fixes including signing out of accounts, resetting phones and even buying other software etc. Didn't go there & down another rabbit hole ...

SECOND ISSUE

• After having wasted days on the above, I eventually decided to try using my 50GB Shared iCloud+ account for her Phone. This took forwever, but indeed seemed to work & where all of her Photos are now in this shared iCloud account as expected.
• Now she sees (again) my original inviation to share & so activates this; she also activates the Family sharing of her photos with me. Now the whole thing 'seems' to work (but I would have thought that I should have been able to Family Share my photos with her without going through all of these extra steps).
• Except NO: after all that, there would appear to be no way that she can see the Names of My Albums, just all the original photos. And that seems pretty damn useless given that sharing all of those years & years of old albums, named, dated arranged by trip, events, people etc - was the whole point of the exercise in the first place.

Doesn't seem to be a bug this one, but just very poor functionality (?) and no, I do want to go endlessly though My Ablums and need to create 'Shared Albums' for every one.

Clearly is far easier to make a directory of all photos & each sub-directory named according to dates/events; then access these on my NAS, TV, Android Phone and Window laptop - where the access & apps do not at all interfere with the files & organisation in this way ... Looks like we need to roll back to something better and does not hold such persoanl material to ransom.

Apple's sw is just dreadful these days & makes one wonder who designs this stuff ... & especially when it comes to preying on users personal material like this: photos, music etc & which are all tied up and bound in Apple metadata & their Cloud. Very time consuming, very probelmatic to rectify becuase everything is 'magical' or 'Pro' eh? NOT.

 

[Thisismattwade]

Thanks, but no, I didn't 'confuse' - exaclty as mentioned in the eariler post - Shared Photos libraries have been aroud for donkey's years, & I was using those mayby a couple of decades ago; yes, iCloud storage Family Sharing is a completely new 'invention' first introduced in iOS 16.

Have asked these questions a couple of different times - including on Apple support etc - in a couple of diiferent ways but haven't got any appropriate answer as yet. This time, will try to keep it as simple as possbile:

FIRST ISSUE

• Have set up an iCloud+ account on my iPhone 14 Pro /iOS 171.1.1, synced all my photos and albums, then activated Family Sharing. Sent an invite to my wife's iPhone 12 /iOS 17.1.1.
• She finds the invite & clicks accept. But then nothing happens for her, ie, there is NO new menu under Photos where she should be able to Select from 'Both Libraries'' or 'Personal Library' or 'Shared Library' or a Shared Library indicator like in my phone. Family Sharing of My Photos does not work on her phone.

What gives? This appears to be a bug & there are other sites which seem to acknowledge this & provide any number of suggested fixes including signing out of accounts, resetting phones and even buying other software etc. Didn't go there & down another rabbit hole ...

SECOND ISSUE

• After having wasted days on the above, I eventually decided to try using my 50GB Shared iCloud+ account for her Phone. This took forwever, but indeed seemed to work & where all of her Photos are now in this shared iCloud account as expected.
• Now she sees (again) my original inviation to share & so activates this; she also activates the Family sharing of her photos with me. Now the whole thing 'seems' to work (but I would have thought that I should have been able to Family Share my photos with her without going through all of these extra steps).
• Except NO: after all that, there would appear to be no way that she can see the Names of My Albums, just all the original photos. And that seems pretty damn useless given that sharing all of those years & years of old albums, named, dated arranged by trip, events, people etc - was the whole point of the exercise in the first place.

Doesn't seem to be a bug this one, but just very poor functionality (?) and no, I do want to go endlessly though My Ablums and need to create 'Shared Albums' for every one.

Clearly is far easier to make a directory of all photos & each sub-directory named according to dates/events; then access these on my NAS, TV, Android Phone and Window laptop - where the access & apps do not at all interfere with the files & organisation in this way ... Looks like we need to roll back to something better and does not hold such persoanl material to ransom.

Apple's sw is just dreadful these days & makes one wonder who designs this stuff ... & especially when it comes to preying on users personal material like this: photos, music etc & which are all tied up and bound in Apple metadata & their Cloud. Very time consuming, very probelmatic to rectify becuase everything is 'magical' or 'Pro' eh? NOT.

I understand. I'm sorry it's so frustrating. We are new to Photos Library, so I don't have a lot of past work to undo/redo. I can imagine that's disheartening.

 

[tvdsm]

Except NO: after all that, there would appear to be no way that she can see the Names of My Albums, just all the original photos. And that seems pretty damn useless given that sharing all of those years & years of old albums, named, dated arranged by trip, events, people etc - was the whole point of the exercise in the first place.

Indeed ... it seems that it's still not possible to sync Albums/Folders to the shared library. It's unbelievable, because if it does that, it's an amazing solution. I'm in the same situation, with about 70k photos and thousands of video's all managed in Folders and Albums. It's totally useless to setup a shared library if they don't see the Folder/Album structure . Hope this will be fixed some day ...

 

[profdraper]

I understand. I'm sorry it's so frustrating. We are new to Photos Library, so I don't have a lot of past work to undo/redo. I can imagine that's disheartening.

Thanks again, but I wasn't really intending to talk to you personally about this - if it works for your use that's good.

These were general comments /questions for the community here & to see if anyone might have specific advice; meanwhile have also written to Apple support & those communities butt have not recieved any useful info as yet.

Needless to say, I have been all over the Apple instructions & other 3rd party set-up guides.

 

[profdraper]

Indeed ... it seems that it's still not possible to sync Albums/Folders to the shared library. It's unbelievable, because if it does that, it's an amazing solution. I'm in the same situation, with about 70k photos and thousands of video's all managed in Folders and Albums. It's totally useless to setup a shared library if they don't see the Folder/Album structure . Hope this will be fixed some day ...

Exaclty, is unbelievable & obsfucated in Apple's promos & advice about this feature. Appears to be simply a ploy to get more money from 'families' to increase & pay for additional iCloud+ storage. Having been though this a few times & rolled back & fwd now - I can see we have zero use for this. Far easier to share albums across the family via our NAS.

 

[profdraper]

Shared Photos libraries have been aroud for donkey's years, & I was using those maybe a couple of decades ago; yes, iCloud storage Family Sharing is a completely new 'invention' first introduced in iOS 16.

Have asked these questions a couple of different times - including on Apple support etc - in a couple of diiferent ways but haven't got any appropriate answer as yet. This time, will try to keep it as simple as possbile:

OK, I seem to have gotten to the bottom of this via trial & error:

The primary issue is that NOT mentioned in any of Apple's lit is that the receiving family member's iPhone MUST have iPhone Photos sync turned ON. Otherwise none of this will work. Apple assumes that all family phones are synced (& pay for the extra storage if necessary). Of course they do ...

Now here in this family & workplace, we have *never wanted to use Apple's iCloud storage of backup for *anything* & possibily for obvious reasons including security, speed, price and control over our own data. Up until now we have done that locally via our NAS. In addittion, two of our Macs serve as 'the master' for our personal data including Photos, Music etc (Mac Pro for me, Mac Air for my wife) & then there's also Time Machine of course.

However, both of us have had all kinds of Photos /libraries errors & bugs over the years, like losing all previous My Albums labelling, losing date stamps, places, people etc (& every time Apple updates MacOS it changes the Photo library format & so creates problems elsewhere on other computers or boot volumes). Hence the reason for investingating this kind of iCloud sync & family sharing.

Back to the story, two things I now realise from this time-wasting process of simply wanting to share my photo library with my wife via iCloud:

• Unless family memers' iPhones are sycing Photos to iCloud, none of this will work. Dodgy cashgrab eh? This requires Cloud backup of all family phones, hence more storage. Yes I have shared my 50GB iCloud+ storage with her, but that's really not the point. Clearly it fills up quickly & clearly there is no good reason for her to do this, simply to share MY photos library & she already syncs & backs up to her Mac Air.
• After all this, there is NO way to share My Albums organisation of those photos - all those dated & labelled 'My Albums' cannot be seen by her, or even veiwed in iCloud 'Shared Libraries'. Completely useless, this was the ONLY reason to share my photos. This is also not mentioned by Apple in any of the setup instructions or marketing lit. Unsurprising. All my wife can do is scrolll though thousands of uncategorised photos.

So unless you understand these two caveats that Apple do not identify, then don't do it & don't pay for this nothingburger: i) ALL your phones must be usiing iCloud storage and ii) Shared My Albums does not work.

 

[Winniechan1604]

With iOS 16, Apple added an iCloud Shared Photo Library to make sharing photos with your friends and family easier than ever. You can create a shared library and then invite any of your friends with an Apple product to view photos, contribute photos, and edit photos.

This guide covers all of the features that you need to know about to use the iCloud Shared Photo Library feature.

Creating a Shared Photo Library

After updating to iOS 16.1 or later, you can set up a Shared Library either through the pop-up interface or through the Set-Up option in the Settings section of the Photos app.

Tap on "Add Participants" to select people to share with, inviting them through Messages or through a link.

You can choose the images that you want to add to the Shared Library from your own iCloud Photo Library. Options include sharing all photos and videos, photos and videos by person or date, or manually selected photos.

You can then preview the content that you've added to the Library before opting to share everything. If it all looks good, tapping on the "Continue" button will create the shared library.

For those who do not have an iPhone or who prefer to work on a Mac or iPad, iCloud Shared Photo Libraries can be created on devices running iPadOS 16.1 or later or macOS Ventura or later as well. On the iPad, the setup can be done by following the iPhone instructions, and on Mac, a Shared Library can be created by opening up the Photos app, selecting "Settings," and then choosing the "Start Setup" option.

• How to Create an iCloud Shared Photo Library
• How to Invite Someone to Your iCloud Shared Photo Library

iCloud Shared Photo Library Capabilities

Each person invited to participate in an iCloud Shared Photo Library can add, edit, caption, favorite, and delete photos, just as if it were their own photo library. There are no limitations, and all participants have the same permissions.

You can opt to get a notification when someone deletes images from the shared library, with the toggle available in the Shared Library heading in the Photos section of the Settings app. When an image is deleted, the person who originally shared the image has the option of moving the image to their personal library rather than having it deleted, and deleted images are stored in the Recently Deleted folder for easy retrieval.

All tags, metadata, and location information remain accessible on photos added to an iCloud Shared Photo Library, but albums do not transfer over.

iCloud Shared Photo Library Limitations

You can share an iCloud Photo Library with up to five other people, so six people in total can use one library. The person who creates the iCloud Shared Photo Library will be the "host," and their iCloud storage space will be used for the shared photos. You are limited to one iCloud Shared Photo Library and cannot participate in multiple libraries.

It's worth noting that when you add your personal photos from your library to the shared library, the images are moved from the personal library to the shared library, so iCloud storage space/device storage space is not taken up twice and photos are not duplicated. If you have Optimize Storage turned off, your device will download a copy of all shared photos so you can make a backup on a Mac if desired.

Sharing Photos From Camera

If you're at an event with someone who you share a library with, you can opt to share photos from the camera directly to the library, making all of your shots instantly available to all participants.

In the Camera app, you can tap the icon that looks like two people to swap between automatic uploading to the shared library and your personal library.

• How to Control When iPhone Camera Shots Are Saved to Your iCloud Shared Photo Library

Sharing Options

Sharing can be enabled when participants are nearby using Bluetooth proximity, through the Camera app, or manually, with options available in the Settings app.

The iPhone will also suggest content to share in the For You section of the Photos app, but you can turn it off if you want.

With the Settings app, you can turn off Sharing from Camera altogether to get rid of the toggle, or you can opt in to Sharing Automatically, which will automatically add all photos you take to the shared library. The automatic feature uses Bluetooth to determine when someone you share a library with is nearby, and it only uploads when you're with that person.

There's also an opt-in "Share When at Home" feature that always adds photos and videos from the Camera even when other participants are not there.

If you want to upload every photo that you take to the shared library even when not at home or not with a person you share with, there does not appear to be an option for it.

Swapping Between Personal and Shared Library

To swap from your main iCloud Photo Library to your Shared iCloud Photo Library, you can tap on the three-dot icon in the upper right of... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

Must everyone use the same Apple ID to use iCloud Shared Photo Library?

 

[Winniechan1604]

Super excited about this. My wife and I are always swapping pictures, this will make it so much easier to have one source of truth for our family photos.

I’ve kept my photo library as the source of truth, it’ll be great to share this library with my wife.

Have you tested it out. Must both users be using the same Apple ID. Will this work for members with different Apple ID?

 

[Nicky.tbhp]

Have you tested it out. Must both users be using the same Apple ID. Will this work for members with different Apple ID?

Different IDs

 

[Winniechan1604]

With iOS 16, Apple added an iCloud Shared Photo Library to make sharing photos with your friends and family easier than ever. You can create a shared library and then invite any of your friends with an Apple product to view photos, contribute photos, and edit photos.

This guide covers all of the features that you need to know about to use the iCloud Shared Photo Library feature.

Creating a Shared Photo Library

After updating to iOS 16.1 or later, you can set up a Shared Library either through the pop-up interface or through the Set-Up option in the Settings section of the Photos app.

Tap on "Add Participants" to select people to share with, inviting them through Messages or through a link.

You can choose the images that you want to add to the Shared Library from your own iCloud Photo Library. Options include sharing all photos and videos, photos and videos by person or date, or manually selected photos.

You can then preview the content that you've added to the Library before opting to share everything. If it all looks good, tapping on the "Continue" button will create the shared library.

For those who do not have an iPhone or who prefer to work on a Mac or iPad, iCloud Shared Photo Libraries can be created on devices running iPadOS 16.1 or later or macOS Ventura or later as well. On the iPad, the setup can be done by following the iPhone instructions, and on Mac, a Shared Library can be created by opening up the Photos app, selecting "Settings," and then choosing the "Start Setup" option.

• How to Create an iCloud Shared Photo Library
• How to Invite Someone to Your iCloud Shared Photo Library

iCloud Shared Photo Library Capabilities

Each person invited to participate in an iCloud Shared Photo Library can add, edit, caption, favorite, and delete photos, just as if it were their own photo library. There are no limitations, and all participants have the same permissions.

You can opt to get a notification when someone deletes images from the shared library, with the toggle available in the Shared Library heading in the Photos section of the Settings app. When an image is deleted, the person who originally shared the image has the option of moving the image to their personal library rather than having it deleted, and deleted images are stored in the Recently Deleted folder for easy retrieval.

All tags, metadata, and location information remain accessible on photos added to an iCloud Shared Photo Library, but albums do not transfer over.

iCloud Shared Photo Library Limitations

You can share an iCloud Photo Library with up to five other people, so six people in total can use one library. The person who creates the iCloud Shared Photo Library will be the "host," and their iCloud storage space will be used for the shared photos. You are limited to one iCloud Shared Photo Library and cannot participate in multiple libraries.

It's worth noting that when you add your personal photos from your library to the shared library, the images are moved from the personal library to the shared library, so iCloud storage space/device storage space is not taken up twice and photos are not duplicated. If you have Optimize Storage turned off, your device will download a copy of all shared photos so you can make a backup on a Mac if desired.

Sharing Photos From Camera

If you're at an event with someone who you share a library with, you can opt to share photos from the camera directly to the library, making all of your shots instantly available to all participants.

In the Camera app, you can tap the icon that looks like two people to swap between automatic uploading to the shared library and your personal library.

• How to Control When iPhone Camera Shots Are Saved to Your iCloud Shared Photo Library

Sharing Options

Sharing can be enabled when participants are nearby using Bluetooth proximity, through the Camera app, or manually, with options available in the Settings app.

The iPhone will also suggest content to share in the For You section of the Photos app, but you can turn it off if you want.

With the Settings app, you can turn off Sharing from Camera altogether to get rid of the toggle, or you can opt in to Sharing Automatically, which will automatically add all photos you take to the shared library. The automatic feature uses Bluetooth to determine when someone you share a library with is nearby, and it only uploads when you're with that person.

There's also an opt-in "Share When at Home" feature that always adds photos and videos from the Camera even when other participants are not there.

If you want to upload every photo that you take to the shared library even when not at home or not with a person you share with, there does not appear to be an option for it.

Swapping Between Personal and Shared Library

To swap from your main iCloud Photo Library to your Shared iCloud Photo Library, you can tap on the three-dot icon in the upper right of... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

Photos must be uploaded to iCloud in order for photos to be shared?