iCloud Shared Photo Library: Everything You Need to Know

[rick987611]

Yes.
I ran chronosync which syncs my library to another drive afterwards I looked in my trash and it was filled with all of my photos.

My phone was on the beta and my Mac wasn’t. The mac only showed around 1,000 files out of 30,000. all of the photos are still in the cloud, but the non updated Mac could only see the 1,000 that were left in the personal folder. My phone showed the full amount. Even iCloud.com saw 1,000. I had to use the beta iCloud.com site to see the full library.

When looking at iCloud in the macs preference pane it showed all the space used for the 30,000 photos, but, it only told me there were 1,000 photos, the amount left in personal. Though it doesn’t say personal, it just says 1,000 photos.

It took me all last weekend to figure out what the heck was wrong with it.
I’m glad I have about 5 backups of my library.

yea, this stuff happens every year with different thing. Happened with Notes a few years back when it got a big upgrade. Its best not to enable new cloud features until you are ready to move everything that you care about having access to the new versions.

 

[DotCom2]

Yes.
I ran chronosync which syncs my library to another drive afterwards I looked in my trash and it was filled with all of my photos.

My phone was on the beta and my Mac wasn’t. The mac only showed around 1,000 files out of 30,000. all of the photos are still in the cloud, but the non updated Mac could only see the 1,000 that were left in the personal folder. My phone showed the full amount. Even iCloud.com saw 1,000. I had to use the beta iCloud.com site to see the full library.

When looking at iCloud in the macs preference pane it showed all the space used for the 30,000 photos, but, it only told me there were 1,000 photos, the amount left in personal. Though it doesn’t say personal, it just says 1,000 photos.

It took me all last weekend to figure out what the heck was wrong with it.
I’m glad I have about 5 backups of my library.

This is not acceptable and Apple needs to address it.
Thank you for the explanation.

 

[zorinlynx]

Even after reading the really good explanation article, your post is an example of why it still gives me a little anxiety.

If what you say is true, it’s exactly why shared iCloud library scares me. I really hope that someone else can’t accidentally delete a photo that I took and loaded to the shared.

There's situations where a break-up happens and one of the partners is vengeful and would try to cause as much damage as possible. I would want shared libraries to have an "undo" for deletions, and no ability for anyone but the primary library owner to permanently purge "recently deleted".

 

[cocky jeremy]

So, if I choose "choose manually" it only adds photos I approve each time?

 

[MNGR]

Is this true for any photo that gets deleted from the Shared Library?

This is my biggest concern for this feature. You create a family album, another family member starts cleaning up photos and they start deleting a bunch of photos. Suddenly all of your memories are GONE.

This sounds like a great feature, but with some horrible potential unintended outcomes because of a careless user.

I agree. Would like to share with family but not allow changes or deletions by them.
And I want it to be the full resolution of the original

 

[BreuerEditor]

I'll gladly use this for my wife and I but give it another year or 2 and Apple will allow you to have multiple shared libraries. It would be amazing to have multiple ones (1 for my wife and I to keep track of our kids' photos, several for vacations with family/friends, etc.)

 

[rick987611]

This is not acceptable and Apple needs to address it.
Thank you for the explanation.

It is a beta. Update all your stuff to the beta and there is no issue. Or wait for final release to use the new feature.

 

[GDF]

WHOA! Are you saying that if you have an older Mac that can't be updated to Ventura but newer iDevices that will support the latest iOS and you enable Shared Library on the newer devices, the the older Mac will automatically move all your photos to the Shared Library but you won't be able to see them or retrieve them on the older Mac? Is that what you are saying?

Correct, at least that is what happened to me. So, wonder if this will be backwards to compatible to older Macs like mine or will finally have to update it? I figured would have to upgrade eventually, but my late 2012 iMac 27 still works fine. Just wish it would the beta would not have taken the photo’s off it.

 

[rick987611]

Correct, at least that is what happened to me. So, wonder if this will be backwards to compatible to older Macs like mine or will finally have to update it? I figured would have to upgrade eventually, but my late 2012 iMac 27 still works fine. Just wish it would the beta would not have taken the photo’s off it.

I'm guessing you will have to update. I don't think we have ever seen Apple do a backwards upgrade like that unfortunately.

 

[Aragornii]

Wish they would make a side-by-side comparison of shared albums vs shared photo libraries. I'm not really getting the difference.

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Everything you need to know? People really only want to know one thing: How likely will their 'hidden' photos show up in the Shared Library?
"Sorry Grandma, you weren't supposed to see that one!"

 

[centauratlas]

The things in my Photos app make Siri blush. I'm not sharing anything, thanks.

If the iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Shared Photo Library were completely encrypted with on device keys so that no one except the intended recipients could access it, that would be one thing. Right now I haven't see if iCloud Shared Photo Library shares the design flaws with iCloud Photo Library, but I am guessing so.

The design now is ripe for abuse both from hackers and governments IF (when?) Apple makes a mistake or is ordered by a court in some jurisdiction to comply (e.g. China). All it will take is one coding error and the libraries will be exposed. See Equifax, Solana, Nomad, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Facebook, Marriott, Adobe, Microsoft (and PowerApps), Twitter, eBay etc. for companies/crypto that all had enough money to, in theory, prevent it and yet still did - it really isn't a question of money, but a question of just making one mistake and no one catching it.

As long as they have a centralized key system the odds are it will happen, it is just a question of when.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I’ve used Lightroom cloud in the past and don’t recall any sort of family features? I didn’t see anything new based on a quick google search. Just curious what you are referring to.

If you install Lightroom Cloudy on your family's Macs and iOS devices and sign them in with the same Adobe ID the same library is synced across all devices. All culls and edits by anyone are instantly synced across all. The originals are stored in Adobe cloud, but with options to keep smart previews or full size copies of originals locally. Photos can be automatically added direct from Camera roll on all devices. Individual photos or albums, or a web page can be shared with anybody (not just Adobe subscribers). Sharing is downloadable full size (not reduced like Apple).

In other word it works extremely similarly to iCloud Shared Photos Library but in many ways better, though some things are personal preference. It has less of (IMHO) the intrusive memories and suggestions, has better search capability. Has better sync capability and visibility, ability to store local full size copies for selected albums.

 

[jclo]

This is the perfect solution for my husband and I. Right now, it's such a pain for us to send pics to each other to hav out own libraries.

Two questions though – (1) Can there be two shared libraries set up by different people that are in the same iCloud family setup? And (2), can an Organizer, who owns a Shared Library, ALSO be invited to someone else's Shared Library?

Use Case: My iCloud family setup includes myself, my husband, and my mother and father. We'd like a shared library for myself and by husband. My parents would like a shared library for themselves. I THINK that sounds like it would work. Could my parents then also invite me to use their shared library?

Yes, you and your husband could set up a shared library, and then your parents could set up a shared library between them. You could not be invited to the shared library of your parents if you're a member of your husband's shared library because you can only have a single shared library. Hope that makes sense.

 

[jclo]

I’m not clear on the functionality to share photos instantly from the camera. Once you choose to share your entire library, is it not now happening in real time as you take pictures or does it only share the entire library as it was at that point and you have to continue to manually share additional photos as you take them?

You need to continually manually share additional photos, it only uploads the library as it was at the time. You can have it set to share by Bluetooth proximity, person, or through the Camera, but it doesn't appear to do all photos automatically all the time.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I did this yesterday and like you said just a few stayed in my personal folder. Bummer as my iMac was my primary storage device for photos and is a 2012 iMac, so right I guess there is no way to get those back or updated to the shared library that has them all now. Not sure how Apple could have missed this. They better fix it before the public release or there will be tons of angry customers.

The Shared Library will become visible on the older OS/iOS devices when you upgrade them to macOS13/iOS16.

The photos are still in iCloud and visible on beta.iCloud.com from all devices. not deleted, just not visible on older OS/iOS devices which see the Personal iCloud Library only. If this matters to you, you can duplicate before moving a copy to the Shared.

The whole Shared/Personal Library thing will only work if all devices are on macOS13/iOS16. I dont see Apple retrofitting the capability to older OSes...that is not their track record.

 

[rick987611]

Everything you need to know? People really only want to know one thing: How likely will their 'hidden' photos show up in the Shared Library?
"Sorry Grandma, you weren't supposed to see that one!"

Hidden photos can be shared, but by default it does not share any of them.

 

[rick987611]

If you install Lightroom Cloudy on your family's Macs and iOS devices and sign them in with the same Adobe ID the same library is synced across all devices. All culls and edits by anyone are instantly synced across all. The originals are stored in Adobe cloud, but with options to keep smart previews or full size copies of originals locally. Photos can be automatically added direct from Camera roll on all devices. Individual photos or albums, or a web page can be shared with anybody (not just Adobe subscribers). Sharing is downloadable full size (not reduced like Apple).

In other word it works extremely similarly to iCloud Shared Photos Library but in many ways better, though some things are personal preference. It has less of (IMHO) the intrusive memories and suggestions, has better search capability. Has better sync capability and visibility, ability to store local full size copies for selected albums.

Gotcha, so just using one account on several devices. The one thing I see as a major benefit of Apple Shared library over that is it allows you to keep personal photos on your devices that others don't see. In my case I keep photos around for work. If I started polluting my wife's phone with a bunch of random work photos she would not be happy.😅

Once you get used to how this shared library is working it is pretty great.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Gotcha, so just using one account on several devices. The one thing I see as a major benefit of Apple Shared library over that is it allows you to keep personal photos on your devices that others don't see. In my case I keep photos around for work. If I started polluting my wife's phone with a bunch of random work photos she would not be happy.😅

Once you get used to how this shared library is working it is pretty great.

Yes. In practice of course we each still have our own Apple iCloud Photos libraries. Photos from them are automatically sync'd to the Adobe Library but I delete both of our special or temporary interest ones, so that the shared Adobe album only has the best keepers from both of us, while our Apple Libraries have our special interest ones.

Things will work the same way if/when we use the Apple Shared Library instead of the Adobe Library.

 

[Mike Boreham]

You need to continually manually share additional photos, it only uploads the library as it was at the time. You can have it set to share by Bluetooth proximity, person, or through the Camera, but it doesn't appear to do all photos automatically all the time.

In practice, I think for a co-habiting family or couple it can effectively be automatic all the time.

 

[rick987611]

In practice, I think for a co-habiting family or couple it can effectively be automatic all the time.

I've found it to be so far. The only time it won't is if my wife goes somewhere with my son, or we meet somewhere and she gets there first and snaps a few pictures.
It is pretty easy to filter to personal library and select a group of photos and move them to the shared library.
I've also had a section show up in photos called "For the Shared Library" that suggests photos to move. Unfortunately I've only had it once, and didn't pay a lot of attention. It was a handful of photos that I did want in the shared library though, so I moved them over.

 

[HSVBamaBob]

For what it’s worth this is saving me and my wife tons of space. 90% of our photos were duplicated. Shared library detects these and they only count against one users storage now.
Also, these are full quality. The old style shared albums severely degraded quality.

Yup! This has been a GLARING hole in photos for people who want to share photos without the nightmare of duplicated and multiple shots. THANK YOU APPLE for finally getting a shared Album for my wife and I - Maybe we can stop using finder solutions now!

 

[DotCom2]

It is a beta. Update all your stuff to the beta and there is no issue. Or wait for final release to use the new feature.

But I do have an "issue". My iMac 27" is 2014 and not able to update to Ventura. So I guess I just won't be able to use the Shared Library at this time.

 

[fredrik9]

I wouldn't use this feature with anyone besides my wife. It has been awesome for us, but I can't see using it with others.
The only adding photos when you are with other people is a nice feature. If they allowed you to join more than one shared library down the road that could be neat to setup mini libraries with family members. Like if we are all at Disney or something.

One other new feature is to pick people you want it to suggest to auto share with when you are together though. So that kind of takes care of that. I added all my close family and the other day when we left Epcot it asked me if I wanted to share the photos I took with the people who were there with me that I had told it to recommend sharing with.

I am thinking the same. I will only share with my wife. My kids and others won’t have access. Instead, the iCloud Photo links and Shared albums can be used to share high quality photos to outsiders.

 

[Thisismattwade]

I've found it to be so far. The only time it won't is if my wife goes somewhere with my son, or we meet somewhere and she gets there first and snaps a few pictures.
It is pretty easy to filter to personal library and select a group of photos and move them to the shared library.
I've also had a section show up in photos called "For the Shared Library" that suggests photos to move. Unfortunately I've only had it once, and didn't pay a lot of attention. It was a handful of photos that I did want in the shared library though, so I moved them over.

How does the Shared Library interact with your personal Photos library facial recognition? Will the facial recognition (eventually) run on (any new to you) photos in the Shared Library?