iPadOS handles shared photo storage differently?

[donawalt]

Hi all, I have been trying to figure out that never-answerable question of why my iCloud Photo Library photo counts are different on my iPad vs. iPhone. Photos and Videos are a different count, and iPad numbers are about 200/40 photos/videos higher on my devices.

Well, I think I found out why -- on the iPad, photos/videos that are shared with me in an album are stored and counted in my library! I am not sure if it's all of them, but there are cases when I may have 2 of a video, so I checked the information on each - one was one I specially saved from Messages, the other is Shared with me, and I can find the album it's shared in! I can tell you, I have never in my life saved a shared photo/video to my library, as there is no need to for me.

Anyone else seen this? The shared photos/videos don't show up on other devices. I have tried turning off iCloud Photo Library, hard restarting the iPad, and turning it back on, that's in process. I wonder if that will fix it?

 

[StumpyBloke]

You’ve got the relevant option ticked on your devices for comparison purposes in the All Photos library?

 

[donawalt]

WOW @StumpyBloke you are a ROCK STAR! I have had iDevices since iPhone 4 and I never knew about this! It's why this is the go-to forum for gnarly problems. That was it, thank you! I may have a follow up question after everything settles and all my pictures update re: shared photos on each device, but I'll let my iPad photos get restored and then confirm everything is good! Thanks again!

 

[StumpyBloke]

You’re welcome. Just be aware that you could still have a disparity in the total figure including shared if your devices have been set up as new at different dates. My iPhone 13 Pro Max shows far fewer shared pictures as I set that up from new. Assuming it will never be the same as my iPad (which shows a much larger number) because the software is garbage.

 

[donawalt]

Good to know, thanks @StumpyBloke ! I'll post back if I see any unknown issues!

 

[donawalt]

OK, after a little more investigation after things settled down, here is what I have additionally learned:

1. when set to "Your photos only", counts on all devices and iCloud.com match. YAY!
2. when set to "Yours and shared", counts do not match, because each iDevice has a different number of shared.
3. I tried to find anything at all about "Yours & shared", and I found nothing! So I wonder why each iDevice wold have a different number of shared if everything is in iCloud?
4. Second question I wonder about - even though shared was different, if I take the count at the bottom of Library in the Photos app, with "Yours & Shared" selected, it's four more than taking the Photos and Video counts with "Your photos only", and then adding the "For You"/"Shared with You"/"Seel all" count at the bottom - on every iDevice, even though the total counts are different! So what are these 4 photos or videos that are in "Yours & shared" that are not in my Library Photos/Videos "Your photos only" plus the number in "Shared with you"? They are not Deleted, hidden, animation, I did not see any other system folder that had 4 entries in it.

 

[steve62388]

You’ve got the relevant option ticked on your devices for comparison purposes in the All Photos library?

What are you selecting to get this sheet?

 

[donawalt]

In the Photos app go to your Library, and hit the 3 dots in the top right corner...