Do iCloud shared albums take up space on subscribers' iPhones?

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Level 2

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Do iCloud shared albums take up space on subscribers' iPhones?

I know iCloud shared albums don't take up iCloud storage, but do they take up regular iPhone storage space? I have several people who've said they're wary of joining shared albums because they're worried about giving up the iPhone space. I don't think the photos reside on their iPhone because they're on the iCloud servers instead, but I may be wrong. Maybe the photos are downloaded to the phone from iCloud in order for subscribers to view them.

iPhone 7, iOS 12

Posted on May 5, 2019 10:59 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,549 points

May 5, 2019 11:33 AM in response to rick7

When you share an album, the photos will be stored in iCloud, in a section that does not count against your iCloud storage. But they are also mirrored on the iPhone. I can see all photos in the shared albums on my iPhone, even in Flight Mode. So shared albums do use space on the devices of the subscribers. You should be considerate and not let the albums get too large. Remove older photos, after the subscribers had enough time to download the photos they want to keep.

If you want your friends and family to be able to see your shared albums, publish them as a public website, see: Use Shared Albums in Photos - Apple Support

You can send the link to this site to anyone you want to see the shared albums. The recipients can see and download the photos, but they cannot add their own photos to the album and not comment or like on the photos.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

194,549 points

May 12, 2019 11:14 AM in response to rick7

Apple does not describe, how much storage the shared albums will use on the devices of the subscribers.

You have to experiment.

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Answer 3

rick7 Author

Level 2

161 points

May 12, 2019 10:57 AM in response to léonie

Thanks, Leonie. I do turn on the "Public Website" option for my shared albums. But giving subscribers the ability to like and comment is important to me, and the most important thing is the ability to have their device send them a notification when I post new photos and I don't think that happens with the Public Website feature.

I confirm that I can see my shared album photos in Airplane Mode, so I imagine you're right. Are there any Apple documents you can point me to that discuss this? I still have a sense that what sits mirrored on your phone may be a smaller, compressed version of what's in iCloud, but maybe I'm wrong. I just have never seen this issue discussed in any official Apple documents.

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Do iCloud shared albums take up space on subscribers' iPhones?

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