In Catalina Photos, how do I reveal My Photo Stream?

I updated to Catalina and ios13 and i only use Photostream and don't want my photos on the cloud using icloud photos.

Photo stream just wasnt updating. I was worried it was abandoned because system preferences>apple ID>iCloud>photos only has one checkbox which is turn on iCloud photos and prompt me to buy storage. In Photos I went to Preferences>iCloud and there is the check box to use Photostream. I turned it off and on and noticed in Photos the My Photostream tab reappear however the photostream from my last 30 days didn't download and populate. After about 20 minutes I unchecked and rechecked the box. It indeed kick-started the last 30 days photos right up to 3 minutes ago. I take all my photos on my phone and enjoy having them instantly appear on my laptop. I encourage anyone with these recent updates to uncheck and recheck the Photostream box in Photos>Preference>iCloud and wait for a while. It works I love this workflow and I hope Apple isn't phasing it out.

ios 13.1.3 Catalina 10.15 (19A583)

Macbook Pro Retina 15" mid-2015

The “Use as System Photo Library” is something different. That is for when you have multiple Photos libraries. Here are the details: https://support.apple.com/HT204414

Try clicking the “My Photo Stream” button to turn it off. Then click it again to turn it back on. I can definitely say that “My Photo Stream” has not been very reliable since Apple introduced iCloud Photos. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. You should always be able to get the item to show up in the sidebar, however. It just might not update like it should. You may need to toggle it off and back on to jumpstart it.

Hi all! Believe I've discovered the simple solution. Apologies if someone already posted it. I also don't use iCloud Photos, but I really appreciate PhotoStream. Following the hints here, I toggled Photos in the iCloud system Settings. Nothing new. Then I deselected iCloud Photos in the Photos app preferences. Boom! Suddenly the PhotoStream option appeared! One click and I'm back in business.

Probably a wise choice. I've been on iCloud Photos since before I installed Catalina. My Photos > Preferences > iCloud shows iCloud Photos and Shared Albums, but My Photo Stream does not appear.

Apple is apparently phasing out My Photo Stream. They stopped providing it to (at least some) recently created Apple IDs some time ago (last year?). Removing it from Catalina doesn't seem out of line with that trend.

I am now totally at wit's end...I was having the same trouble everyone else mentioned. when I clicked the My Photo Stream button to turn it off, THE ENTIRE OPTION WENT AWAY. I now have no access to photo stream.

But they never used to be. I always used Photo Stream on my iPhone (where I don't need or want all my photos) and iCloud Photos on my Mac, and the photos from the Photo Stream were always automatically imported into my library. This stopped with the update to Catalina, and like Farnaz says, the Photo Stream option isn't even there anymore. As far as I can see, the only "solution" is turning on iCloud Photos on my phone, which I never wanted to do. Does anyone see another way? Great, another update that takes away a tried and working system without adequate replacement and limits your choices. And they never tell you this in advance.

You have to do it in Photos itself. Go to Preferences > iCloud

Do you have iCloud Photos turned on? I think they are mutually exclusive.

They are now. There used to be buttons for both iCloud Photos and iCloud Photo Stream in the System Preferences > iCloud > Photos > options panel. The entire “options” panel is missing in the new System Preferences > Apple ID preference pane. The only place to turn on my Photo Stream is now inside Photos.

I’m not certain that they are mutually exclusive. I have both buttons in Photos. But I’m not going to check “iCloud Photos” to test that theory.

I was in the same boat. Moved to new Macbook, and photostream option was gone! I dont use iCloud photos.

I was able to get it back by taking my old Mac's photo library, and moving it manually to the new computer

Then using the Option Key, opening the old photo library.

Then going to Photos > Preferences and selecting "Use as System Library"

THEN, I was prompted that iCloud Photos would be turned off, and something about Shared Albums being removed. (I had this all turned on automatically, when setting up new laptop.)

Once it cleared up, I went back to Photos > Preferences, and iCloud. It showed option to turn on Photo Stream and Shared Albums. And it was back in action for me. iCloud Photos was left off.

Hope this helps someone else!

I used the same way, photo stream on iPhone which automatically transferred to photos on my Mac and then iCloud photos on Mac to store and back up everything so that my phone does not get clogged up with 30,000 photos or so!

i found now the Mac can only use either iCloud photos or photostream not both like before. I hope this changes.