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How do I stop family's photos showing up on my Photos

I recently began sharing an iCloud storage plan with members of my family. Suddenly all their photos are showing up on my Photos ap on my Mac. We all have different Apple ID's. It's not just showing recent photos, but photos from years ago.


How do I stop this? I want to share storage but not access.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jun 22, 2020 10:06 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 23, 2020 8:15 AM

It's not a shared "family" folder. The photos show up in my main feed.


To clarify:


I invited family to share storage plan. We all have different Apple IDs but share the same AT&T plan.

Their photos are now showing up in my Photos app - NOT in a family folder under SHARED – in my main photo feed.

I turned off "Shared Albums" to remove the "family" album just in case – even though there was nothing in that folder.

Nothing changed, all of my family's photos are still showing up in my Photos, both on my Macbook Pro and my iPhone.


I don't want to stop sharing the storage plan.

I DO want to stop sharing photos.


Everything I've read says this shouldn't be happening, but it is.


19 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 23, 2020 8:15 AM in response to tygb

It's not a shared "family" folder. The photos show up in my main feed.


To clarify:


I invited family to share storage plan. We all have different Apple IDs but share the same AT&T plan.

Their photos are now showing up in my Photos app - NOT in a family folder under SHARED – in my main photo feed.

I turned off "Shared Albums" to remove the "family" album just in case – even though there was nothing in that folder.

Nothing changed, all of my family's photos are still showing up in my Photos, both on my Macbook Pro and my iPhone.


I don't want to stop sharing the storage plan.

I DO want to stop sharing photos.


Everything I've read says this shouldn't be happening, but it is.


Jun 23, 2020 9:21 AM in response to tygb

tygb wrote:

..... what you are expecting photos not to be shared is not possible , its your decision stop using family sharing account....

That's not the case. Family sharing IS NOT responsible for the posters family photos being shared across different ID's, there is no reason not to use Family sharing. What has occurred has another reason behind it which we aren't given information about.

Jun 22, 2020 2:48 PM in response to Sturge11

No it wouldn't, but if you've only just enabled it but also had it enabled quite some time ago and then stopped using it, you may have had some old photos in the cloud that you were unaware of. Turning iCloud photos on again, might have resented them to your device.


I'd got the impression they showed up on your Mac only from your first statement, is that not correct?

Jun 22, 2020 7:53 PM in response to Sturge11

See the article https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/use-a-shared-family-album-mme99be0cf56/1.0/icloud/1.0

 Only the family organizer can remove the Family album.

If the members uncheck the box of photos in their Macs / iPhones ( open system preferences > iCloud > photos ) the complete photos will stop syncing see the article https://support.apple.com/en-sa/guide/icloud-iphone/mmb1de40d9/icloud however in photo application there is option of sorting .

Jun 23, 2020 10:58 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Photos will be shared when family sharing is set up it could be years back or recents , there is no need to delete the back the dated photos , thats how the family sharing account is designed by apple engineers .

Deleting photos is not the solution , when new photos are upload they will also be saved and if family sharing is activated for years , the uploaded photos will be as past dated , so either accept the feature or its wish not to use it .

Sending feedback is a good way , apple employees will read the views sent through feedback links and its their decision to make changes in family sharing accounts .

Jun 23, 2020 9:18 AM in response to Sturge11

The family sharing account are special accounts created by the organiser https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh3d6eb198/10.14/mac/10.14

As per this article https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201060

. Your family can also share a photo album .


You can't stop the photos that are in photo application to be unshared with other Macs when family sharing is in activation mode , you are comparing with sharing photos without using family sharing account .


To be very precise family sharing account has lot of restrictions and work differently , what you are expecting photos not to be shared is not possible , its your decision stop using family sharing account https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchl27a4b26e/mac and share photos to different Macs / iPhone that is done in normal iCloud sharing .


See these articles - when family sharing is not in activation mode .


From system photo library folder https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/pht211de786/4.0/mac/10.14

From your primary Mac to different Mac or iPhones that are signed with different Apple ID and password see these https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/phtf7fe6394/4.0/mac/10.14

From the other Mac an invitation will come in the imap account , the invitation has to be accepted and to be subscribed the photos are shared https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/photos/pht884a8908/4.0/mac/10.14

It will not effect the storage plan it will be shared as usual .


Jun 23, 2020 10:25 AM in response to tygb

Excepting shared photo albums, Family sharing just doesn't share photos between ID's, there's no need for a setting to stop something it doesn't do. These photo must have already been in your cloud space before you enable iCloud photos. You've just forgotten about them or didn't know they were there or there is something else you aren't aware of. I'd just delete the photos and let it do it's job.


No feedback needed.

How do I stop family's photos showing up on my Photos

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