Share Photos Library - 2 Apple IDs

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Level 1

12 points

Share Photos Library - 2 Apple IDs

My wife and I each have iMacs and iPhones with separate Apple IDs. We like to keep everything separate and it works well except for Photos where we would like to share a library. Either one of us would like to add, edit, delete photos etc.

I can't find a way to do this but please let me know if there is.

I have thought of a work around which would be to have the main library on my Apple ID and then set up my details as a user on my wife's iMac so she can access my Photos library but no other parts of my Apple ID eg documents, apps etc. Any photos she takes on her iPhone would need to be added to my library manually. Her library would be minimal - just any recent photos or photos we don't want in the main library on my ID.

Would this work or what problems might I encounter or is there a better way?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Posted on Nov 14, 2020 5:10 AM

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Answer 1

mingoslkd

Community Specialist

Nov 21, 2020 11:30 AM in response to Sunshine24-7

Hello Sunshine24-7,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities! We see you are looking for how to share photos between two Apple IDs, and we'd like to offer a solution.

What you can do is create a Shared Album and then invite your wife to join. Add photos from your Photo Library to the shared album, and she'll be able to view them and also add her own photos.

Read more about this here: How to share albums in Photos on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac

She won't be able to edit the photos, unless she saves to her Photos Library first, edits, and then shares the new photo version.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2020 12:24 AM in response to Sunshine24-7

That will work, and will not be a problem if you log in at the same time. This would be just like one person having two macs both logged in.

However I'm not sure what would happen if you both edited the same image at the same time. Or one person deleted an album while another tried to change what was in it. Etc.

I doubt it would cause serious problems, but the results in those cases are probably unpredictable.

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Answer 3

Sunshine24-7 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 22, 2020 12:14 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for that helpful answer which I might try but I presume it means I won't see the "archive" library on my iphone and all photos I take will need to be added to it manually?

What I am thinking of doing is to set up my Apple ID on my wife's iMac as a separate user and she logs in as me when she wants to access the "main" library. Her Photos library will be minimal, just day to day photos that need not be kept. All "keepers" will be in the "main" library under my Apple ID.

Can you see any problems with that? For instance what happens if we both log on at the same time?

Thanks for your help.

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Answer 4

Sunshine24-7 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 22, 2020 12:17 AM in response to mingoslkd

Thanks for your help. I've looked at Shared Albums and as fas as I can see they're not much use for my puposes. For a start the date of the photo changes to the day it is shared, the resolution is reduced and not all the metadata transferred in the shared album.

I don't know if you'll see my reply to another post but what I am thinking of doing is to set up my Apple ID on my wife's iMac

as a separate user and she logs in as me when she wants to access the "main" library. Her Photos library will be minimal, just day to day photos that need not be kept. All "keepers" will be in the "main" library under my Apple ID.

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Answer 5

Sunshine24-7 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 24, 2020 1:13 AM in response to léonie

Thanks TonyCollinet and Léonie. I'm glad you think it will wotk OK.

I like the idea of my wife signing in to icloud but she can't edit photos or make albums etc there.

I trust her with my Apple id in every way except in the sense that she might accidentally change or delete something! If it's a photo that can be remedied. So I think we'd rather keep two Apple ids.

The info about PowerPhotos is interesting but it seems an extra complication. My plan is to allow her to access my id on her iMac but only show the Photos icon in the dock so it is obvious when she's using my id.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

201,745 points

Nov 21, 2020 12:26 PM in response to mingoslkd

Shared albums are nice to show each other your photos, but they are very limited. The photos will be downsized to 2048 pixel at the longest edge and many metadata will be stripped. You cannot edit photos in shared albums and will lose all your works.

It is not possible to share the iCloud Photos Library. But you could share a second library, where you archive all your photos.

You could create an additional Photos Library on an external volume, where you collect all photos that your wife should be able to access. And you can work together on this joint library, so you can copy the photos that you want to add yto your personal library for this library. Prepare your joint archive as described here: Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

It is essential to set the "Ignore Ownership" flag, if you want to share the library, and only one person at a time can use it.

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

201,745 points

Nov 22, 2020 1:37 AM in response to Sunshine24-7

She could also simply access your Photos Library at www.icloud.com from her user account, if she signs into your iCloud web page with your AppleID (or you do it for her). Then she can upload and download photos to your iCloud Photos Library.

But both methods require that you trust her with your iCloud Apple ID and she will be able to access and modify all your iCloud data, not only the Photos Library - it defeats the purpose of having separate AppleIDs.

I you are keeping a shared archive library on an external volume, it is easy to update with the full, paid version of PowerPhotos. It supports the merging of libraries or to transfer selected albums between libraries. Only, it is only working well, if the libraries in question are not using the "Optimise Mac Storage" option for iCloud; at least, we have to ensure, that the photos we want to copy into a different Photos Library have been downloaded from iCloud by viewing them enlarged.

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Share Photos Library - 2 Apple IDs

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