Information about the My Photo Stream shutdown
I received Information mail about the My Photo Stream shutdown. How I can learn if my data will be deleted on my device or iCloud?
iPhone X, iOS 15
Question marked as
Top-ranking reply
If you don't have a Photos album called My Photo Stream on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, you weren't using My Photo Stream. If you do have such an album, there will be little or nothing left to save. Why?
- My Photo Stream only held photos for 30 days before automatically deleting them.
- Today is July 25, 2023, so any photo added before June 25, 2023 would already be gone.
- All uploads to My Photo Stream stopped as of June 26, 2023. (Apple did that so that when the service shuts down for good tomorrow, you will have had 30 days since June 26, 2023 to copy the final uploaded photos to other devices).
My Photo Stream will not automatically delete the original copies of your photos on the original devices that took them. Or copies you made manually elsewhere. But if you deleted the originals, and did not make backups, and treated My Photo Stream as a backup / archive service (which it never was), your photos are toast.
My Photo Stream - Apple Support
Information about the My Photo Stream shutdown - Apple Support
Note that the My Photo Stream shutdown will not delete photos stored stored outside of the Photo Stream (whether locally, in iCloud Photos, or loose in iCloud Drive).