Transferring or preserving a Shared Photo Library when changing Apple ID regions

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Transferring or preserving a Shared Photo Library when changing Apple ID regions

I recently moved countries and need to change my Apple ID region. As I understand the process, this requires cancelling all active subscriptions (and for my Apple Music account, requesting a refund to ensure that its expiry was immediate instead of having to wait for the end of the final period), but also dissolving my Family Sharing as well. I am hesitant to do that because this will require rebuilding my Shared Photos Library, which took a long time to create.

When I spoke to Apple Support, the staff member suggested that I can keep all of my Shared Photos by deleting it and selecting the appropriate option. However, it seems I would still need to rebuild it afterwards, which was a time consuming process that I hope to avoid. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, to Apple, the Shared Photos Library is a wonderful tool, but I do hope some process can be put in place to make transferring it to a new region easier.

Posted on Aug 11, 2023 12:23 AM

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Answer 1

jsl55 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2023 1:38 AM in response to jsl55

Ignore this question. For me, the problem was that one of the subscriptions for my son's Apple ID (which is in my Family Sharing group) was not yet cancelled.

After cancelling that, I was able to change regions for all of my family's Apple ID's, and my Shared Photos Library is intact!

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Answer 2

Aug 11, 2023 2:11 AM in response to jsl55

Are you using the Shared Photos Library on a Mac or on mobile devices, or both?

The people you are sharing your pictures with do not need to be the members of your family group. This restriction only applies to very young users, with an age under 13 years: How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support - and because of the family group the minors cannot use the shared library across different regions.

But it is not clear from the Support document, if adults can share an iCloud Photos Library across different regions, because they are not forced to share within a family group. Did Apple Support confirm, that you will be able to use the Shared iCloud Photos Library across different regions at all?

Your iCloud AppleID will work in a different region as it is, across different regions. I had never any trouble to access my iCloud documents and data, my iCloud Photos Library, when traveling abroad. It is only the AppleID for media and purchases that will not allow to purchase new items from the stores in a different region.

If you have been using different AppleIDs for iCloud and Media and Purchases, you only need to change the region for your Media and Purchases AppleID to save your previous purchase. If both are tied to the same AppleID you will have to sign out of iCloud Photos, before you change the region of the AppleID.

Before you sign out of iCloud Photos, I would move all shared photos back into your personal Photos Library and alert all other members of the shared library that you will do this.

Moving the shared photos back will put them back into the initial albums. Also copy all photos shared by others into your personal library.

To be able to save the photos, you have to disable "Optimize Storage", so the full resolution photos will be downloaded to your devices. This will require enough free storage on all your devices.

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Transferring or preserving a Shared Photo Library when changing Apple ID regions

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