I would like to change a shared folder's cover photo. This is such a basic thing to do and I don't understand why I cant do it on my iPhone or Mac. It seems pretty ridiculous that users wouldn't be able to do this. Its 2023!
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini (M1, 2020)
That you could do, is adjust the date of the photo you want to use as the cover. Since the sorting is done by date - it will always be last.
A great work-around. That will work, but only on the two most recent system versions, where the date will not be stripped. And the drawback will be, that we no longer will share the photos with the date they have been taken The subscribers may not like it. We will have to change the date of the photo in our library, before we share the photo, so we will be losing the date as well. I recommend to do this for a copy of the photo, not the only version we have. And to share the photo with the original date as well.
It is only recently, since iOS 16/iPadOS 16, macOS 12 Monterey, that the capture date is no longer stripped, when we are sharing an album and the items in the Shared album can be sorted by the date at all. It would be a pity to sacrifice this first improvement to shared albums since they have been introduced in 2012 with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. We had to wait a very long time to be able to share our photos in Shared albums with the date they have been taken. The locations, titles, and descriptions are still stripped.
That you could do, is adjust the date of the photo you want to use as the cover. Since the sorting is done by date - it will always be last.
A great work-around. That will work, but only on the two most recent system versions, where the date will not be stripped. And the drawback will be, that we no longer will share the photos with the date they have been taken The subscribers may not like it. We will have to change the date of the photo in our library, before we share the photo, so we will be losing the date as well. I recommend to do this for a copy of the photo, not the only version we have. And to share the photo with the original date as well.
It is only recently, since iOS 16/iPadOS 16, macOS 12 Monterey, that the capture date is no longer stripped, when we are sharing an album and the items in the Shared album can be sorted by the date at all. It would be a pity to sacrifice this first improvement to shared albums since they have been introduced in 2012 with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. We had to wait a very long time to be able to share our photos in Shared albums with the date they have been taken. The locations, titles, and descriptions are still stripped.
Hey there bUtMyRiGhTs,
Thanks so much for using Apple Support Communities.
It doesn't look like there is currently an option to choose a custom Shared Album cover photo. You can leave feedback for the development team working on future updates to Photos right here, however: Product Feedback - Apple
In the meantime, Photos will default to using the photo at the very bottom of the Shared Album as the cover photo for that album. You can use this information to place a specific photo at the very bottom of that album to accomplish your goal. You can use the sorting feature to determine which photo shows up at the bottom, as illustrated here: Filter and sort photos and videos in albums on iPhone - Apple Support
We hope this does the trick for you!
Cheers.
I am simply adding the photo I want to use as the cover a second time, so it appears at the end and delete the previously added version. And I do not share any photos that are not fit to be the cover photo.
it is strange, that Apple does not allow us to set the cover photos for the Shared album. It is not the only place wehere we cannot pick the cover photo. It is even worse, that we cannot set the cover photo for the Years or Months. Most of the cover photos for Years are showing family get-togethers at Christmas or Easter and not the pictures from m photo safaris. For example, when I want to find the photos from Antarctica in the Year view, I have to remember the year I have been there. I cannot tell from the cover photos of the year.
By default the shared albums are sorted by the date added, with the most recently added item at the end of the album. It makes sense to have this photo as the cover photo. So we can see instantly by the cover photo, if someone shared a new photo in the album, without having to open the album.
What you could do, is adjust the date of the photo you want to use as the cover. Since the sorting is done by date - it will always be last.
E.g on the cover photo (before adding to shared album) put 2030. Then add all the photos with the cover one to the shared album and it should stay at the bottom all the time.
It doesn’t make sense at all actually. It makes a lot more sense to be able to choose the cover photo. When a shared album is done being added to, why on earth is the LAST photo the most appropriate one for the cover? If an album is years old who cares what the last photo is? I want to make the BEST photo the cover. THAT makes perfect sense.
Yep, nice work-around. I also considered changing date/time stamp so the one I want for cover is last. But, also, I have my Shared Albums organized with File names, such as trips we take with family by location (E.g. "Alaska 2024" or "Outer Banks NC") so it's easy to know what an album is. Still, it would be nice to have a favorite or most-descriptive shot be the album cover photo.
Oh you can sort them… But you can only sort them by date! You can’t sort them in the order you choose! Which is pretty much useless.
Kludgy, but it works!
So smart, thanks! Great way to get around this Apple limitedness ^_^
Why can't I change a shared folder's cover photo on my iPhone or Mac?
