Delete single photos in photostream

How do I delete one og more pictures from photostream?

I've already found out that I can delete my entire photostream "library".

But it should be possible to mark and delete 1 or more photos.


Does anybody know how to do that?


If it's not possible: APPLE pls. fix it 🙂



Thanks


Regards

Lucas - Denmark

Macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 12, 2011 4:05 PM

Reply
477 replies

Nov 1, 2011 5:38 AM in response to Radlac

Even an auto pilot hase nothing to do with a speed controll but each speed controll has the option to change the speed without disableing it. And its not called a "speed controll that is changeable" but its neccessary if you wat to use it. But if you think it is great if you can only set the speed and stop it (thats photostream) I have no more questions to you

if you what to change the spped you can disabel it and change your speed manualy than activate it again... unuseable

Changeing the speed isnt even a feature but it makes it usefull like deleting single pix

Nov 7, 2011 3:00 PM in response to FormZ

Hi, I am new to the community and this is my first submission! iCloud is a great idea as is Photostream but surely there is a simple solution! What about offering a delete option for any selected photo(s) in the album and on asking the user to confirm offering "on this device only", "all instances in all locations", and "cancel" just in case you have second thoughts. Give the user easy control is my motto!

Nov 8, 2011 4:26 AM in response to 3gfisch

Haven't read every post in this mammoth thread so forgive me if this has been covered. What I find important in the settings is to set up iPhoto on your Mac so that it doesn't automatically import images from Photo Stream. iPhone is automatically set that way. This way you don't need the missing feature of syncing deletions across devices which could have unintended consequences. Suppose you delete a photo from your iPhone or Photo Stream but don't want it deleted from your Mac?


As it stands and as some have mentioned, Photo Stream doesn't work as it's own album. It works as a means for saving photos on a device which were taken on another device.

Nov 8, 2011 6:54 AM in response to James Merwin

James Merwin wrote:


Suppose you delete a photo from your iPhone or Photo Stream but don't want it deleted from your Mac?

Yes, but suppose you do!


As it stands and as some have mentioned, Photo Stream doesn't work as it's own album. It works as a means for saving photos on a device which were taken on another device.

You are correct, but that doesn't alter the fact that it is perfecty reasonable for users to have the ability to delete their own photos if that's what they want to do.

Let's hope this comes in a future update to keep everyone happy!

Nov 10, 2011 1:15 PM in response to lucasc5

I haven't read all the posts on this thread but for those that use Aperture, Derrick Story has a podcast (and forthcoming MacWorld article) where he shows you how to create a separate iPhoto library for the photostream pics and only bring into Aperture the ones you want to keep (see http://thedigitalstory.com/2011/11/photo_stream_-_digit.html).


This doesn't address the basic problem about the lack of control with photostream but you can keep track of the keepers in Aperture and just use the new iPhoto library as a repository for all your iPhone pics including the bad ones.


You can also use the PhotoSync app on your Mac and iPhone/iPad to wirelessly transfer photos to/from these devices in a controlled fasion.

Nov 10, 2011 8:17 PM in response to lucasc5

HEY LUCASC5, YOUR RIGHT APPLE NEEDS TO FIX SINGLE DELETE. IN THE MEAN TIME THIS IS WHAT I DO. I TAKE THE PHOTOS IN PHOTOSTREAM I WANT TO KEEP, PRESS ON THE PHOTO THEN PRESS SAVE TO CAMERA ROLL. ONCE I HAVE ALL THE PHOTOS I WANT TO KEEP, I SHUT OFF PHOTOSTREAM AND IT DELETES ALL THE PHOTOS I DON'T WANT. THEN I TURN PHOTOSTREAM BACK ON.


ALOHA, WAY OF LIFE HAWAII

Nov 11, 2011 10:22 AM in response to splish

That is why it is a good thing that Apple does allow you to delete photos! You can calm down now - the ability is there, and always has been there.


In no way, shape, or form do they disallow you to delete photos. They give you a very easy way to delete all photos in one swoop, as so many respondents have pointed out. They just do not give you the luxury of deleting single photos from something that is meant to be a data stream. Since they give the user the ability to either delete the photos, or not activate the photo stream if they do not want to use it, or lack the understanding of how to use it, this is not really a privacy matter at all. By enabling the service, if you wish to call it that, you are agreeing to it's use "As is". Tthe burden of privacy, along with any legal issues from posting photos to the service, falls with you, or the user posting them, not with Apple.


What I find beyond pale is people's arogance, demanding that Apple fix something that is not really broken, although it is lacking in a highly desired feature, and people's total lack of understanding of either the law, acting as if Apple has somehow done something illegal here, or how this simple application works. I wish I had a $1 for everytime someone says that you cannot delete photos out of Photo Stream, in spite of about a dozen posts here that explains how simple the task of deleting photos really is.

Nov 11, 2011 10:28 AM in response to FormZ

The facility is not there, and it is not a simple task. As you well know, this thread is about deleting single photos, and I feel that users are being perfectly reasonable in showing some disbelief that they are unable to achieve this, especially as the stream gets published to your Apple TV to anyone who switches it on.

Allowing the simple ability to delete individual photos would stop all these repititious threads and pointless rantings.

Nov 11, 2011 12:00 PM in response to igmackenzie

I guess the statement "simple task" really comes down to your operational definition of "simple". Relative to doing anything even remotely similar on a Windows machine, this is a very, Very, VERY simple task, but you are right, by Apple standards, where such actions are typically a single step, the 3 step process for deleting images in Photo Stream is anything but simple.


It is almost always resonable to want a company to add features and upgrades to their products, and this is no exception. I am in line with everyone else here who is wanting the feature. Is it desired, most certainly. Is it needed for Photo Stream to function and work perfectly as it was designed and planned to work, not at all. That is all that I have ever stated here- the difference is in "wanting" a feature, which we all "want", vs. "needing" that feature. It is no doubt a want that is high on everyone's list.


Allowing this simple ability to delete individual photos will not stop all fo these thread, and will only add to them, as there are many aspects that such a feature will not solve, or not solve easily, and where such a feature will open up even larger "privacy matter" and "security" issues. As a programmer I know that the task being asked for, and that people are seeing is "easy" really is a multi-layered problem, where solving one issue opens up two or three more. Here are a few things to think aobut:


1) Many of the devices that sync to Photo Stream are not always online. As such, deleting a single image from Photo Stream will not have any effect on the other devices that have already downloaded that image. They are already on the device. If you have any doubts of this, go to your settings and turn on Airplane mode, then go to icloud.com and delete all the images and your photo stream. Guess what, they are still there on your other device, so deleting anyting out of the stream, such as the single image deletion people are asking for, has no effect on images already sent to the other devices. Another mechanism needs to be developed, which is not currently part of Photo Stream, that looks to the Photo Stream server any and every time that an iOS or iPhoto device comes online. Many are thinking, yes, that is exactly what we need, and what we have been calling out for. Really? If so, you just opened up a world of hurt, and threw security out the window, as item #2 to think about will point out.


2) If deleting a single image, a series of images, or all images on Photo Stream grants the server the ability and right to delete them on all of your devices, which is what people here are really asking for, you just put your personal photo library at risk. When someone gains access to your account, either through you setting your phone down, loosing your phone (which is one of the scenarios put forth here as a security concern), your kids deleting the images accidentally on your Apple TV, your account being hacked, or any other number of ways that this could happen, all of your photos taken within the last 30 days are wide open to exploit. Nothing like the kids accidentally deleting all your photos from that great Hawaiian vacation you took three weeks ago, or some coworker deleting all of those photos from the wedding you attended last week, or a hacker deciding that your photos of your visit to your relatives just did not meet the demands of their critical eye as far as their composition, so they deleted them all. Just like that, all images, on all of your devices are gone.


You say that such a feature will end this debate and put an end to all of these threads. Call me a betting man, but my money is on people coming to these forums and really, really complaining that Apple added a delete feature to Photo Stream that allowed people to delete images from Photo Stream, and have them deleted on other devices, leaving them with no way, and zero percent chance of every seeing those photos again.


I sure hope I do not see any people in this forum later complaining that all their photos got deleted once they get what they are asking for in their posts within this forum. If I do, I will be rolling around on the floor, laughing my A-- off.


Think twich about what you are asking for here. A wise person once said "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it."


Since so many here feel that they have better solutions than the Apple engineers, and crowdsourcing the solution is the obvious way to go in solving these matters, I would love to hear how those wishing for this single step, single image delete feature, propose a simple, single step solution to protect their photos on all devices once they get that one button delete add on they are crying about. Any ideas? Again, the solution has to be a single step, one button solution, since that is what everyone here is clamering for. I would love to hear how your one button solution will solve and close this can of worms that gets opened here.

Nov 11, 2011 1:40 PM in response to FormZ

Sorry, but I totally disagree. It's a nonsense to use such an argument as you do in 2) particularly. If that argument held any water, then we wouldn't have the ability to delete emails, documents, etc.etc.

No, the security of the users device in terms of how others access the data has nothing whatsoever to do with the discussion at hand. It is also the responsibility of the user to ensure that any photos on the stream that he or she wants to keep are saved to his/her iPhoto library or Camera Roll. PS should be regarded as a temporary conduit.

In simple terms, I see PS working like an IMAP mail account where any action on one device is reflected in the PS 'server'.

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Delete single photos in photostream

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