rob$il

Q: I find the new Photos software (including iCloud features) to be extremely confusing

my versions:  OSX Yosemite 10.10.5, iPhone iOS 9.2, iCloud

 

I find that things operate very different depending on which device or app is used to access photos.  In particular, many features I expect to have in iCloud Photos do not appear to be available (or I cannot find them in the GUI).

 

A few examples of things I can't seem to do in iCloud Photos:

 

1) Select a Photo Burst, choose the best shot, trash the rest (to clean up storage space)

 

2) Select and album and Share it

 

3) See shared albums

 

4) See the "automatically created Family Shared Album" which supposedly gets created when Family Sharing is activated.

 

If I go the Photos app instead of iCloud Photos, then everything is very different.  I don't see the same photos, the UI is different, and many things are confusing and non-intuitive.  Shared photos seem to show up under the wrong Album name.

 

Note:  On my phone, I don't have all of the "automatic upload and share" features turned on, because I prefer to keep some control over which photos are shared, and also because I don't understand these features.  For example, what is the difference between "My Photo Stream" and "iCloud Photo Library" ???  And how do these relate to how "iCloud Photo Sharing" works?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Dec 27, 2015 10:20 AM

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Q: I find the new Photos software (including iCloud features) to be extremely confusing

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  • by zinacef,Helpful

    zinacef zinacef Dec 27, 2015 11:06 AM in response to rob$il
    Level 4 (3,290 points)
    Applications
    Dec 27, 2015 11:06 AM in response to rob$il

    rob$il wrote:

    what is the difference between "My Photo Stream" and "iCloud Photo Library" ???  And how do these relate to how "iCloud Photo Sharing" works?

    Difference between iCloud Photo Library and Photo Stream -- http://www.imore.com/icloud-photo-library-and-photo-stream-whats-difference.

     

    iCloud Photo Sharing -- iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support

     

    Read up!

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Dec 27, 2015 10:57 AM in response to rob$il
    Level 10 (105,791 points)
    iCloud
    Dec 27, 2015 10:57 AM in response to rob$il
    I find that things operate very different depending on which device or app is used to access photos.  In particular, many features I expect to have in iCloud Photos do not appear to be available (or I cannot find them in the GUI).

    That is unfortunately true.

     

    The full power of iCloud Photo Library is only available in the Photos for Mac application on a Mac (see:  Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support).   iCloud is updating iCloud Photo Library when you edit photos on any device, and the changes will be synced to all devices, but the Photos.app on iOS does not support all features, that Photos for Mac supports - smart albums are missing, or Info panels.  And Photos on www.cloud.com does support even less features.

     

    Note:  On my phone, I don't have all of the "automatic upload and share" features turned on, because I prefer to keep some control over which photos are shared, and also because I don't understand these features.

    That is the problem. If you do not enable iCloud Photo Library, the albums and edits will not sync.

     

    Basically, the different iCloud options are:

    • My Photo Stream:  This is used to transfer photos you take on one device or import on one device to the other devices. It will keep the most recent photos in iCloud for a month and stream them to all devices, so you download and import them.  You can only add photos, not videos. The photos are added as soon as you take them or import them, so the edits will not be applied.
    • Shared Albums: Shared albums are also streams. They are used to share your photos with others. You can invite others to view the the albums and add to them. Shared albums will keep all photos until you deleted them from the album. But the size of the photos may be reduced. Most metadata will be stripped when sharing photos. Shared albums will also work for videos.
    • iCloud Photo Library:  This is the only method to sync your library and not only the media in the library. If you enable it, the library will be synced with iCloud, including your albums, keywords, titles, any metadata you add. The only thing that does not sync are your projects and the faces thumbnails.
  • by rob$il,

    rob$il rob$il Dec 27, 2015 11:14 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2015 11:14 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks so much for the help.  Your answer gave me a bit of new insight, but also confirms that the photos (and videos) ecosystems is pretty confusing.  I am particularly concerned that my parent, both of whom just got iPhone 6S's, will have a very hard time understanding how this stuff works, and using it successfully.

     

    My biggest issue is that iCloud Photos seems to convey itself as a Photos application (by name and icon) but in fact it only provides a very limited set of functionality.  One might think that since iCloud is the "hub" that ties everything together, you should be able to access all the functionality of Photos (especially sharing!) from this hub.  At the very least, when using iCloud in a browser on Mac OS, there should be hints about using Photos app instead, even better, features that automatically launch Photos app to remind users of iCloud that Photos is where the power lies.  

  • by zinacef,

    zinacef zinacef Dec 27, 2015 11:27 AM in response to rob$il
    Level 4 (3,290 points)
    Applications
    Dec 27, 2015 11:27 AM in response to rob$il

    I agree wholeheartedly!  iCloud does have its shortcomings particularly Photos.  Many folks I've seen come to the forums and believe they can store their photos in iCloud and remove it from their phones to free up space but, sadly, that's another shortcoming and it doesn't work like that or was designed that way.  This is why I recommend using third-party applications like Dropbox, Flickr, and Google Photos (personally, my favorite) though many around here balk at this recommendation for obvious reasons.

     

    If, however, you wish to share you Photos album, that can be done as you can see from these links...

     

    iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users - Apple Support

     

    iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support