User profile for user: Martin_63
Martin_63 Author
User level: Level 1
34 points

Albums vs Shared Albums

I am not quite sure if I understand the concept of the Shared Foto Album correctly, please help me clarify.


Here's my understanding: the fotos in the Cloud are actually in one big folder, and the "Album" is just a tag (individual fotos can be in multiple albums). So if I e.g. move a foto to a different album I am actually just changing a tag.


Now what happens if I share an album?

  • Is the same foto just getting a different tag, or am I actually copying the fotos to a different location in the Cloud (so they are now redundantly stored)?
  • What happens if I delete/change the original foto, will it be deleted/changed in the shared album as well?
  • If fotos are copied, can I delete the "local" album, as the fotos are actually now in the shared album?


And one more thing: I know that I can share an album with other people, and they can add their fotos. Can they also update my fotos? So e.g. I put my fotos from a vacation trip into a shared album, my wife adds hers, and then she sorts the now merged foto collections?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)

Posted on Jan 14, 2018 1:09 AM

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
200,723 points

Posted on Jan 14, 2018 9:01 AM

Shared albums are very different from standard albums and smart albums.

The photos in a Shared album are new files created from the versions in your Photos Library.

  • The size of the shared photo or video is usually smaller, optimized for sharing.
  • The shared photos are stored in iCloud for syncing. This storage does not count against your free 5GB cloud storage.
  • When you share an album, all photos from the shared album will download from iCloud to your device and are stored locally as well. The cache for these local shadow copies is in your user library, not in your Photos Library.

So you need more storage on your device, if you create a shared album or subscribe to a shared album.


What happens if I delete/change the original foto, will it be deleted/changed in the shared album as well?

The photo will remain in the shared album, unchanged. If you want to share an updated version after editing a photo in your library, you have to share the updated version again.

If fotos are copied, can I delete the "local" album, as the fotos are actually now in the shared album?

Deleting an album does not delete the photos in the library. But if you mean, if you can delete the photos from your Photos Library after sharing them in a shared album, I would not do that, unless not without taking backup copies of the originals. You will only have the copy in the shared album - with a reduced pixel size and all metadata stripped from the shared copy. I would not downgrade the quality of my photos this way.


See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202786


When shared, photos taken with standard point-and-shoot cameras, SLR cameras, or iOS devices have up to 2048 pixels on the long edge. Panoramic photos can be up to 5400 pixels wide.

iCloud Photo Sharing supports HEVC, MP4, and QuickTime video file types, and H.264 and MPEG-4 Video file formats. Videos can be up to five minutes in length and are delivered at up to 720p resolution. You can even share GIFs that are 100MB or smaller.

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
200,723 points

Jan 14, 2018 9:01 AM in response to Martin_63

Shared albums are very different from standard albums and smart albums.

The photos in a Shared album are new files created from the versions in your Photos Library.

  • The size of the shared photo or video is usually smaller, optimized for sharing.
  • The shared photos are stored in iCloud for syncing. This storage does not count against your free 5GB cloud storage.
  • When you share an album, all photos from the shared album will download from iCloud to your device and are stored locally as well. The cache for these local shadow copies is in your user library, not in your Photos Library.

So you need more storage on your device, if you create a shared album or subscribe to a shared album.


What happens if I delete/change the original foto, will it be deleted/changed in the shared album as well?

The photo will remain in the shared album, unchanged. If you want to share an updated version after editing a photo in your library, you have to share the updated version again.

If fotos are copied, can I delete the "local" album, as the fotos are actually now in the shared album?

Deleting an album does not delete the photos in the library. But if you mean, if you can delete the photos from your Photos Library after sharing them in a shared album, I would not do that, unless not without taking backup copies of the originals. You will only have the copy in the shared album - with a reduced pixel size and all metadata stripped from the shared copy. I would not downgrade the quality of my photos this way.


See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202786


When shared, photos taken with standard point-and-shoot cameras, SLR cameras, or iOS devices have up to 2048 pixels on the long edge. Panoramic photos can be up to 5400 pixels wide.

iCloud Photo Sharing supports HEVC, MP4, and QuickTime video file types, and H.264 and MPEG-4 Video file formats. Videos can be up to five minutes in length and are delivered at up to 720p resolution. You can even share GIFs that are 100MB or smaller.

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User profile for user: Martin_63
Martin_63 Author
User level: Level 1
34 points

Jan 14, 2018 9:06 AM in response to léonie

Léonie, thank you very much for your response, it is very helpful.


I am not too happy though with the whole sharing functionality, as it is very one-person focused. One other limitation which I found was that shared fotos don't show the location, while locally stored ones do.


What I would actually like to have is the option to share an album with my wife, we both add our photos, we both can manipulate them, we see where they were taken, etc. Given the current limitations we have to merge our photos either on my or on her computer, and then share. 😟

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
200,723 points

Jan 14, 2018 11:08 AM in response to Martin_63

In the very first version of shared albums the shared photos kept the GPS EXIF tags, but this has been removed, I suspect for security reasons.

To share photos with your wife I would regularly export the new photos (the favorites you think worth sharing) to a USB stick with "File > Export > Export .. Photos". Set the export presets to export at the original size and a high JPEG quality. All photos will have the locations, titles, descriptions, keywords assigned and a decent quality. She can easily import from the stick to her Photos Library. This way you can keep separate libraries and see each others best photos.

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Albums vs Shared Albums

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