Portrait photos not appearing in photostream on mac

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Portrait photos not appearing in photostream on mac

Hello all, I see this issue posted earlier this year, but couldn't readily see anything recent and no real resolution - I just got an iphone 8 plus and love the portrait feature. however, when I go into my photostream on my Mac (High Sierra), the photo appears without the portrait look. I know you can "re-add" it in edits, but the effect does not look the same - it is weirdly blurry. in settings, I have "icloud photos/optimize iphone storage" selected, should I not? I also have plenty of icloud storage remaining. Has anyone figured this out? Thanks

Posted on Oct 14, 2018 8:04 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,723 points

Oct 18, 2018 2:55 PM in response to swimmerchick913

My Photo Stream is not really compatible with the new image formats Portrait Mode, Live Photos.

and it will not transfer any edits and effects you add to to the photos on the iPhone, because it is transferring the photos as soon as you close the camera.app, the original photos without any edits applied. The documentation for My Photo Stream (My Photo Stream - Apple Support) does not even mention Live Photos as supported: "My Photo Stream supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and most RAW photo formats. My Photo Stream doesn't support video or Live Photos."

in settings, I have "icloud photos/optimize iphone storage" selected, should I not? I also have plenty of icloud storage remaining. Has anyone figured this out? Thanks

iCloud Photos Library is the much better way to transfer the new image. It will transfer the photos and videos losslessly - the original plus the edited version.

Would it be possible to switch to iCloud Photo Library on your Mac as well?

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,723 points

Oct 18, 2018 2:56 PM in response to swimmerchick913

It is good to give up on My Photo Steam, if you want to use Portrait mode photos and videos or Live Photos.

The problem is, that your iPhone is using "Optimize Storage" for iCloud. This way you cannot download directly using a USB connection.

Either disable "Optimize Storage" and keep no more photos in cloud than will fit onto your iPhone. Then you can download all items from your iPhone by connecting it to a USB port on your Mac.
Or enable iCloud Photo Library for Photos on your Mac as well. That will sync the two photo libraries on your iPhone and the Mac and keep them identical. But you need to sign up for enough cloud storage to keep your complete photo library from your Mac in iCloud. And it will only work, if your iPhone has enough storage to keep all photos from your Mac at least optimized on your iPhone.

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Answer 3

Oct 17, 2018 6:50 AM in response to léonie

Thank you for your response and information. I will quit using photo stream to get photos onto my Mac. I have had so many hiccups trying to figure out the best way to save my photos to my mac. I always connected with USB and just saved them that way, but then somewhere along the way, the Photos app on my Mac stopped recognizing them as being on my phone when I connected with USB (apple support told me that was because "optimize iphone storage" was selected, and the "real" photo was not on my phone anymore, but in icloud). I then tried downloading from icloud, but for some reason, they won't download in full resolution (no explanation for that, apple support said they should). [is that what you mean by switching to iCloud Photo Library on my Mac? am I missing something else there?] so, photostream was my next option, but if edits and such don't tag along, thats not a great option... long story short, I just deselected "optimize iphone storage" and now they appear in Photos via USB - seems old fashioned, and I just keep thinking there must be an easier (working) option..... thanks again, I appreciate your insight...

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Portrait photos not appearing in photostream on mac

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