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My Photo Stream stopped working on the 26th June. Yesterday I got an email from Apple which said it had been shut down.
This is a quick notice that My Photo Stream has now been officially shut down.
I really liked My Photo Stream, but time moves on. I have moved over to iCloud Photos instead.
After syncing my Photos library to iCloud Photos I was left with 86 photographs which Photos was unable to upload.
It wasn’t initially clear why they were unable to be uploaded.
The solution I found on the web was to export the original files and then delete them from Photos and then import them into Photos.
When I tried that I got a 47,001 unknown error, which wasn’t really very helpful.
However after doing some more searching, the issue appeared to be that the original files were missing from the library and all that remained was the low resolution thumbnail.
As I had already made a back up of my photographs to Amazon Photos, I was able to find the originals on that service, download them, import them to Photos and then upload to iCloud Photos.
All fine now.
Makes you realise the importance of having your photographs in more than one place.
I have a minimum of two backups, one on an external drive and one in the cloud.
It took a while to sync my iMac Photos library to iCloud. Initially I was concerned that the folders on my iMac weren’t syncing to iCloud, but after the iMac had finished uploading all the photographs in the library, the folders were then created on iCloud. Though my smart albums weren’t synced.
While the iMac was uploading photographs, it wasn’t initially downloading the photographs I had been taking with my iPhone, which was also using iCloud Photos. However, as with the folders, once it had finished uploading, iCloud Photos downloaded the new photographs to the iMac.
Overall I am pleased with moving to iCloud Photos, it does what I want.
I switched on iCloud Photos after using My Photo Stream for years and it then turned off by Apple.
I have noticed one problem with iCloud Photos and various iOS apps including Instagram and Snapseed.
The issue arises when you access the PhotoStream, there is a noticeable delay in the images appearing in the app.
With Instagram, you have to wait a while and even tap the screen before the images appear. Then the camera feed appears.
It is a similar story with Snapseed.
It also can take a while to swipe through your images with Snapseed.
It is easier to tap Open from device and then browse for the photo you need then.
I don’t know if there is a solution, at the moment it is more annoying than anything else. Initially I thought the Instagram app was broken, rather than thinking it was an issue with iCloud Photos.
I really liked My Photo Stream. It made my blogging and writing workflow so much easier. I would take a photo on my phone and then using My Photo Stream I would be able to use the photo on my iPad or my Mac. So I was quite disappointed that Apple have closed it down.
According to Apple the solution is to move to iCloud Photos.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that as I knew I would need to upgrade my iCloud+ subscription to the 2TB tier.
So for a week or two I tried doing stuff without My Photo Stream and without using iCloud Photos.
After a while it was apparent that this wasn’t working. So at the beginning of July I upgraded my iCloud+ subscription and on my home iMac I turned on iCloud Photos.
I knew it would take some time to sync my photo library to iCloud as I have over 70,000 photographs in the library.
I did initially have some teething issues, so had to restart the iMac and Photos a few times, but so far it appears to be working as needed.
I also turned iCloud Photos on, on my iPhone to check it was working.
The photographs I take on my iPhone are now available in iCloud Photos on my other devices.
I do quite like the ability to access all my photographs on my iPhone, whereas with My Photo Stream it was only the last 1000 photos.
I received an email from Apple about My Photo Stream closing down.
My Photo Stream is scheduled to be shut down on 26 July, 2023. The photos in My Photo Stream are already stored on at least one of your devices, so as long as you have the device with your originals, you will not lose any photos as part of this process. If a photo you want is not already in your library on a particular iPhone, iPad or Mac, make sure you save it to your library on that device. For more information on this transition and instructions on how to download photos from My Photo Stream, read Information about the My Photo Stream shutdown.
I really liked My Photo Stream. It made my blogging and writing workflow so much easier. I would take a photo on my phone and then using My Photo Stream I would be able to use the photo on my iPad or my Mac.
Sometimes I would load photographs from my Canon DSLR onto my iMac, then be able to use those photographs on my MacBook.
Now according to Apple the solution is to move to iCloud Photos.
Moving forward, iCloud Photos is the best way to keep the photos and videos you take up to date across all your devices and safely stored in iCloud.
The main reason I’ve not done this before, is partly as My Photo Stream worked, and I would need to upgrade to iCloud+ and with the number of photos in my library, I would probably need the 2TB upgrade.
Well I have until the 26th June.
As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will be stopped on 26 June.