Apple launches iCloud Photos Beta Web Client

Apple has quietly launched the web version of its iCloud Photo Library client in advance of today’s expected release of iOS 8.1. Users who have enabled iCloud Photo Library on their iOS devices can log in at beta.icloud.com where a new “Photos” icon should appear. The iCloud Photos web client generally mirrors the iOS 8.1 Photos app, allowing users to browse by Moments or Albums, select a moment or individual photo, and favorite, delete, or download individual photos or groups of photos. Notably, there does not appear to be any way to upload photos via the web client, and while all user-created albums appear in the web interface, only the All Photos, Favorites and Videos predefined albums appear here; other categories such as Slo-mo, Time-lapse, Bursts, and Recently Deleted continue to be available only on the iOS side. iCloud Photo Library is expected to be available to all iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users with the release of iOS 8.1 later today.