Apple’s legacy service, “My Photo Stream,” is slated for discontinuation on July 26, 2023. This development necessitates customers currently utilizing the feature to switch over to iCloud Photos before the specified termination date.
Introduced as a free service, My Photo Stream facilitated the uploading of the most recent 30 days of photos (up to a maximum of 1,000) to iCloud, thereby making these photos readily available across multiple devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. However, as it predates iCloud Photos, the majority of users have transitioned to the latter, rendering My Photo Stream largely obsolete.
In a strategic move, Apple has decided to streamline its photo management system by encouraging all users to shift towards iCloud Photos as their primary service. Starting June 26, 2023, My Photo Stream will cease to accept new photo uploads, while existing images will be retained in iCloud for the customary 30-day period leading up to the complete shutdown.
It’s important to note that there is no risk of losing any photos due to the shutdown, as all images from My Photo Stream are stored in their original format on at least one Apple device. To ensure accessibility of images on a preferred device after the shutdown, Apple advises users to save their photos to that device’s Photo Library before the deadline.
To save images from My Photo Stream to the iPhone’s Photos app, users can navigate to the My Photo Stream album within the Photos app, select the desired photos, and use the Share button to save them to the Library. The process mirrors the one on the Mac, albeit with the added step of dragging images from My Photo Stream to the Library.
Apple further recommends enabling iCloud Photos for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to seamlessly access their photos and videos across all their devices. iCloud Photos is compatible with iPhones and iPads running iOS 8.3 or later, as well as Macs running OS X Yosemite or later.
