I always have enjoyed Apple’s Photo Stream so that pictures I take on my iPhone show up on my iPad and vice-versa. Apparently that is ending according to an email I just got from Apple. Now you have to use iCloud to backup your pictures to get them on other devices and that costs money.

This is the email I got:

My Photo Stream is scheduled to be shut down on July 26, 2023.
As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will be stopped on June 26. Any photos uploaded to the service before that date will remain in iCloud for 30 days from the date of upload and will be available to any of your devices where My Photo Stream is currently enabled. By July 26, there will be no photos remaining in iCloud, and the service will be shut down.
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 won’t 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.
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. iCloud Photos can be enabled on iOS 8.3 or later, iPadOS 8.3 or later, and macOS 10 Yosemite or later. Once set up, you can view your photos and videos in the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iCloud.com, and even sync them to a Windows PC using iCloud for Windows.
For more information about My Photo Stream visit this support article.

This is information about iCloud Photos.

I pay $0.99 per month for 50 GB. Not bad.

I didn’t know that Photo Stream existed before reading your post.

I use ImageShack to host my photos. $19/year.

quote:

Originally posted by SW_Sig:
I pay $0.99 per month for 50 GB. Not bad.

I too pay the $0.99 per month for 50GB, but I am sure I will have to upgrade to the next storage level after this happens. The next level is 200GB for $3 a month. I know this is not major, but it just seems we seem to be getting nickel and dimed with price increases from everywhere and it all adds up.

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:

we seem to be getting nickel and dimed with price increases from everywhere and it all adds up.

If you're an Amazon Prime member, then Amazon Photos gives you unlimited storage for photos* at no additional cost.

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* Unlimited for still photos, 5 Gb for video.

I got the same email.

I expect that after photo stream is retired, the iCloud pricing will increase.

You know you can save and store photos anywhere you want, right? Don’t want to pay $1 or $3/month? Back up to your computer. No room? Buy a hard drive/SSD. Don’t want to buy and manage a drive and backup routine? Pay $3/mo.

Chances are you are not harmed. It is a simple setting on your iPhone to back up to iCloud. Why not move into the mainstream?

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Chances are you are not harmed. It is a simple setting on your iPhone to back up to iCloud. Why not move into the mainstream?

I am more than kind of technically challenged. Is as simple as turning on iCloud Photos under Settings>Photos? I already pay the 99cents a month for iCloud storage.

As V-Tail said, a Prime account provides unlimited photo storage, but I’ve maxed out the 5GB of video storage it allows. Phones also automatically upload everything to my 24TB NAS so videos are effectively no longer limited.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I didn’t know that Photo Stream existed before reading your post.

Nor did I. I've always just used iCloud storage.

quote:

Originally posted by kho:
I am more than kind of technically challenged. Is as simple as turning on iCloud Photos under Settings>Photos? I already pay the 99cents a month for iCloud storage.

Yup.

I guess I need to look into Amazon as I have Prime. I am just used to the simplicity of my pictures being on all devices by using iCloud and I understand it would be same with Amazon Photos app.

I already regularly download my pictures to my computer hard drive and then they are backed up two other ways.

Only hesitation with Amazon Photos, is my Amazon Firestick uses the photos as a screen saver for the TV so right now I only upload certain pictures. Maybe there is a setting or something to control which photos are used as a screensaver.

I hear ya Norm, but I’d personally just use the cloud. Take a look at the size of your library and see if the upgrade is warranted first. It’s one less app to start configuring on all the devices.

quote:

Originally posted by kho:

I am more than kind of technically challenged. Is as simple as turning on iCloud Photos under Settings>Photos? I already pay the 99cents a month for iCloud storage.

Settings>click on your id (your name at the top)>iCloud> and flip photos to ‘On’. Simple as that. The first upload may take a bit depending how many photos/vids you have but after that, backups should be back to normal times.