Apple is currently in the process of shutting down its “Photo Stream” services. Unfortunately, this means that iPhone users’ captured memories could be lost in the process.
Currently, users of any Apple devices that are still using the old system are being urged to take action and ensure that they have saved their latest images. Not doing so will lead to loss of unsaved, and potentially important, pictures.
Recently, Apple announced that they will be shutting down the “Photo Stream” service and stop receiving new photo uploads 26 June onwards. Images captured and uploaded prior to this announcement will stick around for another month. But images taken after the 26th of June will not be saved.
The uploaded images will not be removed from the device that originally captured the image. So, in this case, iPhone users should be safe. But many iPhone users had used Photo Stream to move pictures between Apple devices. The shutting down of Photo Stream might lead to these uploaded and shared images to potentially get lost.
Photo Stream was first launched in 2011 and was used as an early tool to synchronise photos across multiple devices. It has been operated as a part of iCloud since its launch.
Photo Stream allowed iPhone users to upload their first thousand photos which were taken in the last 30 days, free of charge. Users of Mac or Windows could then have those photos automatically downloaded to their device. Thus iPhone users could keep their photo libraries up to date, even if photos were taken from another device.
Since then, Apple has moved on from Photo Stream and towards iCloud Stream. This new offering uploads all photos automatically and keeps them synced up across all logged in devices. While this means that there are less limits than Photo Stream, users should likely pay for storage and setting up the service.
Right now, even with the upcoming shutdown of Photo Stream, many people are still using the storage service. These iPhone users risk losing all their photos if they do not quickly save their images.
Thankfully, the process of saving these precious memories has never been easier. All users need to do is,
- Head to Photos app
- Click on “Photo Stream”
- Choose unsaved images
- Add to the library
If iPhone users already have iCloud Photos activated, this measure will be unnecessary as photos are already synced up. If iCloud Photos hasn’t been activated and you’re still relying on Photo Stream, follow these instructions.
Turn on the sync feature from within the Photos setting (available on recent Apple devices)
This measure will ensure that your photos are kept safe and in sync across all devices with the sync setting switched on.
In conclusion, iPhone users should check their photo library as they could be deleted. But by following the given steps and promptly switching to iCloud Photos, your images will be kept safe.
