How To Set Up Icloud Photo Stream

iCloud Photos vs My Photo Stream

For quite a few years, Apple enabled users to download their iPhone or iPad photos to their Macs with a service called My Photo Stream. Information technology wasn't perfect, only it was free, and it did a decent job of ensuring that photos y'all took on your iPhone or iPad would finish upwardly on your Mac.

So Apple introduced iCloud Photograph Library, later on renamed to iCloud Photos, which is a full-featured cloud-based photo syncing service. However, considering it stores all your photos in the cloud, well-nigh people need to purchase more than storage from Apple tree to employ it.

Equally a result, Apple tree has kept My Photograph Stream around, at least for almost existing users. (The company says, "If y'all recently created your Apple tree ID, My Photo Stream might not be available. If My Photo Stream isn't available, use iCloud Photos to continue your photos and videos in iCloud." Huh.) For those who have a choice, which should you employ? (On the Mac, you lot make that choice in Photos > Preferences > iCloud; in iOS, expect in Settings > Photos.)

Cost and Storage Details

The fundamental advantages of My Photo Stream over iCloud Photos are that My Photo Stream is completely free and the storage it uses doesn't count confronting your iCloud limits.

In contrast, Apple tree gives every iCloud user 5 GB of free storage, but that'south shared among all your iCloud services, like iCloud Drive and icloud.com email, and so it disappears quickly. Most of us accept more than v GB of photos anyhow. You can buy 50 GB for $ane.29 per month, 200 GB for $iii.99 per month, or 2 TB for $12.99 per month (prices vary slightly in other countries).

On a pure price basis and then, My Photo Stream wins. However, information technology suffers from other limitations that make information technology less compelling:

My Photograph Stream stores your photos on your iOS devices in a lower resolution to salvage infinite and manual time. On the Mac, however, your photos download in full resolution. In contrast, iCloud Photos lets yous cull on each device whether you desire original images or optimized versions to save space—full-resolution originals are always stored in iCloud itself.
My Photo Stream manages just the final 30 days of photos and merely the concluding 1000 photos. That'due south fine for but transferring photos from your iPhone to your Mac for permanent storage, but your other devices will exist able to display merely your near recent photos. iCloud Photos stores all your photos as long as you have sufficient space.
When y'all edit a photo while using My Photo Stream, the edits use only to the photo you edited, not to versions synced with other devices. With iCloud Photos, all edits you make—on any of your devices—sync to all the rest of your devices.

Supported Formats

There'southward another big gotcha with My Photograph Stream. Information technology supports but photos and images in JPEG, PNG, and TIFF formats, plus most raw formats. That doesn't audio terrible until you realize that information technology doesn't include Live Photos or any video formats. That'due south correct—My Photo Stream won't sync your Live Photos or videos from your iPhone to your Mac at all! You'll have to move them over manually in another way.

In comparison, iCloud Photos supports the same withal epitome formats as My Photograph Stream and adds GIF, HEIF, and more raw formats, along with Live Photos. Plus, it supports MP4 and HEVC videos. In other words, iCloud Photos will sync all your images and videos, regardless of format.

Supported Devices

Finally, My Photo Stream works on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod affect, and Apple TV, and with Windows-based PCs. iCloud Photos extends that list to include the Apple tree Watch and the iCloud.com Web site. Apple Spotter back up likely isn't a dealbreaker for most people, simply information technology tin can be useful to be able to see all your photos in a Web browser on any computer.

Making the Option

Technically speaking, you can accept both My Photo Stream and iCloud Photos turned on. However, if y'all're using iCloud Photos, My Photo Stream doesn't become you anything, so you lot should plough it off.

If you're trying to save coin and have more than than v GB of photos, My Photo Stream works to bring most of your iPhone photos downward to your Mac for permanent storage in the Photos app. Merely beware that information technology won't sync your Live Photos or videos, and any other iOS devices y'all have volition be express to seeing the terminal thirty days or k photos.

For most people, though, iCloud Photos is the way to go. It'southward easily worth $15.48 or $47.88 per year for 50 GB or 200 GB of storage, it syncs all your photos and videos amid all your devices, and it even syncs edits.