UPDATE: Got any photos you need to save from My Photo Stream? Do it now as the service shuts down on Wednesday, July 26.
Original Story 5/28:
Apple’s “My Photo Stream” is set to shut down on July 26, 2023.
Apple is pushing people(Opens in a new window) to iCloud Photos, which is available on iPhones and iPads running iOS 8.3 or later and Macs running OS X Yosemite or later.
My Photo Stream dates back to 2011, and allows people to upload their last 30 days of photos on one Apple device to another; up to 1,000 iPhone photos will automatically appear on the iPad, for example. Apple’s iCloud Photos does the same, but it also supports video backups as well as photos, so My Photo Stream is somewhat redundant now.
Still, My Photo Stream has the added bonus of not counting against your iCloud photo storage limits unless you download them on another device before the 30 days is up. So this is one way Apple can get you to upgrade to its iCloud+ storage subscription service.
On its support page(Opens in a new window), Apple says it will stop new photo uploads to My Photo Stream on June 26, 2023. “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,” Apple says. “By July 26, 2023, there will be no photos remaining in iCloud, and the service will be shut down.”
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Worried about losing photos? As Apple points out, “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 isn’t already in your library on a particular iPhone, iPad, or Mac, make sure that you save it to your library on that device.”
On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Photos > Albums > My Photo Stream > Select. Tap the photos you want to save, and tap the Share button > Save Image.
