Apple announced last month that it plans to discontinue its My Photo Stream service this summer. On Monday, Apple ceased allowing uploads using the free iCloud feature. The service is coming to an end after more than a decade of the no-cost syncing solution.
Steve Jobs unveiled My Photo Stream as a part of iCloud, back in 2011. The feature automatically uploaded photos and videos on one device for downloading to another device without manually syncing. While the feature did not count against an iCloud user’s storage limit, it did not support full-resolution syncing and was limited to 1,000 files.
The My Photo Stream 30-day sync service will go totally offline on July 26. Until then, photos and videos stored using the service will continue to self-delete when they reach their one-month storage limit.
Apple suggests the use of iCloud Photos and also provides directions for how to save photos from My Photo Stream:
Save photos currently in My Photo Stream
If your photos currently in My Photo Stream aren’t already in your library, you can save them to your device.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Open Photos and tap Albums.
- Tap My Photo Stream -> Select.
- Tap the photos that you want to save, then tap the Share button -> Save Image.
On your Mac
- Open the Photos app, then open the My Photo Stream album.
- Select any photos you want to save that aren’t currently in your photo library.
- Drag them from the My Photo Stream album to your Library.
