Apple has announced that it will be shutting down its long-standing My Photo Stream service on July 26th, 2023, as part of its move towards iCloud Photos. My Photo Stream, which has been available since the launch of iCloud in 2011, allowed users to sync their images across Apple devices by uploading the last 30 days’ worth of photos and videos, up to a limit of 1,000 items. Unlike iCloud Photos, content uploaded through My Photo Stream did not count against users’ iCloud storage capacity, although they were not saved at full resolution.
According to a support document discovered by MacRumors, Apple has stated that My Photo Stream will cease automatic uploads to its servers on June 26th, 2023. However, users’ photos and videos will remain on iCloud for an additional 30 days until the official shutdown date. Since all images and videos uploaded through My Photo Stream are stored in their original format and resolution on at least one Apple device, no cherished memories will be lost during the shutdown process. Nevertheless, Apple advises users to save any specific images they want to retain on a particular device to that device’s Photo Library before July 26th.
To save an image from My Photo Stream on an iPhone or iPad, users can open the Photos app, navigate to the My Photo Stream album, select the desired photo, and tap the Share button to save it to their Library. Apple concludes the support document by recommending iCloud Photos as the preferred method for keeping photos and videos up to date across all devices, ensuring they are securely stored in iCloud.
