My Photo Stream Is Shutting Down. Here’s What’s Next.

As of July 3, 2023, the once-popular My Photo Stream service offered by Apple has begun its process of shuttering down. This free cloud storage system was a fan-favorite for photo storage and will officially stop its services on July 26, 2023.

Here’s the notice from Apple:

Preserving your Photos before the Shutdown

Apple ceased to upload new images from user devices to My Photo Stream as of June 26. Any photos uploaded before this date will continue to exist in the cloud storage system for an additional 30 days post-upload. When the service finally halts in July, no photos will be left on My Photo Stream, leading to potential loss if not backed up elsewhere.

Safety Measures for Your Photos

Worried about losing your precious memories? Apple has you covered. The tech giant urges its users to find and store the original versions of their photos on a physical device like an iPhone or iPad. My Photo Stream draws photos from the original device where they are stored.

Apple reassures, “As long as you have the device with your originals, you won’t lose any photos as part of this process.” This statement appeared in a support article addressing the ongoing transition.

If there are photos on My Photo Stream that haven’t already been backed up on your Apple device’s photo library, be sure to save them there to avoid potential loss.

The Shift to iCloud Photos

Apple hints at iCloud Photos as the successor to My Photo Stream. This storage option provides up to 5GB of free storage, while anything beyond this limit will necessitate a premium subscription plan. Apple offers three pricing tiers for these plans. In a support article, Apple described iCloud as the “best way to keep the photos and videos you take up to date across all your devices.”

The cost of these plans is 99 cents per month for 50 GB of iCloud+ storage, $2.99 for 200 GB, and $9.99 for 2 terabytes.

Some users who were already subscribed to iCloud+ may have completed this transition or may not have used My Photo Stream, rendering it redundant. For these users, there will be no changes to manage.

Apple assures users, “If you already have iCloud Photos enabled on all of your devices, you don’t need to do anything else — your photos already sync to iCloud.”

Ensuring your Photos are Synced with iCloud

To confirm that your photos are syncing with iCloud, navigate to your device’s settings, tap on your name, then click on iCloud. Beside the photo’s icon, verify that it reads “On.”

Transferring Photos to Your Device

In case you want to save images from My Photo Stream to your device’s photo library, follow these steps:

For mobile devices: Launch the “Photos” app, go to “Albums,” tap “My Photo Stream” then “Select.” Choose the photos you want to save.

For Mac: Launch the “Photos” app, open the “My Photo Stream” album. Select the photos you wish to save and drag them from the photo stream album to your “Library.”