Anyone who has activated iCloud photos can use shared albums, formerly iCloud photo parts. This allows you to create albums with photos and videos that you can then share with your friends, family and acquaintances.
The people then have immediate access to the photos and videos, and stay informed of all new events. Ideal if you want the home front to enjoy your vacation, want to share a puppy growing up, renovating a house, etc.
Shared albums in iCloud photos
Shared albums in iCloud are a way to share photos and videos with others, such as family, friends or colleagues. These albums can contain a maximum of 5000 photos and videos and are accessible for up to 100 people, without counting for your iCloud storage limit.
Participants receive a notification with new uploads and can post comments. In addition, you can give people full access to the shared album so that participants can upload or remove their own photos and videos. Shared albums are available on various devices, including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Windows PCs.
Switch on shared albums
Do you want to use shared albums in iCloud? Then you must first activate the option in some cases.
- Open Settings for iPhone or iPad â–¸ Apps â–¸ Photos â–¸ Select the ‘Shared albums’ option
- Open the photos app for Mac â–¸ Click in the menu bar on ‘Photos’ â–¸ Settings / preferences â–¸ iCloud â–¸ Switch on ‘shared albums’.
- Follow these steps to switch on the function on a Windows PC
Share creating album
If you want to use the online photo album, you must first create it. This is possible directly from the photos app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
- Open the photos app for iPhone or iPad
- Scroll down to ‘shared albums’ and tap
- Choose ‘Create’
- Fill in a name
- Tap ‘Add photos’ to add media
- Choose ‘Needed’ to select participants
- Confirm by tapping ‘Create’
Have you installed iOS 17 or earlier? Then you can create the shared albums via the ‘Albums’ tab and then tap the Plus button.
On a Mac you can easily create a new album by clicking on the plus button next to ‘shared albums’ in the navigation column. Then follow the steps on the screen to create the album and invite people.
Add photos to a shared album
Adding new photos and videos is very easy. Open the shared album in the photos application and then tap the plus button or click on ‘Add photos and videos’ to add content to the album. In addition, you can also select all items directly in your photo library via the Selecting button and tap/then click on the Deel button and choose ‘Shared albums’.
Shared album manage
- Open the shared album in photos for iPhone and iPad
- Tap at the top of the three dots
- Choose ‘Details shared album’
On a Mac you can also open the album in photos and then click on the silhouette symbol at the top. The settings and details are open automatically.
You can then indicate whether participants can add photos and whether you want to receive notifications. You can also add, view and manage participants.
Shared album make public or share via link
Via the settings, which can open the above steps, you can also choose to make a shared album public. For this, call in the ‘Public website’ option and then you can obtain a URL via ‘Deel Link’ that people can visit to view the album without being invited. This ensures that people without Apple account can also view the content of the album.
Shared albums from others
Of course you can also be invited by others, all these shared albums can be found in the part of the same name in the photos app. Depending on the settings, it may also be possible that you can add photos and videos to this album.
If you want to respond to a photo you can do this fairly easily by opening the photo and tap the ‘Add Note’ option, in addition you can also like a photo via the fun button (thumb up).
You will be informed via reports (notifications) when friends subscribe to your shared album. In addition, you will also receive a notification when someone places a comment, adds a photo or likes a photo.
Storage limits for shared albums
A shared album can contain a maximum of 5000 photos and videos. If you reach the limit of your shared album, you must first remove some photos or videos before you can add new ones. In addition, you can be a member of a maximum of 200 shared albums. The photos and videos that you share (and the comments or leuks with those photos) remain in iCloud until you or the subscriber delete them manually or until you knew the entire shared album. Photos and videos in shared albums are stored in iCloud, but they do not count for your iCloud-storage limit. You can read more info about the limits for shared albums here.