Merging 'Pets' photo albums from iPhone and iPad in iCloud

When you enable iCloud Photos on both devices, the "Pets" albums will not automatically merge. Instead:

• All photos from both devices will upload to one unified iCloud Photo Library.
• The "Pets" album is a smart album (generated automatically by Apple’s image recognition) and exists separately on each device.
• Once iCloud Photos is enabled, smart albums like "Pets" will reflect the combined photo library, but the album itself isn't merged — it's just regenerated by each device using the full synced photo set.
• No duplicate photos will be uploaded if they’re the same file (based on metadata and image hash), but if the same photo was saved separately (e.g. screenshotted on both devices), it may appear twice.

Try:

• After syncing, your iCloud Photo Library will include all photos from both devices.
• The "Pets" album will then repopulate using that full photo set, so it may look like a merged album, but it's still a dynamic, device-generated album, not a manually synced one.
• Manual albums (ones you create yourself) would stay separate unless you recreate or manage them yourself post-sync.