Greetings. I have a second Photo library (not the System Library) on my iMac that I want to be able to access on my other devices- MacAir laptop, iPad, iPhone. I have one System Photo Library that is accessible on all 4 devices. Can I do this with a second Library? I also would like to get it off my iMac as it takes up a lot of storage. How can I do this? iCloud? DropBox? ?? Thx.
iMac 24″, macOS 15.5
There can only be one Photo Library on iCloud.
You can export the Photos from the existing library and upload them to DropBox as independent photos, but you cannot upload the entire library.
You can move the library to an external drive formatted as APFS, but not sure it will be accessible from an iPhone or iPad in that form.
While Mac's can have multiple Photos Libraries, iOS, iPadOS, and iCloud can each only have one-- the same one if they are all on the same account. However, you can separate a Library into two parts-- the general idea is to have one part you can share with other accounts. But you can just share with yourself.
How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library - Apple Support
Use iCloud Shared Photo Library on iPhone – Apple Support (UK)
Honestly, I haven't done this, so I'm not sure what complications there are. But others use this all the time to separate out a set of pictures, like curated and not curated, and share just with themselves. As long as it's the creator account, you can see both.
You can try it with your current System Library, and then see if you want to add another Library. You would need to Merge Libraries, and the best way to do that is to use the trusted 3rd party app PowerPhotos ($35) which will maintain the albums and folders in a merge.
Let us know if this looks like it would work for you. I'm curious…
Access second Photo Library from the Cloud?
