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What happens with access to photos of family who share my iCloud?

My spouse now shares an iCloud storage plan with me. Do all her iPad and iMac photos now go to be stored in iCloud? Can she access mine using my appleID? And vice versa?


Posted on May 2, 2021 10:33 AM

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Posted on May 2, 2021 2:39 PM

That isn't something I have much experience with. Post the question in the Photos forum: Photos for Mac - Apple Community

You will likely get a response from léonie who is very knowledgeable (as are several others there).

4 replies

May 2, 2021 11:39 AM in response to Forager1-Bob

Her photos will only be synced to iCloud if she turns on iCloud Photos in her iPad and/or iMac. If she turns iCloud Photos on in both devices, they will also sync to the other device (i.e., all of her photos will be on iCloud and on both devices). She can reduce the storage needed on a device by turning on Optimize Storage on the device. See information in: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


She will continue to use her Apple ID for iCloud. If she wants to access your photos, she could do that by using an internet browser (e.g., Safari) and logging into www.icloud.com using your Apple ID and your password -- but she could do that whether or not you are sharing an iCloud storage plan.


More information on sharing an iCloud storage plan is in: Share an iCloud storage plan with your family - Apple Support

May 2, 2021 2:06 PM in response to FoxFifth

Re: above... My wife has MANY family photos on in HER Photos on her user side of the iMac that’d been imported from a old (and now unavailable laptop).

What is the easiest way for me (that is, How do I...) to access & copy all those full resolution (not thumbnail) photos and get them into MY iCloud photos?

Batch by batch using Airdrop?

Transfer to a hard drive, and Then move them to my desktop?

This seems like it may be quite the endeavor and I want to do it correctly, the best way possible.

Thank you in advance for your guidance!

What happens with access to photos of family who share my iCloud?

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