Are your precious snaps saved on Apple’s My Photo Stream at risk of vanishing forever?
Well, brace yourselves, for the time is running out.
The tech giant has announced its decision to permanently shut down the popular cloud photo storage service, which means you may be at risk of losing some of your cherished memories if you don’t act quickly.
“My Photo Stream is scheduled to be shut down on July 26, 2023,” stated Apple. “As part of this transition, new photo uploads to My Photo Stream from your devices will stop one month before, on June 26, 2023. Any photos uploaded to the service before that date will remain in iCloud for 30 days from the date of upload and will be available to any of your devices where My Photo Stream is currently enabled. By July 26, 2023, there will be no photos remaining in My Photo Stream, and the service will be shut down.”
So, if you don’t want to let the snapshots of your favorite memories slip away, it’s time to take charge and ensure their preservation before Apple shuts My Photo Stream for good.
What is My Photo Stream?
Apple launched My Photo Steam in 2011 as an iCloud service that allowed iPhone, Mac, and iPad users to automatically sync and share photos across multiple devices. It temporarily uploaded their recently taken photos to a shared library so they could view them on any other iOS device that had My Photo Stream enabled. The users then had the option to import those snaps to the library of a particular device.
It is also worth mentioning that My Photo Stream, which is accessible through the Photos app for the time being, stores up to 1,000 photos for 30 days.
What will replace My Photo Stream?
It appears that iCloud Photos is all set to replace My Photo Stream.
“Moving forward, iCloud Photos is the best way to keep the photos and videos you take up to date across all your devices and safely stored in iCloud,” Apple said in its announcement.
If you are already using iCloud Photos on all of your devices, you don’t have to worry about losing your photos as they are already uploaded to the cloud storage. Moreover, if you have saved the images present in My Photo Stream on one of your other devices, you will continue to have access to those even after the service stops working.
However, if you haven’t enabled iCloud Photos and the images aren’t saved in the library on a particular device, you must save them on your iPhone or iPad before July 26, 2023. You should also consider setting up iCloud Photos to keep your precious snaps secure.
Read more: iCloud account hacked? Here’s what you should do next
How to save your photos onto your device
Here’s how you can ensure your iPhone photos remain safe and secure.
If you use iCloud Photos
- Go to ‘Settings’ on your iPhone or iPad
- Click on your name and then tap on ‘iCloud’
- Make sure it says ‘On’ next to ‘Photos’ on your devices
On the other hand, if you use Mac, please choose ‘Apple menu’ and tap ‘System Settings.’ Next, click your name and then click ‘iCloud.’ Make sure that it says ‘On’ next to ‘Photos.’
If you don’t use iCloud Photos
Usually, the photos in My Photo Stream are stored on at least one of your devices. However, if that’s not the case, you should consider saving the required images to your device library so you don’t end up losing them in the process.
Here’s what you can do:
- Save photos from My Photo Stream on your iPhone or iPad
- Open ‘Photos’ and tap ‘Albums’
- Tap ‘My Photo Stream’ and click ‘Select’
- Choose the photos that you want to save and then tap the ‘Share button’
- Next, click on ‘Save Image’
How can PureEncrypt help keep your memories secure?
Encrypting your photos allows you to safeguard your online privacy from hackers and other malicious actors. Using a top encryption service such as PureEncrypt to secure files empowers you to prevent your personal visual data from being exploited or misused, especially in the case of data breach or theft.
PureEncrypt not only makes all your photos, videos, and files private with total encryption but also locks them in secure vaults that can be uploaded and synced with cloud storage.
This concludes our blog on how to protect your iPhone photos in the face of Apple shutting down My Photo Stream. However, if you want to learn more about PureEncrypt and other premium cybersecurity tools, please stay connected to PureVPN Blog.
Read more: How to delete photos from iCloud – A complete guide
