iCloud Photos

[Kim F]

My iPhone photos are stored on the phone and iCloud. For about a month now, the latest photos aren't getting synced. There's plenty of free space on the cloud. I've signed out of the iCloud and back in again. No error messages just no new photos ?????

 

[Kim F]

The photos sync perfectly between the iPhone and my iPad if that is a clue !

 

[cjmnews]

Just in case you missed it: My Photo Stream was ended in June 2023, and all photos in iCloud in My Photo Stream were deleted in July 2023. (https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/05/26/apple-is-shutting-down-the-really-old-my-photo-stream-on-july-26)

Shared Albums seem to still work fine.

Are you using iCloud Photo Library? That is a service where your photos are uploaded to iCloud, and all of your devices access them there. That could easily have the photos synced between the devices. It also can fill up the 5GB quickly.

There is also a version change in behavior. In iOS 16.1 or later, then a photo that is moved to the Shared Library no longer appears in the Personal Library (may need to switch your Library to see the other photos) and devices that are pre-iOS 16.1 will not see the photos in the Shared Library. Page on Shared Library and changing views: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213248#use

It does not make sense that the iPhone and iPad are in sync and iCloud is not in sync. I would expect that the iCloud Photo Library would have everything in iCloud. This is confusing.

 

[Kim F]

Thank you. I read what I wrote and it wasn't clear what my problem is. Whilst all photos are available on iPhone and iPad, the latest photo's aren't available on my PC (Windows 10 - re-installed about a month ago when the problem seems to have arisen) when accessing via File Explorer

 

[cjmnews]

The PC does not get My Photo Stream copies of the photos any more. As Apple shutdown that service earlier this year (see post above for an article on it).

You would need a couple things to do what you are trying to do.

1. Install iCloud for Windows: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283 (I hope the Microsoft Store version works, I kept an old copy from Apple so I am using that, as I don't trust Microsoft Apps to have all functionality enabled based on past experience)
2. Sign in to iCloud using your Apple ID.
3. Open iCloud Settings
4. Click on the Options button next to Photos
5. Uncheck iCloud Photo Library (unless you are using this feature)
6. Check iCloud Photo Sharing
7. Verify the path where the photos go is correct, if not click Change and set the path.
8. Click Done
9. Click Close
10. On an iOS device, create a Shared Album for new photos.
11. Copy all new photos to the Shared Album.
12. Wait 5-10 minutes for a few photos (depends on network speed and number of photos) to upload
13. Wait 10-20 minutes for the photos to sync to the PC in the folder of the same name as the album.

Every new photo needs to repeat steps 11-13 to get them to your PC.