Apple: Apple shuts down free My Photo Stream: Last date, how to backup, and more

Apple just announced the end of its free My Photo Stream service. The tech giant just shared this news via an official notice in the support section. Apple first introduced this service in 2011 with the release of iCloud. Now the company is ending this service as a part of the overhaul process. They have also given enough time to backup all the photos to other devices.

In this article, we will provide detailed information on the free My Photos Stream service and a definitive guide on how to use it.

What is My Photo Stream on Apple?

This service is similar to the Google Photos service, where you can automatically backup your photos from different devices and access them on cloud storage. This service allowed users to take photos on their iPhone or iPad and access it from Mac devices.

How to backup photos from My Photo Stream on your Apple device, and more

There are two ways to backup photos from the My Photo Stream service. You can either do so to a physical storage device (smartphone, PC, external HDD, etc) or a cloud storage service (iCloud, Google Photos, etc)

Steps to backup photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

Make sure your device is connected to the internet.
Open "Photos" app.
Tap on "Albums".
Tap on "My Photo Stream".
Tap on "Select".
Select the photos you want to back up.
Tap on the Share button.
Tap on "Save Image".

The selected photos will be saved on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Steps to backup photos on your Mac devices:

Make sure your Mac device is connected to the internet.
Open "Photos" app.
Open "My Photos Stream" album.
Use command + left click to select multiple photos.
Drag those photos to your Mac's "Library".

The selected photos will be saved on your Mac device.

After you have backed up photos on your Apple devices, you can connect an external HDD or SSD and move your photos there.

You can also set up iCloud Photos on your iPhone with iOS 8.3 or later, iPad with iPadOS 8.3 or later, or Mac device with OS X Yosemite or later. After that, you will be able to access your photos using the "Photos" app across all Apple devices. You can even access iCloud Photos on your Windows PC via its software.

When is the last date for backing up photos from My Photo Stream?

The service is shutting down on July 26, 2023. You have to create your backup before the mentioned date, to avoid data loss. Also, it goes without mentioning that from now on, you cannot store photos using this service anymore.

About the author

Basubhrit is an esports and Gaming Tech writer for Sportskeeda. He has a bachelor's degree in English from WBSU, and in his spare time, the Kolkata resident enjoys listening to heavy metal or playing open world and racing games such as GTA V and Forza, respectively.

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Edited by Anirudh Padmanabhan