Use iCloud with the Photos app
Do more with Photos
With the Photos app, you can store and organize photos and videos on your Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple TV). You can do more with Photos on your Apple devices when you turn on iCloud. And with the iCloud for Windows app, you can also access your photos and videos on a PC.
iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream
There are three iCloud features you can turn on for Photos: iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream. Each feature lets you do different things.
iCloud Photos: When you turn on iCloud Photos (previously called iCloud Photo Library) on a device, all the photos and videos on that device are uploaded to iCloud. You can access them from any other device with iCloud Photos turned on and view them online at iCloud.com. With iCloud Photos, you can also share photos and videos with an iCloud Link.
Shared Albums: When you turn on Shared Albums (previously called iCloud Photo Sharing) on a device, you can create and share photo and video albums and view those albums from any other device with Shared Albums turned on.
My Photo Stream: When you turn on My Photo Stream on a device (not available for new accounts), photos from the last 30 days are stored in iCloud. My Photo Stream stores a maximum of 1000 photos across all your devices, and you can view them on any device with My Photo Stream turned on. Photos from other devices appear in a My Photo Stream album.
Learn how. To turn on iCloud Photos, Shared Albums, and My Photo Stream, see Set up your devices to use iCloud with the Photos app.
When you store photos and videos in iCloud
When you store photos and videos in iCloud, they’re kept up to date on all your devices. If you turn on iCloud Photos or My Photo Stream and then add or delete a photo on one device, the changes appear on all devices with those features turned on. The same is true for Shared Albums—when you edit a Shared Album on one device, the changes appear everywhere.
Photos and videos stored in iCloud Photos count toward your iCloud storage limits. If you decide to turn off iCloud Photos to save space, you may want to back up your photos and videos first. See the Apple Support article Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud. If you accidentally delete a photo or video, you can recover it for 30 days in the Recently Deleted folder in Photos on iCloud.com or in the Photos app on your device.
Photos stored in My Photo Stream and the photos and videos in your Shared Albums don’t count toward your iCloud storage limits.
Learn more. For more information on storage in iCloud, see What is iCloud storage?
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Learn what you can do with iCloud and Photos on any device or on iCloud.com.