iPhoto: Access your photos and videos everywhere with iCloud Photo Library
With iCloud Photo Library, all the photos and video in your photo library are stored in iCloud, so you can access them from your Mac, iOS devices, and iCloud.com. You must turn on iCloud Photo Library on any computer or device that you want to access your library. Any new photos you add to Photos or take with an iOS device are automatically stored in iCloud. If you make edits, you see your changes right away on any device that has iCloud Photo Library turned on.
To set up iCloud Photo Library, you need to:
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Set up an iCloud account. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
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Make sure you have the latest version of OS X. To check for OS X updates, choose Apple menu > App Store, then click Updates.
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Make sure your iOS devices have the latest version of iOS. Tap Settings, tap General, then tap Software Update.
Turn on iCloud Photo Library
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Choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud.
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If you’re not already signed in to iCloud, click Continue, enter your Apple ID and password, and click Sign In. Select whether to use iCloud and Find My Mac, click Next, then close the iCloud Preferences window.
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Select the iCloud Photo Library checkbox to turn it on.
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Select one of the following options:
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Download Originals to this Mac: Stores the original versions of your photos both on your Mac and in iCloud, so you can always see them even if you’re not connected to the Internet.
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Optimize Mac Storage: Stores smaller-size files on your Mac when disk space is limited, and keeps the original, full-size photos in iCloud. If you later want to restore the originals back to your Mac, just select “Download Originals to this Mac.” Restoring the original photos may take some time, depending on the size of your photo library.
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When you first turn on iCloud Photo Library, your photo library is uploaded to iCloud, which can take awhile, depending on the size of your library and the speed of your Internet connection. You can continue to use Photos while your photos are being stored in iCloud.
iCloud Photo Library stores photos and video from only one library, called your System Photo Library. You can have multiple photo libraries, but you can have only one System Photo Library working with iCloud at a time. For more information, see System Photo Library overview and .
Increase your iCloud storage space
Your iCloud account provides 5 GB of free storage space. As your Photos library grows, you can purchase additional space, starting at 20 GB for just $0.99 per month, and increase your storage up to 1 TB.
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Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
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Click the Manage button.
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Click Buy More Storage.
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Click the amount of storage you want, then click Next.
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Type your Apple ID password, then click Buy.
Delete items from iCloud Photo Library
To delete an item from iCloud Photo Library, just delete it from your Photos library: while viewing the photos in a moment, select the item you want to delete and press Delete.
Deleted photos and video aren’t immediately removed from your library; they’re placed in the Recently Deleted album, where they remain for the number of days shown, and then are deleted. You can remove the items immediately using the steps below. Once the items are removed permanently, they’re no longer available on any device that accesses your iCloud Photo Library.
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To immediately delete photos from the Recently Deleted album, choose File > Show Recently Deleted.
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Select the items you want to delete and click Delete [number] items.
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Click OK.
Recover deleted items
When you delete items from your Photos library, they’re placed in the Recently Deleted album, then permanently deleted from your Mac after the number of days shown. You can restore the deleted items within that period. Recovered items appear again on all your computers and devices that access iCloud Photo Library.
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Choose File > Show Recently Deleted.
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Select the items you want to restore, then click Recover.
Stop using iCloud Photo Library
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Choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud.
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Deselect the iCloud Photo Library checkbox to turn it off.
After you turn off iCloud Photo Library, the Photos app on your Mac can’t access your iCloud library, and any edits you make to photos on your Mac won’t appear on your other devices. Your library remains in iCloud and available to other devices that use iCloud Photo Library. To turn off iCloud Photo Library on all your devices, open the iCloud pane of System Preferences, click the Manage button, then click Photo Library. Click “Disable and delete.” Your photos and videos will be deleted from iCloud Photo Library in 30 days, unless you click Undo Delete before that time.