My Photostream

[DaveWT]

I have a confession. I have been a (happy) user of My Photostream for years. I get it. It is going away very soon and I need to amend my ways. But I sure don't understand the messages on this I have been receiving. I first read about its demise on the websites for MacRumors and AppleInsider. Then I heard Chas expand on this on his excellent AppleInsider Daily podcast. Finally, I listened to Alan's Tech Talk today. Some of the drawbacks of My Photostream I heard listed were:
1. You have to select which photos you want sent via My Photostream
2. The photos sent that way will be "much" lower resolution
3. You have to be sure to save the photos received this way to your Library

In fact, the way I have been using My Photostream all these years, is as follows.
1. When I take a photo on my iPhone, it appears on my Mac in Photos without me doing anything else to "select" them first.
2. As far as I can see (by checking info, Get Info etc. on both devices) the photos that arrive on my Mac are the same resolution as what left my iPhone, and if I AirDrop a photo from my iPhone to my Mac and then put it into Photos it is also at the same resolution.
3. The photos that arrive on my Mac from the iPhone end up in my Library without any further action from me.

So while I will give up on depending on My Photostream going forward, I am disturbed by the reasons given supporting its demise.

 

[Cougurr]

Dave, as a lifetime user of Photostream I must agree with your list of the ways you used it, just as have.
I cannot comment on the reasons you listed for its retirement, but I certainly have never had to do or experienced any of the three comments you have listed.

I now have moved on to iCloud Photos and admit it does do a good job.

The only comment I would make is relative to your second list item 3.. Yes my photos would arrive on my Mac into a Photostream folder dated by month. However I had also selected the option to automatically add them to my iPhoto library (yes back in the iPhoto days). Things did change when we moved into Photos. My named/dated monthly Photostream folders stopped generating automatically and the pictures all just went into a single folder for Photo stream. They still moved on into my Library on their own though. I am disappointed that Apple did not elect to keep this option updated and improved over the last few years, but like I said my life now with iCloud photos is going very well. I do not regret the move now that I am using it.
Just my nickel's worth.
Colin

 

[DaveWT]

Thanks for your comments, Colin. Perhaps I am not crazy after all.

Dave

 

[DaveWT]

I have one concern about moving from My Photostream to iCloud photos... If I take a photo on my iPhone and it goes into iCloud photos and from there to my Mac, if I then delete that photo from my iPhone, will it be deleted from my Mac as well or remain there? That's what I am currently achieving with My Photostream.

 

[chas_m]

I have one concern about moving from My Photostream to iCloud photos... If I take a photo on my iPhone and it goes into iCloud photos and from there to my Mac, if I then delete that photo from my iPhone, will it be deleted from my Mac as well or remain there? That's what I am currently achieving with My Photostream.

Yes. iCloud Photos is totally synced across all devices. Delete a photo from any synced device, and it will be deleted everywhere.*

*actually, it’s moved to the “recently deleted” folder for 30 days.

 

[DaveWT]

Thanks Chas, That confirms that iCloud photos is not for me. I do NOT want all the photos I have on my Mac (15,000) to also appear on my iPhone. Photos on my iPhone is for photos I might want to show to a friend sort of thing, and I am regularly deleting older ones that are "stale". I would hate to have to scroll through 15,000 to find the one I want to show. I know I can connect the iPhone to the Mac with a cable, but that is a bother. I guess I will get in the habit of using AirDrop more often.