Image: Apple
Apple has announced it will discontinue its My Photo Stream service on July 26, 2023. The service—which launched with iCloud in 2011—allows Apple users to upload and sync up to 1,000 photos and videos from the last 30 days across their devices. Unlike iCloud Photos, My Photo Stream does not use any iCloud storage space, but it also does not preserve the full resolution of the media.
According to a support document, Apple will stop accepting new uploads to My Photo Stream on June 26, 2023. Users will have another month to access their existing photos and videos on iCloud before they are deleted on July 26. However, the media will remain on the original device where they were taken or imported, so users will not lose any data.
To save a photo or video from My Photo Stream to another device, users need to open the Photos app, go to the My Photo Stream album, select the media, and tap the Share button to save it to the device's Library.
Apple recommends using iCloud Photos as the best way to keep photos and videos updated and backed up across all devices. But iCloud Photos stores media in full resolution and counts against the iCloud storage limit, so be mindful about what you want to save there.