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How to share a photo album on an iPhone
While it’s always good to have local backups, there are a number of advantages to saving photos in the cloud, including easier sharing with friends and family. The Shared Albums feature baked into iPhones and iPads lets a group of people add, view, and comment on photos and videos.
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Go to the Albums tab in the Photos app, then tap the plus icon in the upper-left corner. Select New Shared Album, enter a name, and invite one or more people using contact names, email addresses, or the phone numbers of people who use iMessage. Add photos and videos by selecting them elsewhere in the app and using the Share button.
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How to enable album sharing on an iPhone
The Shared Albums feature is dependent on iCloud, so before you try enabling it, make sure you have an iCloud account and that devices you want to access it with are signed in using your Apple ID. The people you share with can have separate Apple IDs or no Apple account at all, though in the second instance you’ll need to use the Public Website option (more on that later).
To allow Shared Albums on an iPhone or iPad:
- Open the Settings app.
- Select your name at the top of the screen.
- Tap on iCloud, then Photos.
- Scroll down and toggle on Shared Albums.
Note that you can also enable the feature on Macs, Windows PCs, and Apple TVs. We won’t cover those platforms here for the sake of brevity, but as a rule, there should be a similar Shared Albums toggle in each platform’s iCloud settings. Windows users need to download the iCloud for Windows app first.
For all Shared Albums, there’s a limit of 5,000 items. The good news is that none of them count against your iCloud storage cap.
How to create a shared album on an iPhone
To create an album:
- Open the Photos app.
- Go to the Albums tab, then tap the plus icon in the upper-left corner.
- Select New Shared Album, enter a name, and hit Next.
- Invite one or more people using contact names. You can also manually enter email addresses, or the phone numbers of people who use Apple iMessage.
- Tap Create.
If you want to invite people who don’t use iCloud, you’ll need to enable the Public Website setting. Once an album is created, open it, then tap the People icon up top. Toggle Public Website. You may need to re-invite people so they get a web link.
How to add and delete photos in a shared album
To add photos or videos to a Shared Album, whether yours or one you’ve been invited to:
- Within another album in the Photos app or the Library tab, tap Select.
- Pick the photos or videos you want, then tap the Share button (a square with an arrow).
- Tap Add to Shared Album.
- Pick the album you want to upload to, then Post.
How to add and remove someone from a shared album
If you’re the creator of a Shared Album, you aren’t stuck with the members you originally invited. To add new ones:
- In the Photos app, open your Shared Album.
- Tap the People icon at the top of the screen, then Invite People.
- Enter the contact names, email addresses, and/or iMessage phone numbers of people you want to invite.
- When you’re ready, tap Add.
To remove someone’s access:
- Open your Shared Album.
- Tap the People icon.
- Select the person you want remove, then Remove Subscriber.
How to save photos from a shared album
If you’re only a participant in a Shared Album, you might want to save local copies of some media. It’s extremely easy — open a file in the Shared Album, tap the Share button, then Save Image or Save Video. The content will appear in your own Photos Library.