With the launch of OS X and iOS Yosemite 8 service has evolved becoming iCloud Drive, a real hard disk online (Dropbox style) on which you can load different content, first of all the photos and videos made with iPhone and iPad to keep them permanently.
Guided by today then we will see together how to archive photos to iCloud using all the functions - old and new - that Apple's platform makes available to us. Choose your favorite.
The first way to store photos on iCloud is to use Photo Stream service that is enabled by default on all iOS devices and allows you to have some sort of online hard disk they are stored temporarily all the photos and screenshots made with iPhone and iPad .
According to the official documentation of the platform Apple Photo Stream can store up to 1,000 images at a time for a total period of 30 days. This means that the loading of the picture number 1,001 older ones are deleted and you can not keep the same image on the server iCloud for more than 30 days, in reality, however, these limits are not always respected: sometimes you can not access the same image even after 30 days.
Among the most interesting features of this feature - in addition to the backup of photos in itself - there are automatic synchronization of images of all devices connected to your Apple ID (including computers) and the failure to erosion of the storage space on iCloud. The Photo Stream, in fact, goes beyond what is provided for storage space on your account to iCloud Drive.
To make sure the service is up Photo Stream on your iPhone / iPad, access to the iOS settings by pressing on the appropriate icon on the home screen and select the items iCloud> Photo from the menu that pops up. If the lever option Upload to "My photo stream" is set to ON, the function is already active, otherwise you activate it by pressing on the switch.
Following you'll find all the photos downloaded from streaming photos by accessing the Photos app, by going in the album section of the latter and by selecting the icon My photo stream.
From iOS 8.1, Apple introduced a new way to archive photos to iCloud. This is the function of iCloud Photo Library that differs from Photo Stream to support the video and the fact that no limit to the number of content that can be uploaded online.
It is a free service but unfortunately goes to affect the storage space on iCloud Drive. This means that to use it in a decent way must expand 5GB account base by signing one of the paid plans of iCloud: 0,99 £ / month for 20GB, 3.99 £ / month for 200GB, 9.99 £ / month 500GB or 19.99 £ / month for 1TB.
Another interesting feature of the Photo Library of iCloud is the synchronization Smart content on user devices: on Apple's servers are loaded photos and videos in original resolution as the iPhone, iPad and Mac are downloaded version optimized to preserve disk space . Who wants to, of course, can turn this feature off and obtain the files always original resolution by going to Settings> iCloud> Photo and by checking the item Download and keep the original.
If you want to activate the Photo Library of iCloud on your iPhone or iPad, went in iOS Settings and select items iCloud> File> Change storage plan to sign one of the paid plans of iCloud Drive, then go to Settings> iCloud> Photo and turns ON the trigger option Photo Library iCloud.
Activating the Photo Library of iCloud you can browse all your photos and video even from the browser. Simply connect to the to iCloud website using any computer, log on with the details of your Apple ID and click on Photo.
Interesting, is not it? But in reality to view photos taken with your iPhone or iPad online do not have the photo gallery service iCloud, just take advantage of the function of photo sharing integrated in iOS, which is free and does not go to affect the storage iCloud Drive.
To create a shared album that you can view online not need to do is start the application photos of your iPhone / iPad, select the tab Shared and press the + button located in the upper left.
In the box that opens, type the name you want to assign album, presses the button Next, select the people you share it (which will be able to view and edit pictures as well as add new album) and press the Create button which is located in the upper right.
At this point, select the album you just created from the app Pictures tab Shared, presses the + button and select the photos (and videos) to add to the collection: it can load up to 5,000 and you can create up to 100 albums .
If you want, you can also create a public album viewable by anyone on the Internet. Just select an album from the Photos app Shared tab, press the People button and turn ON the option Public Website: within a few seconds will show the link to view all photos and videos selected by the browser.
ICloud platform included "standard" in OS X, where the photos are synced automatically through iPhoto, while Windows must install a small client download available on the Apple Web site.
Find all the details on how to install and configure it properly in my guide on how to use iCloud on your computer.
Original post: Salvatore Aranzulla
