The top menu in the Mac Photos app has a tab labeled Shared. This tab allows you to automatically see photos you have taken on your iPhone or iPad and images that have been shared with you from other Apple devices. Pretty cool! You do have to make sure your mobile devices are running iOS 8 and your Apple computer has been updated to Yosemite OX 10. To check what your device is running…
- Mobile devices like iPhones and iPads: Open Settings, tap on General in the left column, and then on About at the top of the right column. About half way down the right column, you will see Version and next to it a number–that number (8.3 or 8.1 or 7.0, etc.) tells you what version of iOS you are running. iOS is the name of the software that runs your device.
- For you laptop or desktop, go to the very top menu and click on the apple in the far left corner. Then click on About This Mac, and you will find what version of OX you are running. OX is the name of the software that runs your computer.
Before any sharing can go on, you have to have go into Settings on your mobile devices and System Preferences on your computer and make sure everything is set up for sharing. Some folks are apprehensive about messing around in Settings and Systems Preference. No worries, we will show exactly which buttons to tap or click!
First, let’s go to settings on the iPhone or iPad.
1. Tap on the icon on your home screen marked Settings and you should see this screen.
2. Tap on iCloud in the left-hand column. Notice in the right-hand column, you see Photos and to the right of it is an on/off button. Make sure it is in the on position., and then tap next to the word Photos and you will see a screen similar to the one below.
3. You can see in the image above that you have three options: iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream, and iCloud Photo Sharing. Read the description of each function below the label to find out what they do. If you want to share images across your devices you must have My Photo Stream on. We recommend you also turn on iCloud Photo Sharing because it allows someone who also has Apple devices to share their pictures with you via the “Cloud”.
4. You must make these adjustments in Settings on any other Apple mobile devices that you use to take pictures (iPhone/iPad).
5. Now you have to go into System Preferences on your Apple computer. Go to the very top menu and click on the apple in the far left corner. Then click on System Preferences.
6. Find the iCloud icon and click on it and you will see a screen something like the one below. It will look familiar! Click Options next to Photos.
7. When you click Options, you will see this familiar screen. Make sure Photo Stream and iCloud Sharing are checked and click Done.
8. Now you are set up for image sharing.
Photo Streaming
Photo streaming will be automatic. When you take a picture with your iPhone or iPad. it will appear in Photos on your Mac computer. Sometimes it is not instantaneous — your iPad and computer must be connected to WiFi for the sharing to occur.
iCloud Photo Sharing
– Select the picture(s) under the Photo tab you wish to share with another person who has an Apple device. Click on the share icon (box with an arrow).
– Click on iCloud Photo Sharing. This dialog box will appear. You can either choose an album you have already created or click on New Shared Album.
– A new dialog box will then pop up. Add the email addresses of folks with whom you want to share the images. You can also add a message. When you are done, click Create.
That’s it! The person you are sharing with will receive a message about the folder. Remember, they also have to be using Apple devices.
Next post will be on attaching an image to a text or email directly from Photos.
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