Apple’s My Photo Stream, the free cloud storage system for photos, will be permanently discontinued on July 26. As a result, all photos stored in My Photo Stream will be deleted. To ensure you don’t lose your photos, Apple recommends taking the following steps.

1. Save Your Photos to a Physical Device: To safeguard your photos, locate the original versions on at least one physical device, such as an iPhone or iPad. My Photo Stream pulls photos from the devices where the originals are stored. By keeping the device with your originals, you can prevent any photo loss during this transition.

2. Store Photos in iCloud: Apple suggests using iCloud Photos as a replacement for My Photo Stream. While My Photo Stream is free, iCloud Photos offers up to 5GB of free storage. If you require additional storage, subscription plans are available at three different price tiers. iCloud is designed to sync your photos and videos seamlessly across all your Apple devices.

3. Check iCloud Photos Status: Ensure that iCloud Photos is enabled on all your devices. Open your device’s settings, click on your name, then navigate to the iCloud section. Confirm that the photos icon reads “On” next to it. If you already have iCloud Photos enabled, no further action is needed.

4. Save My Photo Stream Images to Your Device: To save images from My Photo Stream to your device’s photo library, follow these steps:

• On a mobile device: Open the “Photos” app, go to “Albums,” select “My Photo Stream,” and tap “Select.” Choose the photos you wish to save.
• On a Mac: Open the “Photos” app, access the “My Photo Stream” album, and select the desired photos. Drag and drop them from the photo stream album to your “Library.”

By following these steps, you can ensure the safety of your photos after the discontinuation of My Photo Stream.

Table: Steps to Save My Photo Stream Images