Think about the best picture you’ve ever taken. It doesn’t matter if it was with your phone or that shiny camera you have. Would you be upset if you something happened and you lost the photo? Chances are, you would.
But fear not, gone are the days of having to explain to your spouse how you lost all the pictures of your newborn or why your honeymoon only exists in your collective memories — hypothetically, of course, not speaking from any kind of previous experience here. Wipster app for mac. Now there are countless cloud-based services for storing your pictures safely. We’ll go over three top cloud storage options for photos and compare their free and paid plans.
The best online photo storage sites we know
Photos—formerly iPhoto—is macOS’s default app for organizing photos. Photos integrates with iCloud and keeps everything synced across your devices. It does a lot of the work on its own and keeps your library reasonably tidy without you having to do much, but it also has support for user-made albums and other organizational features. The best place for all your photos, files, and more. ICloud is built into every Apple device. That means all your stuff — photos, files, notes, and more — is safe, up to date, and available wherever you are. And it works automatically, so all you have to do is keep doing what you love.
So what are your best photo storage options? Well, there are a couple of things to consider before jumping to that answer. The top three photo storage sites that we're going to look into are:
- Apple iCloud
- Google Photos
- Amazon Photos
We’ll see what each of these cloud-based services offers in their free and paid plans. And since we’re on a quest for the best place to store your photos, we’ll get into the major differences between the three, so you can weigh out the pros and cons before making your choice.
Before you upload photos to the cloud
One of the main differentiators between these cloud photo storage sites are their storage limits. When gigabytes cost you, you might want to get frugal about the content you’re uploading and unclutter your photo collection before you sync it to the cloud. That means you should:
- remove duplicate photos, like those you saved to your iPhone twice
- find and sort out similar shots, like five identical selfies of you in The Grand Canyon
- clear out old screenshots, pics out of focus, and other junk
To get rid of similar photos and photo clutter on iPhone, download an app like Gemini Photos. It will scan your devices for duplicate and even similar pics. Download it for free and check it out.
iCloud Photo Library: Apple’s native photo storage
Apple’s iCloud Photo Library (iCloud Photos in the latest OS versions) is the cloud storage most Mac and iPhone users are familiar with. iCloud is the native cloud storage on both iOS and macOS devices, so there’s an immediate benefit for people who are already on these systems.
iCloud Photo Library, as mentioned earlier, works with iOS, macOS and will also sync with Windows devices using the iCloud for Windows app.
iCloud’s free photo storage is available to anyone with an Apple ID and offers 5 GB of storage. There are no functionality differences between the free and paid tiers, only storage capacity varies:
- 50 GB for $0.99/month
- 200 GB for $2.99/month
- 2 TB for $9.99/month
Google Photos: Free photo storage with a catch
The next option, Google Photos, offers an immediate benefit right of unlimited photo storage. And best of all, it’s free. But let’s step back and go over the actual photo storage app before jumping into the differences in their free and paid tiers.
Google does require using a separate app on your iOS device. The app itself should feel somewhat familiar with pictures, albums, and sharing features. But you’ll also notice a handful of features unique to Google Photos. On your Mac, you can use an uploader app and access your photos via a browser at google.photos.com.
As we said earlier, Google Photos does offer unlimited storage, but with a caveat: Google compresses your photos and videos when you upload them. If you want to make sure you always retain the original quality, then you’ll be limited by the storage capacity of your Google Drive.
Thankfully, the free plan Google offers comes with 15 GB, but if that is still not enough, you can always upgrade it:
- 100 GB for $1.99/month
- 200 GB for $2.99/month
- 2 TB for $9.99/month
Amazon Photos: The best photo storage for Prime members
The third pick, Amazon Photos, has free and paid plans comparable to the other two photo storage sites, but its biggest benefit — unlimited storage — requires an Amazon Prime membership.
The Amazon Photos app is required on both iOS and macOS, but your library is also accessible from any browser. A lot of the functionality present in Google Photos and iCloud is there, so you won’t be missing much using the Amazon Photos app (by the way, here's how to use Amazon Photos on iPhone).
Like iCloud, Amazon offers 5 GB of free online photo storage. But more like Google, they offer unlimited storage for all Amazon Prime members — and without the compression. So if you’re already a Prime member, this might be worth your while.
If you’re not a Prime member and find yourself still needing more storage space, Amazon’s plans are:
- 100 GB for $11.99/year
- 1 TB for $59.99/year
Honorable mention: Dropbox
Any conversation about cloud storage isn’t complete without at least mentioning Dropbox. While not explicitly known as a place to store photos, Dropbox is highly versatile and can easily compete with top online photo storage sites.
The free Dopbox plan comes with 2 GB of storage. However, unlike the other options on this list, Dropbox offers a few more bells and whistles with its paid plan — like offline file access and remote device wipe. The two paid tiers are:
- Plus - 1 TB for $9.99/month
- Professional - 2 TB for $19.99/month
Because Dropbox is not solely for online picture storage, their app is more similar to Finder on Mac and lacks some of the photo features offered by the other three.
So as you can see, the top three cloud storage options all offer similar features and comparable storage at competitive prices. What your best photo storage option is really depends on what added benefits you get out of it. Let’s recap:
- Apple iCloud is an excellent solution if you’re an iOS/macOS users and want to keep photos within the Apple ecosystem.
- Google Photos offers unlimited free photo storage, if you’re okay with slightly compressing your photos.
- Amazon Photos is your best bet if you’re already an Amazon Prime member.
- Dropbox is worth considering if you’re looking to store other files, not just your photos.
If you’re still unsure which photo cloud to choose, why not try them all out? They all offer free plans to varying degrees. Set aside a small portion of your photo library and back it up using the options that seem interesting to you. Once you get hands-on experience, you’ll see which photo storage app is right up your alley.
How it works
iCloud Photos automatically keeps every photo and video you take in iCloud, so you can access your library from any device, anytime you want. Any changes you make to your collection on one device change on your other devices too. Your photos and videos are organized into Years, Months, Days, and All Photos.And all of your Memories and People are updated everywhere. That way you can quickly find the moment, family member, or friend you're looking for.
![New New](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134051795/185422126.jpg)
Your collection uploads to iCloud each time your device connects to Wi-Fi and your battery is charged. When you have iOS 11 or later, your library can update over cellular too. Depending on your Internet speed, the time it takes for you to see your photos and videos on all of your devices and iCloud.com might vary.
![Apple photo app for mac Apple photo app for mac](/uploads/1/3/4/0/134051795/478267626.png)
Before you begin
- Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to the latest iOS or iPadOS, your Mac to the latest macOS, and your Apple TV to the latest tvOS.
- Set up iCloud on all of your devices.
- Make sure that you’re signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID on all of your devices that you want to use with iCloud Photos.
- If you have a Windows PC, update to Windows 7 or later and download iCloud for Windows.
Turn on iCloud Photos
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then turn on iCloud Photos.
- On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Apple ID. Click iCloud in the sidebar, then select Photos. If you have an earlier version of macOS, go to System Preferences > iCloud. Click Options next to Photos, then select iCloud Photos.
- On Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > iCloud. Then turn on iCloud Photos.
- On your Windows PC, follow these steps.
In earlier versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and iCloud for Windows, iCloud Photos was called iCloud Photo Library.
See your edits on all of your devices
When you make edits in the Photos app on your iOS or iPadOS device or on your Mac, the photo automatically updates across all your devices. So when you crop or enhance a photo from your iPhone, you see the changes when you access your library from your Mac. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and you can go back to them at any time, and revert any changes you made.
The photos and videos that you delete on one device are deleted everywhere that you use iCloud Photos. Photos and videos stay in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days before they're deleted permanently.
You can make edits on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, and you’ll see them on your Apple TV automatically. Your entire collection is available on Apple TV, including your Memories and shared albums.
File types that you can use with iCloud Photos
Your photos and videos are stored in iCloud exactly as you took them. All of your images are held in their original formats at full resolution — HEIF, JPEG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, HEVC, and MP4 — as well as special formats you capture with your iPhone, like slo-mo, time-lapse, 4K videos, and Live Photos.
Back up your photos and videos
When you turn on iCloud Photos, your photos and videos automatically upload to iCloud. They're not duplicated in your iCloud backup, so you should keep backup copies of your library. You can download your photos and videos from iCloud.com to your computer and store them as a separate library, transfer them to another computer with Image Capture or Photos, or store them on a separate drive.
If you're on a device with iOS 11 or later or macOS High Sierra or later, the photos and videos you take are in HEIF and HEVC format. These formats use less storage, with the same quality.
Download your photos and videos
You can download a copy of your original photos or videos on iCloud.com, iOS, iPadOS, or Mac.
- On iCloud.com, click Photos, then select the photos and videos that you want to download. Click and hold the download button in the upper-right corner of the window. If you want to download your content as it was originally captured or imported, choose Unmodified Original. For JPEG or H.264 format — including edits, and even if it was orginally in HEIF or HEVC format — choose Most Compatible. Click download.
- On iOS and iPadOS, you can use AirDrop: in the Photos app, select some photos or videos. Tap the share button , then select the device that you want to share with. Learn more about using AirDrop.
- On Mac, select one or more photos. Drag the content to your desktop, or right-click and select Share > AirDrop.
Make sure that you have enough storage
The photos and videos that you keep in iCloud Photos use your iCloud storage and your device storage. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud and on your device, you can store as many photos and videos as you like.
When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more space, you can buy more iCloud storage. Plans start at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month. If you choose 200GB or 2TB plans, you can share your storage with family. https://cleverintra547.weebly.com/blog/soundtouch-app-laptop-mac.
Learn more about plans and prices in your region.
Save space on your device
iCloud Photos keeps all your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
- Tap Photos.
- Choose Optimize [device] Storage.
On your Mac:
- Open the Photos app and click Photos in the menu bar.
- Click Preferences.
- Go to the iCloud tab and choose a storage setting.
If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
If you turn on Download Originals, iCloud Photos keeps your original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and on your device.
Pause library uploads to iCloud
When you turn on iCloud Photos, the time it takes for your photos and videos to upload to iCloud depends on the size of your collection and your Internet speed. If you have a large collection of photos and videos, your upload might take more time than usual. You can see the status and pause the upload for one day. https://cleverintra547.weebly.com/blog/unistall-mail-app-mac.
Mac Photos App Download
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos. You can also open the Photos app, go to the Photos tab, and scroll to the bottom of your screen.
- On your Mac, open the Photos app. Select Photos in the sidebar, then click All Photos in the list of tabs in the toolbar. Scroll to the bottom of your photos and click Pause.
Learn more
Mac Photos Cloud
- Rediscover favorite and forgotten occasions from your photo library with Memories.
- Find your missing photos or delete the ones that you don't want anymore.