Passing your iPhone around the table from friend to friend isn’t the only way to share photos. iCloud Photo Sharing lets you invite people to view albums you create and keep on iCloud. You create an album and invite specific people to see it.
As you add more photos to the album, the invitees are notified that new photos have been added and can go view them. You can also make your album public, and even give others permission to add photos to your album. You and the people you share you album with can “like” a photo or write comments about it.
When you set up Family Sharing a Family album is automatically created in iCloud Photo Sharing. Photos and videos captured by family members on their devices show up in the Family album. Tap the Shared button in the Browse bar to access it.
Sharing photos with a select few
You may find it easier to select your photos and then create an album. And, as you take new photos, you probably want to add them to a shared album. The steps to take are the same for both:
Tap Photos on the Home screen.
Tap the Moment or Album that has the photos you want to share.
To share just one photo, open the photo and then tap the Share button and go to Step 6.
Tap the Select button.
Tap the photos you want to share.
Tap the Share button.
If you want to share all the photos in a Moment, tap the Share button above the Moment, and then tap Share This Moment.
Tap iCloud Photo Sharing.
A dialog opens. Type an optional comment and then do one of the following:
If the album name that appears next to Shared Album is the one you want to add photos to, simply tap Post.
If you want to add the photos to a different existing album, tap Shared Album and then tap the one you want to use.
If you want to create and share a new album, tap Shared Album and then tap New Shared Album.
Tap Post.
Addressees receive an invitation to subscribe to your Shared Album.
After someone joins your shared Shared Album, they’ll be notified when new images are added.
The people you invite to view your shared album have to have an Apple ID, which they use to sign in to it.
Going public with your albums
To make a shared album available to the public through a URL, you have to first create the shared album in one of the two ways explained previously and then go into the album’s settings. Follow these steps:
Tap the Shared button at the bottom of the Photos screen.
The iCloud Photo Sharing list contains all the shared albums you created. The first album, called Activity, shows the history of everything you’ve done with shared albums.
Tap the album you want to make public.
You see all the photos that are in the stream and two tabs at the bottom: Photos and People.
Tap People.
You can do the following:
Tap the disclosure triangle to the right of a name of a subscriber to resend the invitation or remove the subscriber.
Tap Invite People to invite others to see this shared album.
Tap the Subscribers Can Post switch to the on (or off) position if you want invitees to be able to add photos or videos to this album.
Tap the Public website switch to the on (or off) position to change the status of this album. This creates a URL on iCloud so anyone who knows the link can view it.
Tap Share Link, to share the link of a public album via Mail, Message, Twitter, or Facebook or to copy the link so you can paste it elsewhere, such as a newsletter or website.
Tap Notifications if you want to receive alerts in the Notification center when subscribers interact with the album by liking, commenting, or adding photos.
Tap Delete Shared Album to delete this shared album.
(Optional) To stop sharing your album with someone, tap the person’s name in the list at the top of the screen, scroll down the Info screen that appears, and then tap Remove Subscriber.
Liking and commenting on photos
The basis of social networking is sharing and getting feedback on what you shared. If you’re familiar with social networks such as Facebook or Pinterest, liking and commenting on photos will be second nature.
Simply tap the Shared button in the Browse bar, and then tap the Activity album to see all the photos in all your albums or tap the specific album that has the photo you want. Tap the photo and then tap the Like button, if that’s the action you want to take. Tap the Add A Comment field to write something about the photo, and then tap Send.