One of the new features of iCloud is called “Photostream.” It allows all the pictures you take on your iPhone or iPad to appear on all your devices in a matter of seconds.
It also uploads your pictures into your iPhoto without you having to plug in and synchronize!
To use it, you’ll first need to start using iCloud. But that’s a topic for another day (you’re welcome to call Jamie at 503-504-6392 to schedule a time to set it up)! Once you’ve registered for iCloud, go into the System Preferences>iCloud pane and slide the Photostream slider to the right to turn it on.
If you see a message that you need to upgrade your iPhoto, go to the App Store and either Update or Purchase the new version. Then you’ll be able to flip the switch!
Next, go into the settings on your iPhone and iPad through Settings>iCloud, and turn Photostream on there as well.
Now, every time you take a picture, it will be available to you in a new Photostream Album that appears in iPhoto or in the Photos app on your device.
You can’t delete pictures out of the Photostream – they stay in your stream for 90 days or 1000 pictures, whichever comes first. There’s no way to selectively delete individual shots. If you absolutely have to delete them, go to www.iCloud.com and turn Photostream off from there. It will erase ALL the photos, and you can start over.
In iPhoto, Photostream will also instantly import your photos into your library. You’ll need to manually delete the bad or extra pictures, just as you do with a regular import.
To delete photos from your Camera Roll after Photostream imports them, you’ll need to either do it manually right on your iPhone or iPad, or plug into your computer. When you plug in, you’ll get a dialog box that looks like this, and you can then remove all the shots at once.
While Photostream makes it easy to import and share pictures in your iCloud, for which I am grateful, the lack of ability to delete easily may convince you to turn the feature back off. As iCloud matures, Apple will certainly smooth out the workflow!
