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Photo Stream for iCloud

Photo stream is a great feature of iOS 5 that was introduced with the iPhone 4S. It is a service that Apple provide to its customers and is part of the iCloud servers. Once you start using this service, you will be impressed of what you could do with it.

Photo Stream is part of the  iCloud service provided by Apple with iOS 5Photostream is very useful if you are in the Apple echo system and you have multiple iOS devices such as iPhones, iPod Touch, iPads, or even a Mac or a PC.

It simply allows you to share your Photos among your devices using iCloud. It works in similar fashion as other iCloud services, but with photos.

For example, if you take a picture on your iPhone, a copy of the picture will go to the camera roll and stored on your iPhone while another copy of the picture is sent to iCloud automatically if it is turned on without your interference.

From the cloud the picture is pushed to all of your devices that have Photo stream turned on. You can easily turn this service on or off from your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or your Mac or PC.

Of course the iCloud service is built in the Mac OSX Lion and is integrated in the Mac OSX. However, you can still get the service for window for free if you have Window Vista or higher by downloading the free iCloud panel.

Once you open the photo stream settings on your iOS device or your computer, you will be able to turn it on or off. Then, you will be able to see all the pictures taken by other iOS devices from the cloud.

The pictures stay on photostream in iCloud for 30 days, and then they get deleted automatically. Therefore, Photostream is not designed to store photos, it is just a temporary share drive in the cloud. If you want to store and backup your pictures on the cloud, you should enable your Camera roll back up in iCloud settings.

 

Access PhotoStream on iPhone:

You can enable or disable Photo Stream from your iPhone from two locations. You can go to Settings --> iCloud and turn the service on or off or you can do it also from Settings --> Photo as shown below.

Enable photo stream using icloud for iOS 5Enable/Disable camera roll

Once it is turned on, any picture taken from that moment on, using your iPhone will be sent to the cloud. Then from any other iOS 5 devices, Mac or PC, you will be able to see those pictures by going to the PhotoStream album as if they were on your device. It is that simple.

To disable PhotoStream, simply turn it off, and all your pictures from iCloud will be removed from your iPhone. The pictures will stay in iCloud for 30 days. Any picture taken from your iPhone camera will no longer go to the iCloud server.

You can access Photo stream pictures just like any Camera Roll picture. It is located when you open the iPhone photo app just below the Camera Roll album.

Photo Stream for iCloud on iOS 5Photo stream for iOS 5

Once you tap this album, you can treat the photos inside it similar to other albums. For example, you can edit, remove red eye, or crop the picture. Then, you can save it from the cloud to your camera roll.

Edit Photo stream pictures on iOS 5

It is very important that you save the picture you want to keep on your iPhone or other iOS device. Simply tap the picture you want to keep on your iPhone, and then tap the options button shown at the bottom left in the picture below. Then, tap the "Save to Camera Roll" button, otherwise, the picture will be removed after 30 days from the cloud.

Save photo stream pictures to your Camera rollSave your Photo stream photos to camera roll on iOS 5

You would also get the AirPlay button on the bottom right if you have an Apple TV connected to your HDTV. You can then display your pictures on your TV.

 

Access Photo Stream on Mac or PC:

Accessing PhotoStream on your Mac or PC is also simple. For Mac OSX Lion and above, the feature is embedded within iCloud, so simply open iCloud preferences on your Mac, and enable Photo Stream after you login to your iCloud account.

Once it is enabled, you will see a new Album called Photo Stream on the left column of iPhoto

Photo stream for iPhone Mac OSX

On the PC, you will have to download the free iCloud control panel which allows you to enable PhotoStream and select your photos folder.

 

Access PhotoStream on Apple TV:

Photo Stream for iCloud The Apple TV is such a great device that could make your iOS such a great experience.

With all the Apple products and services communicating with each other, you will find photo stream on the Apple TV very exciting.

Any picture you take whether it is using your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone that is sent to iCloud, can be accessed from your Apple TV.

First make sure you have the latest iOS update on the Apple TV.

Then, you can go to the Internet tab in the Apple TV menu and scroll down to Photo Stream.

All the pictures that are on the cloud will be viewed on your Apple TV if you are logged in with the same Apple ID as your other iOS devices.

It is amazing how you can take a picture on your iPhone 4S for example when you are outside of home, while your family at home with an Apple TV can see your pictures a minute after your take it.

 

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