iCloud.com Photos App Gains New Uploading Capabilities

by

Following two weeks of testing on the iCloud beta site for developers, the consumer-facing iCloud.com site has gained support for uploading images to iCloud Photo Library (via iFun.de [Google Translate]).

Before the addition of the new uploading tool, the standard iCloud.com site allowed users to view all of their iCloud Photo Library images, as well as download and delete them, but it did not have a tool to allow users to upload photos captured with non-Apple devices.

icloudbetasiteuploadtool

New toolbar with upload support on iCloud.com site at top, previous iCloud.com toolbar on bottom

The new uploading feature on the iCloud.com site makes it possible to upload JPGs, but as with the beta feature, other image and video formats like .PNG, .MOV, .AVI, .MP4, and more are not supported. When a file is uploaded to the site, it syncs instantly to all of a user's iOS devices, much like a photo taken on an iPhone or iPad or added to iCloud Photo Library via the iOS Photos app.

Currently in beta and introduced alongside iOS 8.1, iCloud Photo Library stores all of the photos and videos that a user takes in iCloud, making them available on all iOS devices and Macs. iCloud Photo Library images can be viewed in the Photos app on iOS or through iCloud.com on the Mac, and the upcoming Photos app that Apple is creating for Macs will also work with iCloud Photo Library.

Users should be aware that photos uploaded to iCloud Photo Library use iCloud storage space. Apple offers 5GB of storage space for free, with additional plans ranging from $0.99 for 20GB of storage space to $19.99 for 1TB of storage space.

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store. The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump. ...
Read Full Article • 71 comments
Finder Siri Feature

Apple's New Siri Will Be Powered By Google Gemini

Wednesday November 5, 2025 11:57 am PST by
The smarter, more capable version of Siri that Apple is developing will be powered by Google Gemini, reports Bloomberg. Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion per year for a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model that was developed by Google. For context, parameters are a measure of how a model understands and responds to queries. More parameters generally means more...
Read Full Article • 368 comments
Liquid Glass General Feature

Apple Shares Liquid Glass Design Gallery

Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences. The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
Read Full Article • 116 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more. Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features. Liquid Glass Toggle iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass. In the Settings app, under Display...
Read Full Article
airtag purple

Apple's Website Lists AirTag 4-Pack at Shockingly Low Price [Updated]

Friday November 7, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple's online store in the U.S. is suddenly offering a pack of four AirTags for just $29, which is the same price as a single AirTag. This is likely a pricing error, and it is unclear if orders will be fulfilled. Apple has not discounted the AirTag four-pack in any other countries that we checked. Delivery estimates are already pushing into late November to early December, suggesting...
Read Full Article • 94 comments
apple watch se 3 always on

Apple to Remove iPhone-Apple Watch Wi-Fi Sync in EU With iOS 26.2

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report. Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...
Read Full Article • 217 comments
ikea smart home devices

IKEA Debuts 21 HomeKit-Compatible Smart Bulbs, Sensors, and Controls

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:08 pm PST by
IKEA today announced the upcoming launch of 21 new Matter-compatible smart home products that will be able to interface with HomeKit and the Apple Home app. There are sensors, lights, and control options, all of which will be reasonably priced. Some of the products are new, while some are updates to existing lines that IKEA previously offered. There are a series of new smart bulbs that are...
Read Full Article • 74 comments
Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple's 2026 Smart Home Revamp: All the Rumors

Wednesday November 5, 2025 3:54 pm PST by
It's been over a decade since Apple's HomeKit smart home platform launched, and it is overdue for an update. HomeKit and the Home app can no longer keep up with AI-powered solutions from other companies like Google and Amazon, but that's set to change with a smart home revamp that Apple has planned for 2026. Home Hub Apple is working on a home hub or "command center" that will serve as a...
Read Full Article • 56 comments

Top Rated Comments

iphone495 Avatar
iphone495
143 months ago
Still waiting for the new Photos app.

----------

Jennifer Lawrence can't say the same.

Sorry, I had to say it.

Any update to iCloud is a good one. In the last few weeks I've looked into using it more due to its security.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
proline Avatar
proline
143 months ago
Where is the Photos app for OSX??? :eek:
In 2015, right where you were told it was.

----------

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY must you force syncing photos to all devices?!?!?
I don't want all my devices to have all the exact same content on them.

The whole point of storing my photos in iCloud Photo should be to NOT HAVE TO STORE them on my mobile devices and free up space.

I want to store photos in iCloud and then be able to access them from my phone or tablet through a browser or app when I want, and then choose whether or not I would like to upload chosen photos to be stored on the device that I want.

iCloud Drive is a joke as well, and from the beginning was incredibly misleading as to how it functions, especially with the photos of the iCloud main folder screen shown on the iPhone.
I asked an apple employee how to access that screen on my iPhone and none of them could figure out how...... because, you can't.

It is not at all a true "cloud storage drive" à la drop box, google drive, etc with direct folder/file access and customization to stored content.
Only specific apps can access / use it.

Why not create a native "iCloud app" to access / manage etc.. iCloud content?

Apple's got this all wrong IMO.
You are incredibly ignorant, please stop talking about this. iCloud photos requires zero local storage to display your entire library, and uses local storage to cache photos only when free local storage is available. Turn on the 'optimize local storage' and grow up. Nobody needs to delete photos from iCloud to free up device space.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
luchid Avatar
luchid
143 months ago
So the choice is degradated copies of everything or original copies of everything? :eek:



That's just not going to work for a lot of people.
As soon as you view an image it is downloaded in full quality. So you're wrong.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
metfuel Avatar
metfuel
143 months ago

The whole point of storing my photos in iCloud Photo should be to NOT HAVE TO STORE them on my mobile devices and free up space.

That is what I thought as well, but I have heard more than one person talk about freeing up the storage on your devices using iCloud Photos and they seem to think that your devices will have lower res thumbnails (even though iCloud will have the full resolution picture) and when when you access the thumbnails it will load the full resolution picture. Not sure if that is what they plan on doing but it would make sense.


I have some deeper concerns about switching over to iCloud Photos.

I do not want ALL of my pictures automatically uploaded. I just don't. There are times I save pictures from safari for one off uses, screenshots that I take.

I have all of my family's pictures in an iPhoto library right now and every so often I offload the pictures that are family related only onto my mac and use an automator workflow to tag the file names with the date created and who is in the picture. Then I import them to iPhoto where they live. This is the library that I would want to access anytime and anywhere. If I am automatically uploading pictures straight to iCloud I am junking up my family photo album with all kinds of stuff, and we have no idea how the metadata is handled.

I wish that they would make a separate "camera roll" for screenshots, and the same goes for saved safari (or insert app name here) pictures that would not be automatically included in this.

This is a huge change and they should at least start detailing how the conversion from iPhoto/Aperture is going to happen to Photos for people who have years invested in organizing their photos in Apples ecosystem. It is absolutely insane to me that they aren't coming out with these at the same time (for iOS and the Mac), yes I am the guy you previous posts were talking about. The release of iOS 8 and iCloud Drive separate from Yosemite screwed enough people over and I am sure there are people who don't know what they are doing will turn this on iOS 8 first and then when they turn it on their computer they will have all kinds of duplicates from having imported the pictures from their camera roll and never deleting it off of their phone.

I have used iPhoto since it was introduced and have multiple libraries. I understand that iPhoto will be able to be used for awhile but eventually everything will have to be migrated out of iPhoto to be used either in Photos or an Alternative like Lightroom. I would like to continue to use Apple's software, but I will have to wait on this to see how much of a disaster or how well it goes.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
topherdesign Avatar
topherdesign
143 months ago
no sense at all

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY must you force syncing photos to all devices?!?!?
I don't want all my devices to have all the exact same content on them.

The whole point of storing my photos in iCloud Photo should be to NOT HAVE TO STORE them on my mobile devices and free up space.

I want to store photos in iCloud and then be able to access them from my phone or tablet through a browser or app when I want, and then choose whether or not I would like to upload chosen photos to be stored on the device that I want.

iCloud Drive is a joke as well, and from the beginning was incredibly misleading as to how it functions, especially with the photos of the iCloud main folder screen shown on the iPhone.
I asked an apple employee how to access that screen on my iPhone and none of them could figure out how...... because, you can't.

It is not at all a true "cloud storage drive" à la drop box, google drive, etc with direct folder/file access and customization to stored content.
Only specific apps can access / use it.

Why not create a native "iCloud app" to access / manage etc.. iCloud content?

Apple's got this all wrong IMO.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacVault Avatar
MacVault
143 months ago
Asside from its feature-vacuum, here's (https://www.icloud.com/#photos) what I hate about iCloud...

To use Photos, go to iCloud Settings on your iOS device, tap on Photos, and turn on iCloud Photo Library.

I love Macs and iOS devices but I refuse to be locked to a certain device or platform. I refuse to use services which don't utilize all the AMAZING web app goodness available.

Why, with Apple's resources, is iCloud such a joke?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments