Latest iOS 12 Beta Lets Users Generate iCloud Links for Sharing Pictures in the Photos App

In the latest beta of the upcoming iOS 12 update, Apple has included a feature that lets users generate iCloud links for sharing pictures via the stock Photos app.

The iCloud.com URL link option, first noticed by Reddit user Hunkir
The new sharing option appears in the bottom row of the iOS Share Sheet, and allows users with iCloud Photos enabled to copy an iCloud.com URL link to one or several selected images that lasts for 30 days.

Clicking a link in an email takes the recipient to a web page containing the image in question, as well as an option to download it. Sharing a link in the Messages app also shows a preview of the image right in the chat thread. The link also includes the author's name, the photo's title, and associated EXIF data, excluding location information.

The addition should come in handy for times when you quickly want to share an image from your iOS device, minus the hassle of uploading it to a third-party service. It's also more than likely that the iCloud link sharing option will feature in macOS Mojave.

For more on all the changes coming in iOS 12, check out our dedicated roundup.

Related Roundup: iOS 12

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

unsaltedrhino

16 months ago

Is this just individual photos, or can I share albums this way? AFAIK, Apple still doesn’t allow you to create shared iCloud albums that just reference the originals, instead it creates duplicates which have to be re-uploaded and take up iCloud storage space - or has this changed?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht202786

“The photos and videos in your shared albums are kept in iCloud, but they don't count against your iCloud storage limit ('https://support.apple.com/kb/HT205703').”

Rating: 4 Votes

Benjamin Iveagh

16 months ago

Nice! Can’t believe we didn’t have this until now

We did have this, it just took more steps. You had to create a shared album, make it public, and send the URL to others.

Rating: 3 Votes

Sunday Ironfoot

16 months ago

Great. Now add support for sharing files in iCloud Drive via URL and I can finally drop Dropbox.

Rating: 2 Votes

mattopotamus

16 months ago

Is this finally a way to share the family photos between me and my wife? Because as of now we just send us the photos and videos with a message and copy it in each library since there is no way to share one single photo library like you can do with the music library.

Use the shared family album. “Family” is on by default if you have a family account.

Rating: 2 Votes

alexmarchuk

16 months ago

In full image file? Not compressed.

Looks pretty good here, even videos look close to original (haven’t compared sizes or anything though).

Rating: 2 Votes

canesalato

16 months ago

Cool feature

Rating: 2 Votes

chmarch

16 months ago

It absolutely baffles me that someone on these forums who has over 1000 posts does not know what shared photo streams are! Yes, you can call me a "newbie", I typically do not post on macrumors. But I have had every iPhone iteration since the beginning. When Scott Forstall introduced shared photo streams in 2012 on iOS 6, I was so excited! [MEDIA=youtube]6QikFGO0T_I[/MEDIA] Then Apple fired Scott and completely forgot about the feature. Look at the crippled interface on iPad STILL in the coming iOS 12. This is a very nice feature, and hopefully people will catch on to stop filling up my iMessages with pictures!

Rating: 1 Votes

mattopotamus

16 months ago

Thanks a lot.

You can also comment on the photos and "like" them like FB or Instagram. That is a nice feature when you have a shared album with a group.

Rating: 1 Votes

Sefstah

16 months ago

Wow, we’re jest getting that now in 2018?! Sometimes I wonder if anyone at Apple is checking out what the rest of the world is up to. I dont think it would be a bad idea.

Rating: 1 Votes

unobtainium

16 months ago

So is this like built in Imgur?

It’s like built in Google Photos.

Rating: 1 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]