Transferring Photos and Videos from a Shared iCloud Photo Album
If you have been invited to a shared iCloud Photo Album and want to transfer the photos and videos to your own library, you might have discovered that it's not a straightforward process. Unfortunately, Apple does not provide a built-in way to transfer the entire album or a subset of it. However, there are workarounds that involve downloading the photos and videos manually.
Accessing the Shared Album
To access the shared album, open the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Click on the "Shared" tab at the bottom of the screen (on iPhone and iPad) or in the sidebar (on Mac). You should see a list of all the shared albums you have been invited to. Click on the album you want to transfer the photos and videos from.
Downloading Photos and Videos
To download a photo or video, open it and click on the "Share" button. Then, select "Download." The photo or video will be saved to your device's camera roll.
If you want to download multiple photos and videos at once, you can use the "Select" feature to choose multiple items. On iPhone and iPad, tap and hold on a photo or video until it pops out of the album. Then, tap on additional photos and videos to select them. On Mac, click on the checkboxes next to the photos and videos you want to download.
Once you have selected the items you want to download, click on the "Share" button and select "Download." The photos and videos will be saved to your device's camera roll.
Using a Third-Party App
If you have a lot of photos and videos to download, manually downloading each one can be time-consuming. In this case, you might want to consider using a third-party app to automate the process.
One such app is Decipher Tools iPhoto Backup Utility. This app allows you to download all the photos and videos from a shared iCloud Photo Album to your Mac. The app is not free, but it can save you a lot of time if you have a large album to transfer.
Transferring to Another iCloud Account
If you want to transfer the photos and videos to another iCloud account, you can use the "Move to Another Album" feature. First, download all the photos and videos to your device's camera roll as described above. Then, create a new album in your own iCloud account and use the "Move to Another Album" feature to move the photos and videos to the new album.
- Apple does not provide a built-in way to transfer photos and videos from a shared iCloud Photo Album.
- To download photos and videos manually, open each item and select "Download" from the Share menu.
- To download multiple photos and videos at once, use the "Select" feature to choose multiple items and then click on the "Share" button and select "Download."
- Consider using a third-party app like Decipher Tools iPhoto Backup Utility to automate the process.
- To transfer the photos and videos to another iCloud account, download them to your device's camera roll and then use the "Move to Another Album" feature to move them to a new album in your own iCloud account.
References
// Example code for downloading a photo or video in Swift
let photo = PHAsset.fetchAssets(withLocalIdentifiers: ["PHOTO\_ID"], options: nil).firstObject
if let photo = photo {
PHImageManager.default().requestImageData(for: photo, options: nil, resultHandler: { (data, _, _, _) in
if let data = data {
let image = UIImage(data: data)
// Save the image to the camera roll
UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum(image!, nil, nil, nil)
}
})
}