The fourth beta of iOS 17 hints at possible options for the rumored Action button on the iPhone 15 Pros, while bringing new toggles for StandBy and AirDrop features.
iOS 17 beta 4 tidbits: Action button options, new StandBy and AirDrop toggles, etc.
Photo Stream
Apple to shut down the My Photo Stream service on July 26—here’s what to do
Apple will shut down My Photo Stream in July 2023, with new uploads no longer accepted. Learn what to do and how to save your originals to keep them.
How to automatically upload burst photos to My Photo Stream
If you’re one who uses the My Photo Stream feature in Photos rather than iCloud, there’s a small setting you might not know about. The setting is to automatically upload burst photos to My Photo Stream and can be quite handy.
Burst photos are terrific for making sure you capture the perfect shot. So instead of just one photo, you can take several with a tap. You then review and keep those you want from the burst. And since you can see and save the images on any device with My Photo Stream, you may want the photos from the bursts there by default.
Here we’ll show you how to automatically upload burst photos to My Photo Stream so you can work with them on iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
How to filter iPhone and Apple Watch screenshots in the Photos app on Mac
As you might imagine, I take tons of screenshots on a weekly basis for work. Instead of connecting my iPhone to my Mac and importing screenshots manually, or instead of using AirDrop, I simply use Photo Stream to do the grunt work.
Photo Stream allows me to access any photo taken with my iPhone, including screenshots, directly from the Photos app on my Mac. Just a few seconds after taking a picture with my iPhone, the photo appears on my Mac. This is great for quickly grabbing iPhone screenshots, and it even allows you to easily access screenshots taken on the Apple Watch.
In this post, I'll show you how I set up a simple Smart Album to separate screenshots—Apple Watch screenshots included—from regular photos.
PhotoAlbums+ for iOS 7: move, secure, and share photos more efficiently
I have to be honest with you and state that for whatever reason, I've never been a big fan of PhotoAlbums+. I've never been big on taking photos with my iPhone, and I certainly don't take photos that I care about hiding from others. That being said, PhotoAlbums+ contains features that jailbreakers should definitely be aware of—features that may help your workflow when it comes to photo management on iOS.
The iOS 7 compatible version of PhotoAlbums+ just recently touched down for both the iPhone and the iPad. Check past the break as we go hands-on in our video walkthrough...
How to prevent iOS screenshots from being uploaded to Photo Stream
On any given week, I take dozens of screenshots of my iPhone or iPad for either personal reason, or as part of my workflow at iDB. For each post I publish involving an app for example, there are at least two screenshots, as you can see above.
Of course, every time you take a screenshot on your iOS device, it is automatically uploaded to your iCloud Photo Stream. Over time, these screenshots can be really annoying and distracting, especially if, like me, you use your Photo Stream as the screen saver of your Apple TV.
Thankfully, a jailbreak tweak called Screenshot Dam is available to stop screenshots from uploading to Photo Stream automatically...
How to have iOS screenshots automagically appear in your Mac’s Finder
I've always loved the simplified iOS approach to screenshot taking just by pressing the power and home button simultaneously. This oft-used feature works in absolutely any app and, as an added bonus, iOS stores my screenies in the Camera Roll as crisp, lossless PNG files.
An indispensable part of my daily blogging workflow, I grab app graphics on a daily basis for use in reviews, news articles and guides such as this one. The old-school approach to syncing iOS screenshots (along with your photos) entails connecting your device to a Mac or PC via USB. But if you're anything like me, you've long cut the cord to enjoy the benefits of wireless sync.
Now, iCloud makes photo sync a no-brainer: that is, unless the very thought of firing up iPhoto or Aperture on your Mac just to access your Photo Stream drives you nuts.
There must be a better way to bypass these resource-intensive apps and have the screenshots taken on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch automagically appear just a mouse click away in your Mac's Finder. Read on for the full breakdown...
iOS 6: Shared Photo Streams
Shared Photo Streams is a new feature in iOS 6 that allows you to selectively share photo albums with friends and family of your choosing. Unlike the My Photo Stream feature which is geared only towards individual photo sharing amongst iOS devices and computers owned by you, Shared Photo Streams brings a social element to iOS photography.
The streaming element comes from the fact that you can dynamically add or remove photos from a shared album and they will almost instantaneously appear or disappear on demand. Album viewers can also comment and like your photos, and you will receive push notifications any time someone does so.
Take a look at our full video walkthrough above for a look into how Shared Photo Streaming works.
Shared Photo Streams coming to iOS 6
Photo Stream has always been a nice feature, but it's always felt a bit limited, because you can't currently share your Streams with other iOS users. Now all of that is about to change with iOS 6.
Shared Photo Streams will allow you to share you photos on the fly with selected iOS users. This could be a great feature to keep family and friends in touch with what's going on in your life...
We’re giving away 10 copies of PhotoAlbums+
We've talked about PhotoAlbums+ a couple of times here on iDB over the past two years. The tweak adds a host of features to the stock Photos app like the ability to create password-protected albums on the fly.
Well the developers just released a major update to PhotoAlbums+, adding new PhotoStream controls to the package. And even better, they've given us 10 free copies to giveaway to our awesome readers! Read on...
Forget iPhoto, save all of your Photo Stream photos to a folder on OS X
One of my favorite components of iCloud is Photo Stream. I love having instant access to all of my photos on both my iPhone and iPad. Having instant access to my photos on my laptop is awesome too, but there is one major caveat.
You see, to access your Photo Stream photos on your Mac computer, you have to go through iPhoto — which I hate. It takes forever to load and the UI is terrible. Luckily, I've just come across a software-free way to access my Photo Stream photos on my computer...
‘3G Unrestrictor 5’ is More Proof That the iPhone 4S Jailbreak is Imminent
Need more proof that the iPhone 4S jailbreak is right round the corner? Then look no further than 3G Unrestrictor 5, the first tweak to our knowledge that outright claims support for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on its Cydia page.
3G Unrestrictor is a tweak that enables FaceTime calls and high quality YouTube streams over 3G. Its latest update brings iCloud Backups, and Photo Stream to the world of 3G as well.
It's on sale for a limited time for $0.99 (existing customers), so if you think you're going to need its services, especially on your newly jailbroken iPhone 4S, you might want to take a look inside.