Apple's iCloud service includes iCloud Photos, a free service Apple offers for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. It lets you create shared albums that your friends, family, and co-workers can access, comment upon, and even add their own images and video. By default, iCloud Photos uses iCloud accounts, but you can also create a private iCloud.com website for non-iCloud users to view photos and video.

Why use a shared album instead of a service like Instagram or Facebook? iCloud's albums allow for greater privacy than both services — iCloud Photosis encrypted, and your activities are only shared with the people you've invited to the group instead of the general public.

How to enable iCloud Photo Sharing

When you enable iCloud Photo Sharing on yourbest Mac or smart device, you can create and share albums with other people that also have an iCloud account. You can also be invited to share someone else's album after you've enabled it.

1. Launch theSettings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tapPhotos.
3. Toggle theShared Albums switch on.

1. Launch thePhotos app on your Mac.
2. SelectPhotos from the app menu in the upper left corner.
3. SelectPreferences from the drop-down menu.
4. Select theiCloud tab.
5. Tick the box foriCloud Photos.
6. Tick the box forShared Albums.

1. On your PC, open theStart Menu and navigate to theiCloud folder.
2. Open theiCloud application.
3. In thebox that pops up, click on theOptions button next to Photos.

4. Check the box labelediCloud Photos to enable this option.

How to disable iCloud Photos

Want to turn off iCloud's photo-sharing features? You need only switch off the option in settings.

1. Launch theSettings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tapPhotos.
3. Toggle theShared Albums switch off.

1. Launch thePhotos app on your Mac.
2. SelectPhotos from the app menu in the upper left corner.
3. SelectPreferences from the drop-down menu.
4. Select theiCloud tab.
5. Untick the box forShared Albums.

1. On your PC, open theStart Menu and navigate to theiCloud folder.
2. Open theiCloud application.
3. In thebox that pops up, click on theOptions button next to Photos.
4. Uncheck the box labelediCloud Photos.

Navigating iCloud Photos

There are a lot of ways you can organize, view, and interact with shared albums in iCloud Photos. You canview and create shared photo albums, but you can also interact with them in a social media-like way byliking, commenting, and adding subscribers as well.

Now you're all set!

iCloud Photos is easy to use once you have it enabled on youriPhone, iPad, or computer. Keep in mind it can take a while for the photos on your devices to sync to the cloud, so don't be alarmed if some content doesn't show up right away. Once everything is synced up, your library will look the same across all devices.

Updated December 2022: Updated to reflect the latest on iCloud Photos.