When you set up or join afamily groupon your Apple device, a Shared Family Album is created automatically in the Photos app on all family members’ devices.
Everyone in the family can add photos and videos to this album. They can also comment and get notified when something new is added. This is handy when you’ve just celebrated Christmas or gone on a holiday and want to share with everyone the moments and memories you captured. But instead of creating an album on Facebook or a multi-post on Instagram with a select few shots, you can directly share all your photos and videos with your family members via a Shared Family Album. That way they can choose which to grab and post on social media themselves if they want.
Confused about how the Shared Family Album works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac? No worries. Pocket-lint made it all easy to understand below.
Shared Family Album: Two things to do before you get started
Before we dive into how to find and add and remove photos to your Shared Family Album, you need to make sure you’ve set up or are in a family group and that you’ve turned on iCloud Shared Albums. This is a one-time thing.
Step 1. Set up your family
One adult in the family - a family organiser —-can set up Family Sharing for the group from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. The family organiser pays for family members' purchases and must have a valid payment method on file.
Want to join an existing family group instead?Check out Apple’s support page for tips on how to join.
Step 2. Turn on iCloud Shared Albums
Finally, to add to a Shared Family Album, you need to ensureiCloud Shared Albumsis turned on on your device. On an iPhone, just go to Settings > Your name > iCloud > Photos, then turn on Shared Albums.
If you want to see what your family members have added to the Shared Family Album, open the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac and go to the Shared section.
On your Mac:
When you want to add images to the Shared Family Album, you’ll be glad to know it works a lot like how you add photos and videos to a normal album on your device.
On your iPhone or iPad:
If you want to delete an image or video in your Shared Family Album, that’s easy - in fact, any family member can delete content from the album at any time.
Want to know more?
Apple has asupport page for Shared Albumsin general if you need more instructions or information.
Pocket-lint also has the following guides for further reading:
Apple Photos
iOS and MacOS
Finally, be sure to tune intoPocket-lint’s Apple hubfor all the latest. The company usually announces new hardware and software in the autumn, so updates to how its apps and services work are likely coming down the pike.
