{"id":3112,"date":"2026-08-20T14:10:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/?p=3112"},"modified":"2026-08-20T14:13:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:13:02","slug":"ios-27-changes-icloud-shared-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/ios-27-changes-icloud-shared-albums\/","title":{"rendered":"iOS 27 changes Shared Albums: better quality, but your iCloud storage will take the hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apple is preparing a fairly subtle change with iOS 27<\/strong>, but it could become much more noticeable when some users check how much space they have left in iCloud. Shared Albums in the Photos app<\/strong> are finally dropping a limitation that was starting to feel seriously outdated: images can now be stored at their original resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is great news for image quality. The catch is that Apple is also changing one particularly generous rule that has existed for years: new Shared Albums will now use their owner’s iCloud storage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is another important detail: content uploaded by other participants will count too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shared Albums finally move to full resolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Until now, Shared Albums were not really designed to preserve original files. Photos added to them were generally resized to 2,048 pixels on the longest edge<\/strong>, while panoramas could reach 5,400 pixels wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That compression came with one major advantage: content stored in Shared Albums did not count against your iCloud storage quota<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With iOS 27, Apple is changing that compromise. New albums will preserve photos in full resolution<\/strong>, making them far more useful for sharing memories without sacrificing image quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downside is obvious: those files require much more storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album owner also pays for everyone else’s photos<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is probably the most significant change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When someone creates a new Shared Album under iOS 27, its content counts against their own iCloud storage<\/strong>. This does not apply only to photos uploaded personally by the owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ten people join a vacation album and start uploading photos and videos, the storage used will be charged to the album owner’s account<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For someone with a generous iCloud+ plan, the impact may be relatively minor. For users still relying on Apple’s free 5GB tier<\/strong>, things could get complicated very quickly. A handful of modern high-resolution videos can already consume several gigabytes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technically, the decision makes sense because storing original files has a cost. From a user’s perspective, however, it could create some unpleasant surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple is also opening albums to Android and Windows<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Apple is making Shared Albums considerably more open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With iOS 27, friends and family will be able to join and contribute to an album from the web<\/strong>, even without an Apple device or Apple Account. Android and Windows users will therefore be able to participate through iCloud.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a meaningful improvement for Photos, which has traditionally worked best when everyone involved owned an iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, this greater accessibility could also increase storage consumption. The easier it becomes for guests to contribute their files, the faster a family or event album can grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Existing Shared Albums are not going away<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is an important distinction: existing Shared Albums will not automatically be converted<\/strong> to the new system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple plans to offer an option for upgrading an older album to take advantage of improved image quality. Doing so will cause its content to start using iCloud storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So users should not suddenly see years of family albums consuming their storage simply because they installed iOS 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A free alternative, but limited to 30 days<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Apple is also introducing an interesting alternative: temporary Shared Albums<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These provide a collaborative space that does not consume the owner’s iCloud quota<\/strong>, making them useful for collecting pictures from a wedding, birthday or vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an important trade-off, though: after 30 days<\/strong>, photos and videos that have not been saved to a photo library are deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distinction is fairly clear: permanent, full-quality storage on one side and free temporary sharing on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another change that makes iCloud+ increasingly relevant<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This update objectively improves a feature that was showing its age. In 2026, heavily reducing photo resolution in a service built directly into Apple’s ecosystem was becoming difficult to justify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the other consequence is equally difficult to ignore: users will need more iCloud storage<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between iPhone backups, iCloud Photos, Messages, documents and now full-resolution Shared Albums, Apple’s free 5GB allowance looks smaller than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the real issue is not that these new albums consume storage. It is that Apple still offers just 5GB for free<\/strong>, despite modern devices producing increasingly large photos and videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My take<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Apple’s new approach ultimately makes more sense: a genuine full-quality photo album is more useful than a free service built around heavily reduced copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing Android and Windows users to participate is another welcome improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strange part is that someone could innocently create a family album and discover that hundreds of pictures uploaded by relatives are consuming their own storage<\/strong>. Apple will need to make this rule extremely clear inside Photos, otherwise iOS 27 could deliver a few unwanted surprises when it arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAQ<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do Shared Albums use iCloud storage in iOS 27?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes. New permanent Shared Albums created with iOS 27 use the owner’s iCloud storage to preserve content at full resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do photos uploaded by guests count too?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Photos and videos contributed by other participants also use the Shared Album owner’s iCloud quota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will existing Shared Albums use my storage?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not automatically. Existing albums remain under the previous system unless they are upgraded to the new format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I still create a Shared Album without using storage?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes. iOS 27 introduces temporary Shared Albums that do not use iCloud storage, but unsaved content is deleted after 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can Android users participate?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes. The new system allows people to join and contribute to Shared Albums through the web, including from Android and Windows devices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple is preparing a fairly subtle change with iOS 27, but it could become much more noticeable when some users check how much space they have left in iCloud. Shared Albums in the Photos app are finally dropping a limitation that was starting to feel seriously outdated: images can now be stored at their original resolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3113,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3112\/revisions\/3113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.certideal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}