Innovative Ways Regarding How To Access iCloud Photos On Mac

By Nicholas J. Johnson | November 8, 2019

iCloud is the dedicated and official cloud storage platform from Apple.Inc. Here, users of Apple or Mac-based devices can upload their personal files such as photos, videos, music, and many more. You can access those files from your device anywhere and anytime with the help of iCloud Photos.

In this article, we will discuss how to access iCloud Photos on Mac Operating Systems. It will help you to back up your amazing captured moments safely when you format or restore your Mac device. You can also share those files with anyone by following the important instructions given below.

How to Access Shared iCloud Photos on Mac with Stepwise Guide?

The easiest ways to set up and access your iCloud Photos on Mac are as follows.

Update Mac Device

In order to set up your iCloud Photos account, at first, find out whether your Mac is up-to-date or not. If not, then follow these steps below to update your OS.

Choose the “System Preferences” from the Apple menu, then click on the “Software Update” option. If any updates are available, the “Update” button will be activated automatically.
Select the Update button and wait for the task to finish. The update contains new system files for applications including the Safari, Books, Messages, FaceTime, Calendar, Photos, Mail, etc.

Switch on iCloud Photos

To access the iCloud from your Mac, you have to go to the “System Preferences” option. Choose the iCloud option. Now, click “Options” just beside the Photos section. Then, select the iCloud Photos. Before proceeding further, make sure you select the format of the file to access photos on iCloud.

File Types Available to Access iCloud

In iCloud, the following file types are available, which you can upload and access efficiently. All the pictures and video formats captured can be stored on iCloud in the following formats. So, after selecting the format, you can access them in full resolution on iCloud as well as on your Mac.

HEIF
JPEG
RAW
MP4
GIF
TIFF
HEVC
PNG

You can also access 4K Ultra HD videos, Slow-Motion, Time-Lapse file format including the Live Photos from iCloud to your Mac device without any buffer.

Download Files from iCloud

If you want to download files from iCloud to your Mac device, you have to follow a few instructions. They are listed below.

Go to iCloud’s official site and log in with your Apple iCloud iD and password. Open the entire virtual folder and select the photos and videos you want to download.
Now, go to the Download icon situated at the upper-right corner of the screen. Click and hold the icon and a drop-down box will appear, containing the choice of your download quality and priority.
Select the “Unmodified Original” option to download the exact size of your media content. So, click on the “Download” option present just below the drop-down box. Wait for the downloading process to complete.
You will find these files in the Download directory of your Mac computer and access them.

Inspect and Save Storage Space

Make sure that you have enough storage space in your iCloud before you upload any files. Otherwise, you can optimize your iCloud storage to do it with ease. This step is necessary because of the temporary cache files accumulated on your iCloud storage.

In this case, you cannot perform any action (upload, download, and stream) with your files. Using the below-discussed steps, you will be able to access iCloud Photos not only from Mac but, also from your iOS devices. So, follow these few instructions given below.

For Mac

Open the default Photo application on your computer and select Photos in the menu bar. Now, click on the “Preferences” option and then hit the iCloud application icon to open it. Choose the “Storage Settings” and you will see the “Optimize Storage” option. Select it and the process will take a few minutes.

For iOS

Tap on to the “Settings” tab, select your name and enter into the iCloud app. Select the Photos option and choose “Optimize Storage”. Wait for the optimization process to finish.

Pause Uploads to Access iCloud

When you have a large collection of photos and videos, it takes time to upload it to your iCloud storage. It also depends upon the quality of your Internet connection. In between, if you try to access your cloud storage, the streaming and the uploading procedure may slow down.

So, to avoid this problem, you can pause your uploads for a specific span of time. Its a simple process described below for both Mac and iOS platforms. By following these steps, you will understand how to access iCloud Photos on Mac.

On Mac

To pause your uploads from the Macintosh system, open the Photos application. Next, select all the photos which are uploaded as well as uploading from the tab-list in the toolbar. Now, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on the “Pause” button.

On iOS

In order to pause your photos, videos and moments upload from your iOS device, navigate to “Settings” option > “Your Name” > iCloud > “Photos”.

You can also open the default photo application in your device. Then go to the Photos tab and scroll down to the bottom of your screen. Select the “Pause” option and it’s all done.

At the time of buying any Apple device, the company provides you with a certain amount of storage space in iCloud application. However, you can buy certain chunks of storage at various prices based on your requirements.

Wrapping Up

We hope that by following the steps in this post, you now know how to access iCloud Photos on Mac. You can also create “Shared Albums” if you want to share all the photos with others. If you have any questions, suggestions, tips, and ideas, please do share them in our comment section below.

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Posted in Mac