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Guide to Sharing with Apple Photos
4 min read
Original article ↗
Use Email
Notes:
• When sharing from iOS, 'Slo-mo' videos will lose their type tagging.
• When sharing from macOS, screenshots will will lose their type tagging,
and 'Slo-mo' videos will lose their type tagging and most other
metadata (including location).
• When given the option be sure to choose "Actual Size" to preserve the
highest possible quality.
• Enabling Mail Drop is recommended so that your email does not become
too large to send.
Use iMessage
Notes:
• While you could send multiple photos/videos via iMessage, it's
probably not a great idea to spam your friends and family that
way. If you do try this, note that the Photos app on macOS will
not allow sending multiple videos.
Use iCloud Photo Sharing
Notes:
• If any recipient doesn't have an Apple device you will need to turn on
"Public Website" for the Shared Album.
• Shared Albums default to allowing other people add photos/videos to them.
• Screenshots, 'Slo-mo' videos, and 'Time-lapse' videos will lose their
type tagging and most other metadata (including location).
Use AirDrop
Notes:
• When sharing from iOS, 'Slo-mo' videos will lose their type tagging.
• When sharing from macOS, screenshots will lose their type tagging,
and 'Slo-mo' videos will lose their type tagging and most other
metadata (including location).
• When sharing to macOS, be sure to choose "Open in Photos", otherwise
'Live Photos' will not send correctly. You will only see this
option reliably if you do not have AirDrop open in the Finder.
• If you AirDrop to your own Mac you are not given the option above, so
'Live Photos' will never send correctly.
• The Photos app can have to go through a lengthy "Preparing..." phase
before sharing your photos/videos. When this happens it can silently
fail to initiate AirDrop. You may have to tap to AirDrop again
after this completes.
I want to share some photos/videos!
Additional Notes:
• If you are sharing from macOS Photos and want to share location data be
sure to enable "Include location information for published items"
in Preferences. (iOS always shares location information.)
• If sharing from iOS Photos fails with a mysterious error, try disabling
Low Power Mode.
• If you want to avoid avoid type conversion (e.g. recompression due to HEIF
to JPEG conversion) as much as possible then choose "Keep Originals"
in "Transfer to Mac or PC" in Settings > Photos. (There is no option
for this in macOS Photos.) Note too that Photos will always send certain
items like edited photos and 'Portrait' photos as JPEG.
• Tested using a MacBook Pro (2017) running macOS 10.13.2 (17C205) / Photos
Version 3.0 (3251.12.190) and an iPhone X and iPhone 7 running
iOS 11.2.5 (15D60).
Do you want
recipients to see
any retouching you
do after the
photos/videos are
shared?
Guide to Sharing with Apple Photos
by Johann Werk
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
There is no
way to do this
from Apple
Photos.
Are you
sharing any
animated
GIFs?
Yes
Do you want the
photos/videos to be
fully editable (as
if the recipients
took them)?
No
Do you want to share
'Portrait', 'Burst',
or 'Slo-mo'
photos/videos so that
the recipients can
edit them?
Yes
Do you have
multiple
photos to
share?
No
Yes
No
Do you want to share
a collection of
photos that you (and
possibly others) can
add to over time?
Yes
Do the
recipients have
iMessage (blue
bubbles)?
No
Do you want to
avoid downsampling
(reducing resolution)?
Yes
Are the
recipients in a
different
location?
No
Do you want to
avoid type
conversion as
much as
possible?
Yes
Do you want to avoid
converting lossless
images to lossy
images (e.g. PNG to
JPEG)?
No
Do you want to
avoid type
conversion as
much as
possible?
Yes
Are you
sharing any
'Live Photos'?
No
Do you want to
avoid type
conversion as
much as
possible?
Are the
recipients in a
different
location?
Yes
Do you want to avoid
converting lossless
images to lossy
images (e.g. PNG to
JPEG)?
No
Do you want to be
able to reorder the
photos/videos in the
shared collection
after sharing them?
Yes
No
Yes
No
Do you want to
avoid downsampling
(reducing resolution)?
No
Yes
Do you want to
avoid downsampling
(reducing resolution)?
No
Yes
Yes
No
Are you
sending a
video?
No
Yes
Yes
Do the
recipients
have an Apple
device?
No
Yes
What kind of
device are
you using?
No
No
Yes
Yes
What kind of
device are
you using?
No
No
Yes
iOS
Do you want to avoid
converting lossless
images to lossy
images (e.g. PNG to
JPEG)?
Mac
iOS
Do you want to avoid
converting lossless
images to lossy
images (e.g. PNG to
JPEG)?
Mac
What kind of
device are
you using?
Mac
iOS
Yes
Do the
recipients
each have a Mac?
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Are you sharing
both videos and
'Live Photos'
the same time?
Yes
No
Be sure the
recipients close
any AirDrop
windows they
have open.
Yes