“My Photo Stream” is a free service provided by Apple that allows users to upload the most recent 30 days of photos (up to 1,000) to iCloud, making them available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC devices. This service predates iCloud Photos and has largely been superseded by it.
As of June 26, 2023, Apple will cease new photo uploads to My Photo Stream, and the photos will remain in iCloud as usual for the next 30 days until the termination date.
Importantly, no photos will be lost during the shutdown process as all images in My Photo Stream are stored in their original format on at least one Apple device. However, Apple recommends that users who want to ensure their images are accessible on a specific device save them to the Photo Library on that device prior to July 26.
Users can save images from My Photo Stream to their iPhone’s Photos app by selecting individual photos from the My Photo Stream album and using the Share button to save them to their Library. On Mac devices, users need to drag images from My Photo Stream to their Library.
Finally, Apple encourages iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to switch to iCloud Photos to access their photos and videos across their devices.
iCloud Photos is compatible with iPhones and iPads running iOS 8.3 or later, and Macs running OS X Yosemite or later.