Use iCloud Shared Photo Library on iPhone

After you set up or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library (iOS 16.1 or later), you can share photos and videos with friends and family in the Photos app . You and up to five other participants can add photos and videos to the library, and any edits, comments, or favorites made to them is seen by everyone in real time. Content in a Shared Library is also added to everyone’s memories, featured photos, and to the Photos widget, so everyone can experience more complete memories.

Photos and videos added to the Shared Library are separate from your Personal Library. You can easily switch between viewing the Shared Library, your Personal Library, or both in Photos.

The Photos app showing a photo library in the Photos app. The More button at the top of the screen is selected, showing Both Libraries and Shared Library Badge selected with checkmarks.

Switch library views

After you set up iCloud Shared Photo Library, you can switch between viewing your Personal Library, the Shared Library, or both libraries in the Photos app.

Open Photos, then tap at the top right of the screen.
Do one of the following:
- View your Photos content and iCloud Shared Photo Library content: Tap Both Libraries .
- View only your personal Photos content: Tap Personal Library .
- View only iCloud Shared Photo Library content: Tap Shared Library .
The library button in the top-right corner changes depending on which library you’re viewing; tap it when you want to switch between Shared, Personal, or Both libraries.

Content that’s part of the Shared Library has a badge in the top-right corner of the thumbnail when you select the All Photos option at the bottom of the screen. To turn off the Shared Library badges, tap the Library button, then tap Shared Library Badge (a checkmark indicates it’s on).

Make edits and changes to content in the Shared Library

When you make the following changes to photos and videos in the Shared Library, all participants in the Shared Library see the changes:

Edits; see Edit photos and videos on iPhone.
Favorites, captions, keywords, or date and time adjustments; see See photo and video information.
Deleted content; see Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone.
Note: You receive notifications if content you added to the Shared Library is deleted. To turn off notifications, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library, then turn off Delete Notifications. If content you added is deleted, you can move it from the Recently Deleted album back to your Personal Library within 30 days.

Search for Shared Library content

You can find photos and videos shared by specific participants of the Shared Library.

Tap Search, then type the participant’s name in the search field.
Tip: You can narrow the search by adding keywords such as “beach” or a specific location with the participant’s name in the search field.
Tap “Shared by [participant’s name]”.
Tap See All to view all of the photos added by that person or scroll down to see photos added from specific moments.

You can also open a photo in the Shared Library, tap , then tap “Added by [participant’s name]” to see all the photos and videos added by that person.

Move shared content back to your Personal Library

You can move photos and videos that you contributed to the Shared Library back to your Personal Library.

View the Shared Library ( appears at the top of the screen).
Tap Select, then tap the photo and video thumbnails you want to move.
Tap , then tap Move to Personal Library.

Add storage space to your Shared Library

The content in iCloud Shared Photo Library is available to all participants, but the iCloud storage used to store the content counts against the library organizer’s storage space.

If the Shared Library content exceeds the organizer’s available storage space, the organizer can upgrade to iCloud or add additional storage to their existing iCloud subscription. See Subscribe to iCloud on iPhone.

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iPhone User Guide