My Photo Stream Is Not Updating - How To Fix It

Q: Will deleting My Photo Stream delete my Camera Roll?

No. Your Camera Roll keeps the originals of photos stored in My Photo Stream. When you delete photos from the Stream album, the photos in the Camera Roll won’t be deleted.

Many iPhone users can feel confused when it comes to using Apple Photo Stream. Despite the fact that iOS is easy and simple to use, people have many questions it. In this article, you will find all you wanted to know about this topic and how to fix it when Photo Stream is not updating.

Contents:

What is My Photo Stream?
How to turn off and turn on it?
The difference between Camera Roll and My Photo Stream.
The difference between iCloud and My Photo Stream.
How to fix it when iPhone Photo Stream is not updating.
FAQs

Before we start

Every iPhone user has tons of similar pictures on their device, but usually, we need only one or a couple of images in each series of photos. Since iPhone Photo Stream has limits on uploads, we recommend cleaning up useless duplicate pics in your Camera Roll before you upload them to the your album. You can easily do this with a free application from Nektony called Phone Cleaner for Media Files. Phone Cleaner will help you clean up similar photos and find the largest media files to free up space in your storage.

Phone Cleaner for Media Files

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What is My Photo Stream?

It is an option in the Apple ecosystem that allows users to get access to the pictures made on any Apple device during the last 30 days from any of the following devices:

On iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch with iOS 5.1 and higher
In the Photos app on Mac
On Apple TV
On Windows-based computers using iCloud

If My Photo Stream is enabled on your iPhone or iPad, once you take a picture on your device, it automatically gets uploaded to the appropriate album. This option works when you have Wi-Fi on your device. To be able to access pictures, you need to log in to your iCloud account using the same Apple ID. This album doesn’t support all the extensions. For example, it doesn’t upload Live photos. It supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and RAW file formats only. The iPhone stores up to 1K images in its gallery. While on iPhone and iPad, the images get optimized and have a maximum size of 2048x1536px, while on Mac and Windows computers they are uploaded in the original size. Note, pictures in the Stream gallery don’t use iCloud storage. After 30 days of being stored there, they get deleted.

Where is Photo Stream on iPhone?

If the Photo Stream option is enabled on your iPhone, you will see an album with the same name. Tap it to see your pictures taken during the last 30 days.

iPhone screen showing My Photo Stream album

How to turn off and turn on Apple Photo Stream?

Despite the fact that iPhone Photo Stream doesn’t take up iCloud storage space, many users might find this option useless and want to turn it off. For this, follow the steps below:

On iPhone, open Settings.
Go to the iCloud section.
Tap Photos.
Turn off the toggle button for the appropriate option.

Phone screens showing how to turn off photo stream

If you want to turn My Photo Stream on, go back to iCloud → Photos on your device and enable the toggle button for the appropriate option. Note that by default, burst photos are not uploaded to My Photo Stream. However, in Settings, you can enable the option to upload your favorite burst pics. Then, once you tap the heart icon on a series of burst pics in your Photos album, they will upload to this album.

The difference between Camera Roll and My Photo Stream

Camera Roll is a place on an iOS device where all your photos, screenshots, and downloaded pictures are saved. My Photo Stream is an option for Apple devices that needs to be turned on to work. It allows the users to access the last 1K pictures taken made during the last 30 days from any Apple device and even from a Windows computer. In short, Camera Roll shows all the pictures that are physically stored on your device, while the second one shows only some photos.

The difference between iCloud and My Photo Stream

Despite the fact that you can access My Photo Stream with your iCloud account, there are some differences.

My Photo Stream doesn’t support videos or live photos. Also, it supports only four extensions: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and RAW. Files in iCloud support eight extensions, including HEIF, HEVC, GIF, and MP4. In iCloud, you can store videos and any other files from your devices.
By default, every iCloud user has 5 GB of free storage space. If this storage is not enough for you, you can buy a subscription to get more space. In My Photo Stream, you can see only up to 1K pictures taken during the last 30 days, and these files don’t take up any iCloud storage.
In iCloud, the images are saved in their original sizes. In My Photo Stream, pictures get optimized.
Changes made in iCloud automatically synchronize with other devices. Changes made in My Photo Stream don’t synchronize with other devices.

How to fix it when iPhone Photo Stream is not updating?

Ensure that Wi-Fi is turned on. It works only with Wi-Fi on your device.
Ensure that My Photo Stream is turned on. You might have accidentally turned off this option in your device’s settings. Go to Settings → iCloud → Photos and turn on the toggle button for this option
Close the camera after taking a photo. Only after the camera is closed will the image get uploaded to that album.
Charge your device. When you have a low battery charge (less than 20%), the system turns off this option to save your battery.
Turn off Low Power Mode. Even if you have a full battery, but you turn on Low Power Mode, the system will switch off uploading pictures to this album.
Update My Photo Stream. The problem of not updating files in this album can be connected with some system crashes. Try to turn off it, wait for 30 seconds and turn on it again.
Update iOS. Ensure that you use the latest iOS on your device. To check it, open Settings on iPhone or iPad → scroll down and tap General → tap Software Update. If a new update is available, tap to update your system.
Re–log n to your iCloud account. The issue might be connected to iCloud errors. Try to sign out from your account, wait for 30 seconds and then log in again to iCloud. You can do this in the Settings → User Account section.

Conclusion

Now you know all about My Photo Stream. Use it if you want to have access to your last photos on any other device. Also, we want to remind you periodically clean up all duplicate pictures on your iPhone. You can do this with a free application called Phone Cleaner for Media Files.

Supported systems: iOS 11.0 or later

Update Sept. 18 2023

Frequently asked question

What happens if I turn off Photo Stream?

Once you turn off My Photo Stream on your iPhone or iPad, it will stop saving your latest photos to the appropriate album and you won’t be able to access them from other devices. All the images from this album will be deleted. If you have these pictures in Camera Roll, you will still have these photos.

Will deleting My Photo Stream delete my Camera Roll?

No. Your Camera Roll keeps the originals of images stored in My Photo Stream. When you delete files from this album, the photos in the Camera Roll won’t be deleted.

Does My Photo Stream use iCloud storage?

No. The My Photo Stream option is available to use with your iCloud account; however, files in this album don’t use iCloud storage.