Add content to an iCloud Shared Photo Library in Photos on iPad

After you set up or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library in the Photos app , you can continue to add photos and videos in several ways:

Manually move photos from your Personal Library
Save photos and videos you take directly to the Shared Library from Camera
Share photos you take when other members of the Shared Library are nearby
Share photos and videos you take at home

Note: iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, and macOS Ventura are required to use iCloud Shared Photo Library. Photos and videos added to a Shared Library won’t be available on devices with earlier versions of the software.

Manually add photos and videos to the Shared Library

You can add individual photos and videos from your Personal Library to the Shared Library.

Tap the photo or video you want to add to view it in full screen on your iPad. Or, to add multiple photos and videos at the same time, tap Select, then tap the thumbnails you want to add.
Tap , then tap Move to Shared Library.

After content is moved to the Shared Library, it’s no longer in your Personal Library and is visible to all of the Shared Library participants. To move content from the Shared Library back to your Personal Library, follow the steps above, but tap Move to Personal Library instead of Move to Shared Library.

Add photos and videos to the Shared Library directly from Camera

When you open Camera, a Shared Library button appears on the side of the screen to let you switch between saving the photos and videos you take to directly to your Personal Library or to the Shared Library. By default, Camera shares to your Personal Library. To switch, tap to save to the Shared Library; tap to switch back to your Personal Library.

To turn the feature on or off after you complete the setup process, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library > Sharing from Camera, then turn Sharing from Camera on or off (green is on).

Add photos and videos when Shared Library participants are nearby

When you set up or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library, you can choose an option to automatically turn on the Shared Library button in Camera when other Shared Library participants are nearby, so you can always add the photos and videos you take together directly to the Shared Library.

To detect when participants of your Shared Library are nearby, participants need to be signed in with their Apple ID and have Bluetooth turned on in Settings > Bluetooth.

To turn the feature on or off after you complete the setup process, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library > Sharing from Camera, then tap Share Automatically or Share Manually.

Automatically add photos and videos taken at home

When you set up or join an iCloud Shared Photo Library, you can have photos and videos you take at home automatically added to the Shared Library.

To turn the feature on or off after you complete the setup process, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library > Sharing from Camera, then turn on Share When At Home (green is on).

Add photo and videos with sharing suggestions

Sharing suggestions recommends photos you might want to add to your Shared Library, such as photos you took with participants of the Shared Library, photos you took when participants were nearby, or photos of people you indicated interest in during the setup process. iPad sends a notification to review sharing suggestions. Or, follow these steps:

Open Photos, then tap For You in the sidebar.
Scroll down to For Your Shared Library, then tap See All.
Tap Move All or tap Select to manually choose the photos you want to add to the Shared Library.

If you want to get sharing suggestions for additional people, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library > Shared Library Suggestions, tap Add Other People, tap a person, then tap Add. The person doesn’t have to be a member of the Shared Library. See Find and identify people in Photos on iPad.

To turn off sharing suggestions, go to Settings > Photos > Shared Library Suggestions, then turn off Shared Library Suggestions.

For more information about accessing content in a Shared Library, see the Apple Support article If you are missing photos after joining an iCloud Shared Photo Library.

Helpful?

iPad User Guide