Photo Stream won't do its thing

[rainbowcat]

Update #2 - Senior Advisor never got back to me, nor did Engineering. Not that I think they could help. I finally said I want authorization to replace the phone, and she tells me to mail it to them!!!! Patience ran out on that statement, so they made me an appointment at the Genius Bar, whence I will hopefully get a replacement phone without any further aggravation. First time I've ever had a bad experience with Apple Support.

 

[IWT]

Do please let us know how you get on. In particular, if you get a new iPhone, is the "My Photo Stream" problem solved?

Good luck.

Ian

 

[rainbowcat]

Do please let us know how you get on. In particular, if you get a new iPhone, is the "My Photo Stream" problem solved?

Good luck.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Going to Apple on Tuesday.

 

[rainbowcat]

Update #3 - Apple replaced the phone with another iPhone SE 3rd gen. Photo Stream still doesn't work. Spent 2 hours with the Genius Bar trying to fix it - nope. Did notice that none of the new phones (12 and up) seem to have Photo Stream. Possible they kill it off in the store, but... Other possibility is that the latest operating system glitched it. Or --- Apple is trying to get us all to use iCloud and pay for the storage. Anybody's guess at this point, but no one actually knows why Photo Stream doesn't work.

 

[IWT]

Thank you for that report.

As I said way back in this thread, My Photo Stream worked fine until the iOS 15 came along. It's not to do with the iPhone itself. Until iOS 15, it worked on iPhone 10, iPhone 11 and iPhone 13 Pro - all these being owned by me or family.

The fact that your "Genius" guy couldn't get it to work nor explain why it didn't is, in my view, confirmation that this is a software issue - deliberate or unintended, I cannot say.

But thanks again for staying with us and reporting back

Ian

 

[rainbowcat]

Totally agree, and I'm going to keep nagging Apple until they admit it. I'm back to talking to a senior advisor and engineering, and if I have news, I'll share. Appreciate you all so much!

 

[chscag]

Totally agree, and I'm going to keep nagging Apple until they admit it. I'm back to talking to a senior advisor and engineering, and if I have news, I'll share. Appreciate you all so much!

Well, your trip to the genius bar wasn't a total loss.... You got a brand new SE 3. Look at the bright side.

 

[rainbowcat]

Well, your trip to the genius bar wasn't a total loss.... You got a brand new SE 3. Look at the bright side.

I went in with a brand new SE that was 2 weeks old!

But - another update - Spoke with a Very Senior Advisor who said to back up the phone, restore to factory settings and check something through iCloud. He feels the data on my phone is causing the problem. I don't think so. I'm very reluctant to do this, because I think it's a total waste of my time. Apple Store is 2 hours away, but they claim to have a Genius Bar at a more local Best Buy. I may try it. If it's a data problem he said I'll have to transfer everything to the new phone manually. Sounds like I'd be transferring the problem anyway. What a mess.

 

[IWT]

Well, I can't compete with a Senior Apple Advisor. When you got the new iPhone, which method did you choose to transfer data from old to new?

Was it from iCloud; holding new phone over old; or via USB to Mac and Finder?

A manual transfer - well, I've no idea how you would go about that.

As the loss of My Photo Stream is your only problem and this seems to be affecting others (me for example), I'd be inclined to live with it until the next update/upgrade.

Good luck with Best Buy, and thanks for the follow-up.

Ian

 

[rainbowcat]

Well, I can't compete with a Senior Apple Advisor. When you got the new iPhone, which method did you choose to transfer data from old to new?

Was it from iCloud; holding new phone over old; or via USB to Mac and Finder?

A manual transfer - well, I've no idea how you would go about that.

As the loss of My Photo Stream is your only problem and this seems to be affecting others (me for example), I'd be inclined to live with it until the next update/upgrade.

Good luck with Best Buy, and thanks for the follow-up.

Ian

Transfer was phone to phone, so Engineering is claiming it's something on my phone. If it wasn't a brand new phone I would definitely just wait for the next iOS update, but if there is something haywire here I don't want to be stuck with a phone that doesn't behave. I also am not about to pay to get this investigated; if Best Buy Genius Bar won't do it free, it ain't gettin' done! I love the phone - retina display and takes gorgeous photos. Side note - took a photo on my iPad, and it went right to Photo Stream on the phone. Weird.

 

[MacInWin]

Unless BB is just across the street, I wouldn't bother. I took an Apple problem to them, they immediately threw up all hands and suggested I call Apple.

 

[rainbowcat]

Unless BB is just across the street, I wouldn't bother. I took an Apple problem to them, they immediately threw up all hands and suggested I call Apple.

Supposedly they are Apple Certified. I think y'all on here know more than they do, but I may give it a try and see what happens.

 

[MacInWin]

Yeah, so were the guys at the local BB. But none of them wanted to touch it. I'm wondering if you have to turn on the iCloud sync, even if you don't store the images there, to get Photostream to work. I don't have any issues, but I use iCloud and sync Photos through it between my iPhone, iPad and MBP.

 

[rainbowcat]

Yeah, so were the guys at the local BB. But none of them wanted to touch it. I'm wondering if you have to turn on the iCloud sync, even if you don't store the images there, to get Photostream to work. I don't have any issues, but I use iCloud and sync Photos through it between my iPhone, iPad and MBP.

Don't think I'm going to BB; grateful for all the expertise here. I do have iCloud Drive enabled for Photos. More and more I'm convinced this is an iOS issue. My husband's phone is on 14, and his Photo Stream works. My iPad is also on 14, and the Photo Stream works.

 

[IWT]

My husband's phone is on 14, and his Photo Stream works. My iPad is also on 14, and the Photo Stream works

Totally agree. As I've said rather too often, I lost "My Photo Stream" when I upgraded to iOS 15.

Your confirmation of its working with iOS 14 appears to confirm this.

Ian

 

[rainbowcat]

Photos not going to photo stream IOS 15.4 - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Check out this link and see how many people are having the same problem. One response from a senior advisor was that Photo Stream will no longer be supported, and another said they are working on a fix.

 

[IWT]

BRAVO!!

Open Settings > Camera > Formats and choose "Most Compatible" (rather than High Efficiency).

What that does is ensure that your pics are in JPEG format rather than HEIF.

That has solved the problem for now.

I have also confirmed that in Settings > Photos > "Transfer to Mac or PC", it doesn't matter whether you choose Automatic or Keep Originals.

It's the Camera setting which matters.

Well done @rainbowcat for sourcing a solution to this annoying problem.

Ian

 

[rainbowcat]

BRAVO!!

Open Settings > Camera > Formats and choose "Most Compatible" (rather than High Efficiency).

What that does is ensure that your pics are in JPEG format rather than HEIF.

That has solved the problem for now.

I have also confirmed that in Settings > Photos > "Transfer to Mac or PC", it doesn't matter whether you choose Automatic or Keep Originals.

It's the Camera setting which matters.

Well done @rainbowcat for sourcing a solution to this annoying problem.

Ian

Thanks Ian - praise from you is high praise indeed! So pleased that I could be Useful for once!

 

[rainbowcat]

Just downloaded 15.5 and Photo Stream seems to be FIXED!!! Yahoo!

 

[rainbowcat]

Photo Stream stopped working yesterday, and this with the supposed fix. Dang it!