132 MACWORLD MARCH 2020
HELPDESK MAC 911full-resolution image to all your devices
linked to the same iCloud account that
also have iCloud Photos enabled.
As photo collections grow, some
people balk at paying Apple for increasing
amounts of iCloud storage, however, and
they don’t need or want
synchronization across all
their devices in quite
this way.
You can shed the
iCloud part of iCloud
Photos and stick
just to Photos if you
like. You can then
opt to sync a
different way if you
still want that feature—
and at no cost.
Before starting, make sure
you have enough storage to hold all the
media if it’s not all currently downloaded.
Then follow these steps to make sure you
have full-resolution images and videos
downloaded to your Mac and then disable
iCloud Photos:
- In Photos for macOS, select Photos →
Preferences → iCloud.- Select Download Originals to this
Mac if it’s not already selected. - Check that the downloads have
completed. In Photos with the Photos
option selected in the Library list in the
sidebar, scroll to the very bottom—it may
be just behind the current visible bottom if
you think you’re at the end. The count of
photos and videos should match what you
see on other devices and you should see
no progress bar. The text “Updated Just
Now” or at a given time may appear. - Once downloads are
complete, in Photos →
Preferences → iCloud,
uncheck the iCloud
Photos box. - macOS may
provide a warning
or it may simply
immediately
uncouple the library
from iCloud.
Apple notes that
media isn’t deleted from
your account for 30 days in
case you’ve made an error or something’s
gone wrong.
As for the free trick? Google Photos
has apps for macOS (part of Google Drive)
and iOS/iPadOS that can automatically
upload images as you take or import them.
If you can stand to limit your images to 16
Photos for macOS can let you know the
status of your iCloud Photos sync.