Earlier this month Apple published some support documents that referred to an iCloud.com-based Photos web app for managing a photo library. It was discovered that when the URL for the app was entered into the beta version of the iCloud site, it produced an error message rather than simply redirecting to the home page like any other invalid link.
Today a 9to5Mac reader attempted to load the app and was presented with the page pictured above indicating that users running iOS 8.1 (which includes the beta version of the iCloud Photo Library feature) will be able to use the web app to view their photos. With iOS 8.1 scheduled for release on Monday, it’s not a stretch to think the online version of the app will be launching then as well.
Photos for Mac, on the other hand, is still said to be coming in early 2015. Even so, Adobe is already capitalizing on the upcoming discontinuation of iPhoto and Aperture and released a Lightroom importer for those apps yesterday. Users who have decided to stick with Apple’s first-party offering may have to wait until next year for a native OS X application, but hopefully this new web app will do a decent job of filling the gap for the time being.
Thanks Genady!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
I’m just hoping, that at least until Photos for Mac is out, Aperture will be able to use iCloud Photo Library.
They just updated iPhoto and Aperture for Yosemite, so my guess would be yes.
No. The Aperture/iPhoto update was for Yosemite compatibility. Photos.app will be the only Mac app with access to iCloud Photo Library to drive adoption.
It’s not “to drive adoption”. Its because its a massive undertaking to build it in to ONE app, let alone multiple. They wouldn’t be building Photos.app if they planned on rolling the iCloud Library into iPhoto/Aperture, and likewise it wouldn’t be delayed until 2015 if it were as simple as just updating the existing apps.
Are we still getting a new iCloud Photo’s App for Mac next year? I do hope this online version isn’t ‘the’ replacement for iPhoto. They didn’t make that clear yesterday at all.
Photos app for Mac is coming next year. They’ve said that.
Nothing’s changed. Photos app “early next year” and the update for iPhoto yesterday should have answered your question
Yes! I have been waiting for this feature to come out since I started using iCloud.
I’ve been waiting for this resurrection since they killed dotMac galleries!
Say what?
I think I’m just going to wait to update all my iCrap until next year. Switch over to the Photos app, iOS8, Yosemite, set up family sharing for my wife and whatever else and just do it over a – probably very frustrating – weekend.
How about a stand alone icloud Drive app to replace dropbox and be able to use some of that 20(?)gb’s of space we were given.
That.. doesn’t that already exist? “Drive” in iCloud.com and “iCloud Drive” in Finder.
Just for Mac. What about an app for iPad/iPhone?
Hallo
I have historic Photos (about 25GB) from times before I cloud worked and moved them from a windows based Server towards a 300 GB iCloudDrive.
Is there any photo application (even for purchase) which can run slide show from the iCloud Photo library as well as also from the files stored on iCloudDrive ?
I am new to apple and just try to find my way after 20 years in Windows/Linux world … so please be kind with comments