With Photos for OS X not being released until early next year, it seemed like there would be no way to view your photos backed up in iCloud Photo Library away from an iOS device for Mac customers. However, screenshots and error messages from iCloud.com show that a Photos app is in development for the website, so that users could access their pictures in some fashion on a computer. This will likely act as a stopgap before the official native client is ready.
The above screenshot is captured from an Apple help page, clearly showing a Photos app in the menu, which is currently absent from the public site. The app features the same icon as the Photos app, but its unclear what exact functionality it will bring. Poking around a bit, we discovered something that means it is unlikely the screenshot is simply a Photoshop mistake.
Although iCloud.com/#photos currently does nothing, visiting beta.iCloud.com/#photos causes the following error message to show.
This alert does not appear for any other URL string, so it is not simply a generic message shown for any non-existent URL. It clearly indicates that some form of ‘Photos’ app is in development for the website. The fact it shows only on the beta site is interesting, as iCloud Photo Library is also currently denoted as ‘beta’ in developer builds of iOS 8.
It’s hard to guess how capable the Photos app for the iCloud site will be. Although most of the apps are stripped down reproductions of their native counterparts, the iWork suite is very full-featured. In the last update to iCloud’s online offerings, Apple added Settings and iCloud Drive apps to the main screen, allowing users to get basic access to their documents and data in iCloud Drive.
The state of iCloud Photo Library is unclear. It was prominently featured on Apple’s promotional materials until just before iOS 8’s debut. Developers are currently ‘grandfathered’ into a beta of the service. A date for public launch is not known, although is expected before the end of the year.
As the addition has not been officially acknowledged by Apple, there is a possibility the app will never see the light of the day. This seems unlikely, though, with both the Apple support doc screenshot and the above error message strongly suggesting otherwise.
Thanks Ollie!
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It is such a mess, what apple has done with their iCloud Photos initiative (including the whole Camera Roll mess) – it looks almost like microsoft’s product. Release it, as it is – lets patch it later. Not the quality we came to expect from Apple
I think YOU’RE just flat-out unorganized man..
The problem exactly because I am organized man. I am using events on my Mac – try syncing them to iphone/iPad and try to search your “camera roll photos” from the mess they have created in collection tab!
Honestly I don’t understand what’s so confusing about the camera roll being gone. But as far as your claims that iCloud drive is “released then patched later” is bullcrap because it ISN’T RELEASED. Other than being a beta tucked into the settings somewhere, it’s literally not being presented to users at all.
meant iCloud Photos not iCloud Drive. I would edit my post but apparently this 9to5 would rather have this mess of a comment system.
Andrew, I am sorry but I dunno how to reply to your msg. So I am replying to myself here, however it is directed at you.
First of all, do you have photos that you are syncing from your Mac/pc? Or all of your photos were in Camera Roll? If you do have “Events from Mac” or “photos from PC”… Then you should know what is wrong with camera roll being gone
Second of all, I know it is not released, HOWEVER, when we are upgrading to ios8 – we can agree into merging our photos to this new system. After that, we will lose acess to these photos, from Mac and our other devices, which we haven’t yet updated. That is what I call messed up situation
Hallelujah. It would probably matter more if iCloud Photo Library had not been pulled from iOS 8 for most users.
Some references to photos can be found in the following JavaScript file
https://beta.icloud.com/system/cloudos/14FPlusBeta.7514471/en-us/javascript-packed.js
and the following images are also referenced
https://beta.icloud.com/system/cloudos/14FPlusBeta.7514471/cloudos_foundation/springboard/14FPlusBeta.7514471/en-us/source/resources/images/photos_icon_blurred.png
https://beta.icloud.com/system/cloudos/14FPlusBeta.7514471/cloudos_foundation/springboard/14FPlusBeta.7514471/en-us/source/resources/images/photos_icon.png
https://beta.icloud.com/system/cloudos/14FPlusBeta.7514471/cloudos_foundation/springboard/14FPlusBeta.7514471/en-us/source/resources/images/photos_icon@2x.png
Didn’t Mac users get the iCloud Control Panel that creates a photo steam folder on your computer with all your pictures? I know the new iCloud Drive has only been publicly released for Windows so far but I would have thought there’d be some way for Mac users to get the same functionality?
I’m a bit disappointed with the new Windows software – I was expecting them to just create a folder within my iCloud Drive named ‘Photos’ where I’d be able to see all my pictures but I’ve still got the Photo Stream folders in My Pictures like in the past. It would have been so much easier if they’d just put everything in the same folder
The entire thing is a mess. Nothing has actually been released. iCloud Photo Library is (beta) and not available to all iOS 8 users….people who had iOS 8 beta releases are the only ones who still have it.
There is no iCloud Drive, Mac, Windows, or Web companion to it yet either, even in beta form.
Meanwhile, the public iOS 8 photos App changed to accommodate the addition of iCloud Photo Library…making it temporarily worse than before.
iCloud Drive for Windows launched several days ago.
http://9to5mac.com/2014/09/19/windows-users-get-icloud-drive-support-while-mac-users-await-yosemite/
Interesting, given the intense scrutiny over photos being stolen from accounts. Let’s hope they continue to implement strict security measures as it could be a great way to access photos…
My photos are secure in iCloud. But then again, I didn’t choose security questions & answers that could be read about me in a magazine. Nor do I use the same password for iCloud on other much easier to hack online services.
Same here. Not worried. Just think it’s interesting given the debate.
tl;dr
I’m guessing we will get an iOS update in early 2015 that will properly enable iCloud Photo Library. The delayed release for the OS X app will give Apple time to fix their security (assuming thats the reason behind the delay). Really hope it comes out soon. I love the idea.
iOS 8.1 probably.
I don’t know what you’re talking about Benjamin Mayo. I just got my iPhone 6 yesterday, and I switched to iCloud Drive. I’m still able to view my sync’d photos on Aperture, including new pics i’ve taken.
Its even worse today than in previous days. I have been using iCloud drive ever since the release of iOS 8. I spent hours moving over my pictures to test out the new features. Today when I wanted to update to 8.0.2, I could not because iCloud Drive has filled my iPhone. I toggled the iCloud Photos Library feature off and back on, and now I get a new message titled “iCloud Photo Library Not Yet Available” I don’t care if it is marked as (Beta) If I am a user I am a user, toggling a setting should not make me lose hours and hours of work #annoyed