How to avoid accidentally placing photos in the iCloud Shared Photo Library

Apple added the iCloud Shared Photo Library in iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura, dramatically improving sharing photos and videos with a group of people with whom you frequently exchange media. Shared Library, as it appears in the Photos app, is a kind of supercharged shared album that you might use with your family or a close friends group.

However, it is usually the case we want to be circumspect about what we share: every picture we take is not one we want even a select group to see. Because of how the Shared Library is integrated into the iOS/iPadOS Camera app, it can be easy to drop a private photo into the group pool.

In the Camera app, a tiny icon of two people in a circle in the upper-left corner (portrait) or lower-left (landscape) marks whether an image or video will land in the Shared Library when captured. If there’s a line through it, the image is not being shared; if the yellowish color of the Camera interface and filled in, it will be. If you tap the icon when it’s off (line through), it lights up yellow, and a “shared library” rectangular label briefly appears in an overlay.

You can change this as a preview via Settings > Camera > Shared Library or Settings > (Apps >) Photos > Shared Library > Sharing from Camera. There, you can enable or disable Share from Camera, which is set to Share Manually by default. If you disable Share from Camera, the icon no longer appears in the Camera app.

Apple also has a subtle option available if you pick Share Automatically: captured photos and videos are copied to the Shared Library only if Bluetooth is active and other members of the Shared Library are detectable nearby (they have Bluetooth enabled and are signed into their iCloud account). Ostensibly, this is a privacy feature to prevent you from accidentally sharing everything into the Shared Library when you’re not with the other members.

You can also choose Share When At Home in the Photos settings, which always puts media captured in the Shared Library when you’re in the location you’ve defined as your home.

To view the contents of the Shared Library:

• In iOS/iPadOS in the Photos app, tap your icon in the upper-right corner of the app and tap Shared Library (or Both Libraries) under Library View Options.
• In macOS in the Photos app, click the popup menu in the upper-left of the main photos view and choose Shared Library or Both Libraries.

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