Migration of Photos/Videos in Camera Rolls from iPhone 4S to iPhone 5s via iCloud

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

Just bought a new iPhone 5s. Some questions on Photo Stream and iCloud on migrating photos/videos. I have lots of photos/videos in Camera Roll of my old iPhone 4S and have just configured the iPhone 5s as new (not restoring from backup) - both using the same Apple ID for iCloud.

- If I enable My Photo Stream (Settings > Photos & Camera > My Photo Stream) now on iPhone 4S (disabled since Day 1), will it upload all existing photos/videos in the Camera Roll to iCloud or only new photos/videos from that point forward get uploaded?
- After that, will all the photos/videos from iCloud be downloaded into the Camera Roll of iPhone 5s (with My Photo Stream enabled) or some other folder?
- If all is well until this point, will the photos/videos downloaded earlier get removed upon disabling My Photo Stream on iPhone 5s?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

1) only from now on, I believe and it will be photos only not videos
2) they go into their own PhotoStream album not the camera roll
3) if you then turn off PhotoStream that album will go away and they will no longer be on your device. However, if you go into the PhotoStream album and select the photos you can choose to save them to your camera roll. If you did that and then turned off PhotoStream the photos would still be in your camera roll.

Many thanks for the answers! A bit disheartening that Photo Stream won't upload existing photos (and videos)

- Any ideas on how to get existing Camera Roll photos (and videos, if possible) on iPhone 4S into Camera Roll of iPhone 5s?
- What about iCloud Backup? Can I backup the entire iPhone 4S via iCloud (not iTunes backup) and then selectively restore back only photos/videos into iPhone 5s?

 

[Fausty82]

Many thanks for the answers! A bit disheartening that Photo Stream won't upload existing photos (and videos)

- Any ideas on how to get existing Camera Roll photos (and videos, if possible) on iPhone 4S into Camera Roll of iPhone 5s?
- What about iCloud Backup? Can I backup the entire iPhone 4S via iCloud (not iTunes backup) and then selectively restore back only photos/videos into iPhone 5s?

iCloud has limitations (by design) for how it handles photos. First of all, iCloud only has access to the last 1000 photos that it has "seen". Additionally, photos are only available via iCloud for 30 days. I’m sure that’s a limitation imposed to reduce the space involved...

The iCloud (and iTunes) iPhone backup is not a selective backup/restore process. It’s all or nothing.

You could use your computer and an app like iPhoto or Picasa to sync photos from your iPhone 4S to your computer and then sync back to your new iPhone 5S. This method would include both photos and video that is currently on your iPhone 4S.

 

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

I thought of another option. Use shared photo streams assuming both devices are on iOS 7.

Turn on PhotoStream on old device
Go to camera roll and select all the photos and videos
Select the share icon in lower left.
Choose share to iCloud.
Create a new shared PhotoStream.
Give it time to copy everything.

On new device turn on PhotoStream. Make sure you are using the same Apple ID.
Go to the Photos app. You should have a shared icon at the bottom.
Tap it and when you see all of your photos and videos have successfully made it over (obviously will depend on wifi speeds,etc), select them and again tap the Share icon. Except this time select 'save to camera roll'.
Verify that all your photos are in your camera roll.
Turn off photo stream if you want. Note that the photos will still be in the shared PhotoStream. If you don't want them there, then before you turn PhotoStream off, select all the photos in the shared stream and delete them.

Nice! This could work. Gonna try them out when I get home from work. Many thanks again!

 

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

iCloud has limitations (by design) for how it handles photos. First of all, iCloud only has access to the last 1000 photos that it has "seen". Additionally, photos are only available via iCloud for 30 days. I’m sure that’s a limitation imposed to reduce the space involved...

The iCloud (and iTunes) iPhone backup is not a selective backup/restore process. It’s all or nothing.

You could use your computer and an app like iPhoto or Picasa to sync photos from your iPhone 4S to your computer and then sync back to your new iPhone 5S. This method would include both photos and video that is currently on your iPhone 4S.

Not liking the photo sync method (between iPhone and Computer) as it will not save into Camera Roll but thanks for the suggestion

 

[DaViD_BRaNDoN]

@Karenkcoulter: The shared PhotoStream works, albeit a slight reduction in quality. Probably the photos were compressed when uploaded to iCloud. Videos got uploaded to iCloud but can't be copied into Camera Roll though. Happy with this solution. Best solution is to use AirDrop but unfortunately iPhone 4S don't have this feature due to hardware limitation.

 

[bgl321]

If I have my photos and photostreams backed up to icloud, will they be restored on a new device? Don't want to lose photostreams I've shared. Thanks.


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