How to delete shared photo albums on iPhone & iPad

What were previously called “Shared Photo Streams” are now referred to as “Shared Albums” which are part of a service called “iCloud Photo Sharing”.

To turn on or off iCloud Photo Sharing on an iPhone or iPad connected to an iCloud account:

1. Open “Settings”
2. Tap on “Photos & Camera”
3. Toggle “iCloud Photo Sharing” on or off

Please note that this operation has no incidence on the shared albums currently active for your iCloud account.

In fact, there are two types of shared albums:

• Those that you created
• Those that someone else created and to which you subscribed

The photos and videos in those albums are separate copies of those that are either in your camera roll or in iCloud Photo Library.

This means that deleting shared albums has no incidence on your camera roll or iCloud Photo library.

Please note as well that shared albums do not consume any iCloud storage space.

If your ultimate goal is to get rid of the shared albums themselves, you’ll need to:

1. Delete all the shared albums that you created
2. Unsubscribe from shared albums created by other people

To delete or unsubscribe from shared albums

1. Open the Photos app
2. Tap on “Shared”
3. Tap on “Edit”
4. Tap on the “no entry” sign (⛔️)
5. Tap on “Delete” for shared albums with from you
6. Tap on “Unsubscribe” for shared albums from someone else
7. Tap on “Done”

In case you’re wondering what is happening when deleting those albums:

• Deleting shared albums that you created will remove the photos and videos stored in them AND unsubscribe the people with whom you’ve shared the album. Those people will “lose” the shared photos and videos, unless they explicitly made a copy in their own Camera roll or iCloud Photo Library.
• Unsubscribing from an album shared by someone else only affects your own iCloud account and does not affect the album creator. You will “lose” those shared photos and videos, unless you explicitly made a copy in your own Camera roll or iCloud Photo Library.

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