iCloud.com Photos beta disappears as users continue to await OS X iPhoto replacement

Posted:
in iCloud edited January 2015
Without explanation, the beta iCloud.com Photos application is no longer available to access via the website, as a vague "early 2015" launch date for a new Photos for OS X app also looms.




The iCloud Photos app had been available in beta form since last October, when it first debuted. In the following weeks, Apple had gradually added features, such as the ability to manually upload photos to the cloud.

But now, Photos for iCloud.com is no longer available to access. Manually entering the URL for the app returns the error: "Can't load Photos. There was a problem loading the application."

While it may be a temporary glitch, the disappearance of iCloud.com Photos at the start of 2015 comes as users are still awaiting the launch of the new Photos app for OS X Yosemite. Apple has said the new application will become available in early 2015, but has not provided a more specific launch window.

Apple officially ceased development of both Aperture and iPhoto in favor of "Photos for OS X" last summer. The replacement Photos app will feature image search, editing, effects, and third-party extensibility, or plugins.


Source: Apple


Photos for OS X is expected to be an in-between product, blurring the line between consumer and professional-grade image editing and management software. For example, while image adjustments like saturation, temperature and contrast exist in iPhoto, the Photos app will have a higher level of control akin to Aperture.

Whether the disappearance of the iCloud.com Photos beta is related to Photos for OS X is unknown.

iCloud Photos, known as iCloud Photo Library on iOS 8, lets users automatically upload photos and video from their Camera Roll for storage and cross-device syncing and download. The feature is similar to Photo Stream in iOS 7, but with support for full-resolution content and edit syncing.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 59
    As an Aperture users I am disappointed Apple will no longer support the app. I know many people are talking about the new Photos app as being an "in-between" app. I am hopeful Apple will actually release a very capable app that will keep both camps happy... although I am sure some will not be happy no matter what Apple releases. I guess we can do nothing but continue waiting to see.
  • Reply 2 of 59
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    Whether the disappearance of the iCloud.com Photos beta is related to Photos for OS X is unknown.

    One can dream, right? I really hope this is the reason, I'm not 'having the best of times' with LR, and Aperture has its own flaws. But that may be due to the synching with my iPhone; the photo projects aren't in alphabetical order on my phone.
  • Reply 3 of 59
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    eckergus wrote: »
    As an Aperture users I am disappointed Apple will no longer support the app. I know many people are talking about the new Photos app as being an "in-between" app. I am hopeful Apple will actually release a very capable app that will keep both camps happy... although I am sure some will not be happy no matter what Apple releases. I guess we can do nothing but continue waiting to see.

    Same sentiment here. Let's hope Apple hits home with Photos, and features we currently enjoy in Aperture will be filled in by 3rd party plug-ins.
  • Reply 4 of 59
    ceedzceedz Posts: 1member
    I'm waiting to see if Apple can fix the camera roll ordeal! Why create a photo album with a double on the camera roll. I only have an iPad minis & iPhone since my Mac book went down I don't have access to iTunes to pull photos or separate to organize. It's a big mess if you don't have the whole Applesphere going on. Music I can't add. Lack of compatibility is starting to kill my taste for Apple products.
  • Reply 5 of 59
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Based on what happened with the iWork suite I wouldn't get my hopes up that this new app will be anything more than an improved iPhoto app. My guess is it will be more geared towards the masses and not the pros.
  • Reply 6 of 59
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post





    One can dream, right? I really hope this is the reason, I'm not 'having the best of times' with LR, and Aperture has its own flaws. But that may be due to the synching with my iPhone; the photo projects aren't in alphabetical order on my phone.

     

     

    While Apple's hardware remains consistently superior, their software appears to have suffered badly in the last couple of years, with image management standing out as a failure. All of their solutions seem increasingly focused solely on the beginner: someone who buys their first iPhone and starts talking pictures. For anyone who has an existing collection of photos and videos who wants to access and manage these through iOS devices, you're shit out of luck. 

     

    Based on my testing, Apple appears to be sorting images, events and albums based on the date when they were created on the phone or the date when they were imported - while completely ignoring the true creation dates or file/folder names for imported files. Any imported photos are, for sorting purposes, treated as new. So that album you imported from five years ago named "2010-08-01 Kids' Birthday" will be sorted right next to your 2015 photos with no way around it. 

     

    I'm a long time Apple supporter but frankly I'm not getting my hopes up for anything great. Everything I've seen from Apple since iOS8 and Yosemite has frankly been a mess. None of the tent pole features have worked as promised. I've yet to see any intelligent management of images and videos on my iPhone 6, with frequent warnings about running out of storage space but no clear, practical path to resolution. Buying phones with more storage or adding more cloud storage is not a solution since the space will eventually be gobbled up anyway, not to mention Apple's stinginess in terms of device and cloud storage options and pricing.

     

    Given Apple's focus on photography as a central feature in their product line, if they still haven't figured out something as basic as image sorting or storage space management, I have very little faith in the upcoming version 1.0 Photos app.

  • Reply 7 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    philboogie wrote: »
    Same sentiment here. Let's hope Apple hits home with Photos, and features we currently enjoy in Aperture will be filled in by 3rd party plug-ins.

    As I had mentioned last week, I took the plunge and went LightRoom. I loaded my largest Aperture Library, is is a tad under 500 GIGs. I worked around the clock for several days and became very familiar with LR and have nothing bad to say about it really. It was slower at loading and scrolling by far than Aperture (this on a new Mac Pro with the Library on a 6TB RAID 0 Thunderbolt drive) for some reason but other than that it worked very well.

    That said, I missed Aperture's interface a hell of a lot and most of all the features such as auto stacking with variable time settings (I do a lot of bracketing work), controls over filtering with smart folders (I find this feature essential to my work flow) and the whole user interface in general.

    In the end I have kept both but archived of the LR Catalog to another drive for safe keeping for now.

    I am back to working with Aperture full time and strangely with a whole new appreciation of how amazing Aperture is. If these features, stacks and smart filtering are not retained in some way Apple are stone crazy IMHO.
  • Reply 8 of 59

    I just logged into my icloud to see if this was true and i have the "photos" icon.  when i click on it i get access to all my photos just like before.  So it appears that it is back online

  • Reply 9 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    freediverx wrote: »

    I'm a long time Apple supporter but frankly I'm not getting my hopes up for anything great. Everything I've seen form Apple since iOS8 and Yosemite has frankly been a mess. None of the tent pole features have worked as promised. I've yet to see any intelligent management of images and videos on my iPhone 6, with frequent warnings about running out of storage space and no clear, practical path for resolution. And speaking of photos specifically, it's infuriating the way Events and Albums are displayed on iOS devices in no logical order - not alphabetical, not chronological - and with no way for the user to choose either. Apple's solutions seem limited to the beginner: someone who buys their first iPhone and starts talking pictures. For anyone who has an existing collection of photos and videos who wants to access and manage these through iOS devices, you're shit out of luck.

    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">If they can't figure out something as basic as image sorting, I have very low expectations for how the rest of their photos solution is going to pan out.</span>

    While not addressing your specific comments I am starting to wonder if trying to please consumer / prosumers and professionals in one set up is mission impossible.
  • Reply 10 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I just logged into my icloud to see if this was true and i have the "photos" icon.  when i click on it i get access to all my photos just like before.  So it appears that it is back online

    I just logged in from one of my non Apple Developer Macs and it is missing ... (is that Home icon new?)

    1000


    Are you an Apple Developer and seeing it? Or perhaps it is a regional thing, where are you located? I will check out a Mac running Beta 10.10.2 and look later.
  • Reply 11 of 59
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Based on what happened with the iWork suite I wouldn't get my hopes up that this new app will be anything more than an improved iPhoto app. My guess is it will be more geared towards the masses and not the pros.

    That is indeed what I am expecting but still I hope that the features they do put in are very well designed and implemented. Anything we miss out hopefully gets filled by 3rd party plug-ins.

    freediverx wrote: »
    I've yet to see any intelligent management of images and videos on my iPhone 6, with frequent warnings about running out of storage space and no clear, practical path for resolution. And speaking of photos specifically, it's infuriating the way Events and Albums are displayed on iOS devices in no logical order - not alphabetical, not chronological - and with no way for the user to choose either. Apple's solutions seem limited to the beginner: someone who buys their first iPhone and starts talking pictures. For anyone who has an existing collection of photos and videos who wants to access and manage these through iOS devices, you're shit out of luck.

    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">If they can't figure out something as basic as image sorting, I have very low expectations for how the rest of their photos solution is going to pan out.</span>

    Somehow I'm relieved that it isn't just me; I have the same unsorted, moronic order of album names. To top it off the 'Recently deleted' smart folder is somewhere in the middle and some projects ended up in the 'Events from my Mac' folder. Which isn't just odd, it also makes me need to search in two different locations as the search function is nothing like how well Spotlight works. It's on the same level of the desktop iTunes software. A low level that is.

    I am back to working with Aperture full time and strangely with a whole new appreciation of how amazing Aperture is. If these features, stacks and smart filtering are not retained in some way Apple are stone crazy IMHO.

    Another sentiment I share. Aperture really is good. Not that LR isn't, but these are two very different companies, with very different background. In and on itself LR is indeed a solid product. Yet, when Apple does put in the energy they tend to come up with things we hadn't thought about, and appreciate the ease of use.

    My LR trial expires tomorrow and I think I'll just use Aperture until I am happy with a new program, may it come from Apple, Adobe or whatever company.


    I just logged into my icloud to see if this was true and i have the "photos" icon.  when i click on it i get access to all my photos just like before.  So it appears that it is back online

    Which country are you in? This site most likely tried it in the US, no dice. I tried it in The Netherlands, also gone. Perhaps it's not removed from all sites(?)
  • Reply 12 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    philboogie wrote: »

    Which country are you in? This site most likely tried it in the US, no dice. I tried it in The Netherlands, also gone. Perhaps it's not removed from all sites(?)

    Maybe only on Hackintoshes ;)
  • Reply 13 of 59
    Maybe only on Hackintoshes ;)

    I am in the US. I actually logged into iCloud.com from a windows machine at work. I will post a pic when I can.
  • Reply 14 of 59
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    I actually logged into iCloud.com from a windows machine at work.

    There we have it folks: Windows. It just works¡
  • Reply 15 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member


    I am in the US. I actually logged into iCloud.com from a windows machine at work. I will post a pic when I can.


    Also in USA ... Definitely still gone on Mac and also gone on PC, here is Windblows 7.

    1000
  • Reply 16 of 59
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    philboogie wrote: »
    There we have it folks: Windows. It just works¡

    ROFL but in fact ... see last post... :)

    Maybe it was a cached page that was seen.
  • Reply 17 of 59

    so i just checked again and it is still there.  what is interesting is that the page initially loads with out the Photo icon and then in about 5 seconds the photo icon will load to it's current location.  this causes the other icons to shift positions.  It is not like there is a blank space waiting for the icon to appear.  I am not a developer and when i go into my photos it has my pictures from the NYE party i was at last night.  It also says updates as of 10:12 am.  i am in central US time zone.

     

  • Reply 18 of 59

    It was gone, then back...now gone again...on a dev iCloud account in NE US...

  • Reply 19 of 59
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

    Based on my testing, Apple appears to be sorting images, events and albums based on the date when they were created on the phone or the date when they were imported - while completely ignoring the true creation dates or file/folder names for imported files. Any imported photos are, for sorting purposes, treated as new. So that album you imported from five years ago named "2010-08-01 Kids' Birthday" will be sorted right next to your 2015 photos with no way around it. 


    You need a program that takes file/folder dates and names and puts them in to the photo EXIF metadata.

  • Reply 20 of 59

    Um, I Just checked my iCloud and the Photos (Beta) app was there where it should be and worked as expected.

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