You may soon be able to access your photo library through Apple's iCloud website
Apple has yet to activate the iCloud Photo Library in iOS 8. When they do, it could prove difficult, at least temporarily, for users to view those photos on a Mac. Apple has previously said that Photos for OS X wouldn’t be released until next year. The company’s stopgap measure might have been found, according to 9to5Mac.
It looks like Apple plans to put a Photos link on the iCloud website. Makes sense right?
According to 9to5Mac:
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.
Apple introduced iCloud Photo Library for iOS and Photos for OS X in June. Unlike Photo Stream, the new combination allows a user to store their entire photo library on iCloud, rather than on their devices. These photos are only downloaded to an iOS device or Mac when necessary.
At the time, the former was supposed to arrive with the first public version of iOS 8. That didn’t happen.
Instead, promotional materials for the iCloud Photo Library were removed from the Apple website and the product was dropped to beta status. Currently, only developers have access to this beta in iOS 8.
The company is still promoting Photos for Mac online, indicating that the product is “coming early next year.”
Though not confirmed, the fuzzy state of iCloud Photo Library could have to do with the celebrity photo data leak that continues to make news. As such, Apple could be rethinking its security for the service and/or is waiting for the controversy to die down.
It should be noted that Apple has said that iCloud security holes weren’t to blame for nude celebrity photos being leaked online. Instead, they said that certain accounts “were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet.”
My hope is that the iCloud Photo Library will make its debut in October. At that time, Apple is expected to release an iOS 8 update, which will include HomeKit, HealthKit, and Apple Pay.
See also: Apple said to be prepping iOS 8.0.1 to fix initial bugs, and Where are all of your Camera Roll photos in iOS 8?
