Apple iCloudâs drastically low free storage offering and problematic cross-platform support capabilities present a persistent problem. Thatâs why Iâm always on the hunt for that perfect third-party cloud storage service. Thus for a while, Iâve been using Amazon Photos in place of iCloud for photo backups.
Weâve compiled a list of some of the best software available for Appleâs Mac, from email and shortcut apps to window organizers and multimedia players. Airmail 3, Alfred, Bear, LastPass. Set the app to Auto-Save your photos and videos from your phone so they get backed up automatically. Once your photos are stored in Amazon Photos, you can delete them from your device to make room on your phone. This free photo storage app can help you keep your photos and videos safe, even if your phone is lost or damaged. I think it's fantastic that there's unlimited storage for photos, because as a learning photographer, I have thousands of photos from trips and family. Now this service gives me additional peace of mind that if my HDD crashes, and I lose my physical backup, that my photos are stored on Amazon's cloud. Pixelmator is one of the most popular photo-editing apps on the Mac, as it hits the sweet spot that combines powerful editing tools, an attractive and easy-to-use interface, and a very competitive.
So what about Amazon Photos? It is a standalone photo management and cloud storage service presented separately from the core Amazon Drive experience. Just like how Google Photos works.
But does it have what it takes to replace iCloud on the iPhone? Let me share my experience, and then you can decide for yourself.
Availability
In addition to iOS and iPadOS, Amazon Photos is available just about everywhere. On Windows and macOS, you can access it seamlessly using a web browser on desktop, or use the Amazon Photos desktop client instead.
In my experience, I found both the Amazon Photos web app and the desktop client to work flawlessly. Especially on Windows, this is a game-changer. In contrast, iCloud.com is slow and clunky, and the iCloud app is prone to numerous issues.
And unlike iCloud, Amazon Photos is also available on Android. That is terrific if you want to take a back up of all your photos and videos across devices to store them in a single location.
Also on Guiding TechiCloud Windows Store vs Desktop: Which One Should You ChooseRead MoreFree Storage
When it comes to available free storage, Amazon Photos doesnât differ from iCloud â you get access to just 5GB, which is sure to run out in no time. The same holds true for the majority of cloud storages as well (OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.), with the exception being Google Photos' 15GB of free storage.
When it comes to available free storage, Amazon Photos doesnât differ from iCloud
However, things change if you have an Amazon Prime membership. You get unlimited free photo storage at original quality, which includes support for the RAW format. A pretty sweet deal if you want to store images with a lot of details in them. But that aside, you are still restricted to just 5GB of storage for videos.
Pricing Tiers
If you donât have an Amazon Prime membership (costs $12.99/month), or have lots of videos, you will have to shell out cash for a storage plan. Surprisingly, the Amazon Photos storage tiers are cheaper than what you get with iCloud.
For example, the base storage tier of 100GB starts at $11.99/year, compared to $0.99/month for 50GB of iCloud storage. In other words, itâs twice the amount of storage for the same price.
The next Amazon Photos storage tier starts at 1TB ($59.99/year), while iCloudâs offering lies at 200GB ($2.99/month). Although not directly comparable, Amazon Photos offers more bang for your buck in terms of storage from a cost per gigabyte perspective.
After that, however, things fall in line with Amazon Photosâ 2TB ($119.99/year) and iCloudâs 2TB ($9.99/month) storage plans. Practically the same both storage and cost-wise. https://pgvxmi.weebly.com/blog/app-mac-my-remarkable.
Also on Guiding Tech#icloudClick here to see our icloud articles pageSupported Formats
On the iPhone, photos and videos that you shoot are saved in the HEIF and HEVC formats by default. Usually, this is a concern since the format isnât all that popular outside the Apple ecosystem.
But thankfully, Amazon Photos supports both formats, and you can readily view them even on unsupported devices with minimal issues. It even converts files to a compatible format when sharing them to other apps.
However, you canât download HEIC photos in the JPG format locally on Windows or Android. That can be quite annoying unless you are prepared to convert them manually. How to make qcp files. On the other hand, both iCloud.com and the iCloud desktop app on Windows lets you download photos in the JPG format easily.
That aside, Amazon Photos has a limit on photo bursts â it only uploads the first frame of a burst. So if you shoot a lot of photos using burst mode, you need to keep that in mind â it could be a deal-breaker.
Convenience
The Amazon Photos app is simple and easy to use. It neatly categorizes all uploaded images by date, and you can flick through them easily. You can also use a range of editing options to crop and enhance your photos.
In addition to that, Amazon Photos lets you create photo albums which are easily shareable, and order physical prints of your photos in various sizes via Amazon.com from the app. Neat stuff.
But aside from using Amazon Photos merely as a backup tool, itâs best to use the default Photos app on your iPhone for serious photo management. Especially on iOS 13, itâs far superior to anything that Amazon Photos offers with better image categorization and editing capabilities.
Itâs best to use the default Photos app on your iPhone for serious photo management
If thereâs a concern when it comes to using Amazon Photos, itâs the problematic background uploads associated with the app. Usually, third-party cloud storages struggle when it comes to backing up photos in the background due to iOS restrictions, and Amazon Photos is no different.
iCloud follows seamless uploads of all photos automatically. So you may have to open the Amazon Photos app once every while to ensure that itâs backing up your pictures without issues.
Also on Guiding Tech3 Superb iPhone Apps to Turn Your Photos into Art WorkRead MoreWhich Is the Best Solution?
I find Amazon Photos to be a solid photo backup alternative to iCloud. That holds true if you have access to an Amazon Prime membership. And the base storage tiers are priced cheaply too, although they lack the flexibility of iCloudâs monthly payment plans.
If you love easy access to your photo bursts, and prefer seamless background uploads, then sticking to iCloud is your best bet.
Next up: iCloudâs My Photo Stream functionality lets you sync photos without using up any cloud storage. Learn what to expect when using it.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Read NextMy Photo Stream vs iCloud Photo Library: What's the Difference?Also See#iphone #photos Did You Know
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In the age of Google Drive, Dropbox and other mega cloud storage services, itâs easy to overlook the other image hosting platform hiding in plain sight: Amazon Photos. The online retailer is known for selling just about everything on earth; yet, somehow its image-hosting capabilities are often overlooked. Having used it for some time now, our Amazon Photos review will look at the pros and cons of using the service to backup your image archive.
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In the age of 4K video and 50-megapixel images, having a proper photo storage platform for your image archive is more important than ever. Photographers have flirted with numerous cloud storage options over the years, but buyouts and changes in the marketplace have made it difficult to know where to store your photos. Once you build your archive up somewhere and craft a taxonomy, you donât want to move it.
Originally a bookseller, Amazon is now invading nearly every facet of our lives these days, from its smart speakers to original television content. But one of Amazonâs many services that doesnât often get the hype it should is its photo storage capability.
How do I store my photos on Amazon Prime?
You can store your photos on Amazon Prime Photos or Amazon Cloud Drive. Both platforms are included within your Prime subscription and offer incredible value for photographers looking to back-up a significant archive.
How much Amazon Prime photo storage do I get?
Amazon Photos offers unlimited photo storage to Prime members. These members can also invited up to five friends or family members, who will also get unlimited photo storage in Amazon Photosâ Family Vault.
Amazon Drive is also included with your Prime subscription, offering 5GB of storage for videos and other content. In our review of this service and others, for the price of a Prime subscription thatâs a very good deal. But we digress.
Amazon Prime offers many benefits, but for photographers its unlimited photo storage â which comes free with a Prime membership â is unrivalled in the marketplace. Even Flickr caps its usersâ storage at a terabyte.
What is the difference between Amazon Photos and Amazon Drive?
There are two ways of using Amazon Prime for photo storage: Amazon Photos and Amazon Drive. To understand the difference, try thinking about it terms of a website. Amazon Drive is like the content management system, or CMS â the back end where you upload and manage files. Amazon Photos is the front end, the public-facing site where you see the fruits of your labour in all their glory.
Also, Amazon Photos will display your images. But Amazon Drive can also store your music files, Word documents, PDFs and anything else. Drive is more of an asset management platform. Prime Photos is more of a gallery.
Both Amazon Photos and Amazon Cloud Drive offer the same unlimited photo storage. However, for all other files â including videos â youâre limited to 5GB. Once you exceed that number youâll need to purchase more storage for those files.
Best dictionary apps mac. In our ongoing Amazon Photos review, the limitations can be annoying if you rarely shoot video and are slightly over the limit. However, the expansion price isnât steep and if you plan to shoot more video over time, itâs well worth it.
Family Vault
What is the Amazon Photosâ Family Vault?
Essentially itâs an easy way to share your images with others in your family. It works by enabling you to connect together all the Amazon Prime Photo accounts in the household together, so there is one repository for all the images that everyone can access. Just like a family photo album, but many times larger and thankfully searchable so you can find the images that you want easily.
All you need to do to get started is to send an invite to the other members of your family and once theyâve accepted the invite theyâre able to access the Family Vault.
The way that it can then be used is that once you have selected and uploaded images to your Amazon Photos you can then choose a selection to add to the Family Vault.
This means that you retain your private photo library alongside the one the rest of the family can access. Download iphoto for mac yosemite free.
Is Amazon Photos free for Prime members?
Yes, Prime Photos is âfreeâ if you subscribe to Amazon Prime. But of course youâre paying £7.99 / $12.99, so free really means âwithin the terms of your subscriptionâ.
Uploading images to Amazon Photos and Amazon Drive
Amazon makes backing up your images very easy for photographers. You can upload to Amazon Photos and Drive via desktop clients for both Mac and Windows machines.
There are also upload clients for iOS and Android devices, as well as Amazonâs own Fire devices.
Uploading to Amazon Photos and Amazon Drive can be done via drag-and-drop.
Itâs worth noting that Amazonâs photo upload clients donât offer syncing or automated backups. However, there are now apps such as Syncovery that offer Amazon Drive as an option for automated file synchronisation.
Amazon Photos Metadata
Amazon Photos populates your images with some metadata, but not much. From your imagesâ EXIF data it will display the camera name, the shutter speed and aperture, date and time the photo was take, the file name, file size and resolution.
Other platforms might provide a deeper list of EXIF data, such as ISO and White Balance values, but for basic photo storage and archive management, what Prime Photos provides is pretty sufficient.
Amazon Prime members get unlimited photo storage, 5 GB of storage for videos, document, and other files for themselves. They can also invite up to five friends or family members to receive unlimited photo storage, and collect photos together in the Family Vault.
To display an imageâs metadata, click the little i icon in the top right.
Sharing images from Amazon Photos
You can share your images from Prime Photos, but the scope is somewhat limited. However, for photographers simply looking to back up their archive, youâll find all the sharing capabilities youâll need.
You share Prime Photos via Facebook, email or direct link to the image. You can also share photos to Family Vaults or create groups of other Prime users and invite them to see your images.
What happens to my photos when I cancel Amazon Prime?
This is the big caveat to the boon of having unlimited photo storage. Once you cancel your Amazon Prime subscription or allow it to expire, you revert back to the free plan which only gives you 5GB of space. Amazon says:
Get apple apps for free on your mac. If you exceed your Service Planâs storage limit, including by downgrading or not renewing your Service Plan or no longer qualifying for an Additional Benefit, we may delete or restrict access to Your Files. We may impose other restrictions on use of the Service.
This implies that Amazon may delete your files or restrict your access to them. Most likely, Amazon will offer you the chance to return to Prime and regain access, rather than simply delete them the second you miss a Prime payment.
But if you someday realise Prime isnât for you and wish to relocate your archive, itâs worth downloading your photos and other files before simply canceling your membership.
Amazon Photos review for professionals
Can Amazon Prime Photos and Amazon Cloud Drive be used by professional photographers? Yes and no. As a photo storage platform and archival management tool, itâs simple-to-use and fantastic value with its unlimited image storage.
But if youâre looking to rely on Amazon Prime for more than photo storage you might need to think twice. Professional photographers might look for an asset management platform that allows them to share images with clients, or even sell photos directly as 500px has just enabled.
Amazon Prime doesnât allow this. Buried in the terms, Amazon makes clear that your files are intended for personal use and should not be used for commercial purposes.
Now, will Amazon actually know if you are sending a link to a Prime Photos gallery to a client vs your mother? Probably not. But the point is, thereâs no easy way for your client to purchase directly from Amazon Cloud Drive or Prime Photos.
Clients would need to give you file names and send a PayPal payment, which is all a bit cumbersome and not very professional. So if your intent is to sell images directly from your archive, Prime Photos and Amazon Cloud Drive might not be the best solution for you.
Amazon Video App For Mac
If you shoot for your own enjoyment, however, or if youâre looking to archive a large collection of images simply as a back-up or even to share amongst family, Amazon Prime photo storage is one of the most user-friendly and economical options out there.
Amazon Photos Storage for videographersAmazon Photos App
This is where self-awareness comes into it. If you shoot solely stills, Prime Photos Storage is brilliant and well worth the money. If you occasionally shoot stills, Amazon Prime Photos Storage is still worth the money, even if you have to pay for extra video storage every so often.
Amazon Photos On Mac
If you shoot mainly video, though, Prime Photos Storage isnât for you. The clue is in the title! In our experience, the best value platform for videographers is Vimeo Pro.
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