September 23, 2026
Do Shared Albums count toward iCloud storage?
Short answer
Before iOS 27, no. Shared Albums lived in iCloud without touching anyone’s storage, at reduced resolution. From iOS 27, new Shared Albums keep full resolution and count against the album owner’s iCloud storage, including every photo and video other people add. Older albums stay free unless you tap Upgrade Shared Album, and temporary albums, which delete themselves after 30 days, don’t count at all.
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If your iCloud storage started filling faster after you updated, a Shared Album you own is a good place to look. iOS 27 changed the rule that kept Shared Albums off your storage bill, and the new albums hold full-size files.
Below: what changed, who pays, what the upgrade button does to your old albums, and how to keep a busy album from eating your plan.
Shared Albums before and after iOS 27
Apple’s own Shared Albums limits page now lists two sets of rules, one for version 26 and earlier and one for version 27 and later. Side by side:
| iOS 26 and earlier | iOS 27 (new or upgraded albums) | |
|---|---|---|
| Counts toward iCloud storage | No | Yes, the owner’s |
| Items others add | Free | Count toward the owner’s storage |
| Photo resolution | Reduced to 2,048 pixels on the long edge (panoramas up to 5,400 wide) | Full resolution |
| Videos | Up to 15 minutes, delivered at up to 720p | Full-resolution sharing |
| Items per album | 5,000 | No cap beyond the owner’s available storage |
| Albums per owner | 200 | No cap beyond the owner’s available storage |
| People per album | 100 subscribers | 100 participants, owner included |
The old limits were the price of free storage. Apple shrank every photo and capped every album, and in return none of it touched your quota. iOS 27 drops the shrinking and most of the caps, and moves the cost onto the owner’s plan.
What else changed in iOS 27
Apple says Shared Albums in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 add full-resolution sharing, new filters and sorting, emoji reactions and new ways to invite people. The biggest of those: anyone with the link can join and add photos on the web, even without an Apple Account or an Apple device. So friends on Android or Windows can add their photos too.
It also means the number of people who can add files to your storage is no longer limited to people with Apple devices.
Who pays for the storage: the owner
Whoever created the album pays for all of it. Apple’s limits page says photos and videos in shared albums you own count toward your iCloud storage, and that uploads from contributors count toward the owner’s storage as well.
So if you set up an album for a family holiday and six relatives each add their camera roll from the trip, all of those full-resolution photos and videos land on your plan. Nothing counts against theirs. The reverse is also true: photos you add to someone else’s album use their storage, not yours.
That hits harder in countries where iCloud+ now costs more. In July 2026 Apple raised iCloud+ prices in Japan, Türkiye, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Egypt and Nigeria, MacRumors reported, while US prices stayed the same.
What Upgrade Shared Album does to old albums
Albums you made before iOS 27 aren’t touched by the update. They keep the old rules and keep costing nothing until you choose to upgrade them. On iPhone, the option lives in the Photos app: Collections, then Shared Albums, open the album, tap the More button, then Upgrade Shared Album.
Here’s what Apple says an upgrade changes:
- Photos and videos already in the album won’t count toward your iCloud storage.
- Anything added after the upgrade will count toward the owner’s storage, at its original resolution.
- Participants whose devices aren’t on the latest software have to update, or view the album on iCloud.com.
- A copy of the old version is kept for six months under Settings, your name, iCloud, Photos, Sharing, Shared Albums, Archived Shared Albums, where you can recover it to your library. After six months it’s permanently deleted.
Temporary shared albums don’t count
For a wedding, a trip or a weekend away, iOS 27 has a better option. Apple says temporary shared albums don’t count toward your iCloud storage. They hold up to 5,000 photos and videos from all contributors combined, and the album is deleted after 30 days. MacRumors notes that anything not saved to someone’s own library by then is gone.
You can set this up two ways. When you create a shared album, turn on Make Album Temporary. Or, if you go to delete an existing album, Apple offers Make Album Temporary as an alternative, which gives everyone 30 days to save what they want before it disappears.
How to see how much iCloud space Photos uses
- Open Settings and tap your name.
- Tap iCloud. The bar at the top shows your total use by category.
- Tap Storage or Manage Account Storage for the full list of apps and features, largest first.
Apple’s storage guide describes the Photos category as photos and videos stored in iCloud Photos, and it doesn’t say where shared-album usage appears in that list. The practical test is your total: note it, clear out a big album, and check again later. Storage figures take a while to catch up after any big deletion, which we covered in how long iPhone storage takes to update.
How to cut what your Shared Albums cost
These are the controls Apple documents for albums you own. In each case, open the album in Photos first.
Delete what you don’t need, whoever added it
Apple says the owner of a shared album can delete any photos, videos or comments from anyone. Participants can only delete what they added themselves. If a relative uploaded 40 near-identical shots of the same sunset, you can trim them.
Change what people can do, or remove them
Tap the Manage Shared Album button and tap a participant. Apple refers to a Can Add Photos permission, and The Mac Observer reports a Can View and Comment option that stops that person from uploading. To take someone out entirely, tap Remove Participant at the bottom of the screen.
Stop strangers joining through the link
New albums can be shared by link, and a link can be forwarded. Apple lets the owner choose in the album’s Sharing Options whether anyone with the link can join. Turn on Access Requests and extra people with the link have to ask, and you approve them.
Delete the album, or make it temporary
Tap the More button, then Delete Shared Album, then Delete to confirm. Tell people first, because anything they haven’t saved to their own library goes with it. The gentler route is Make Album Temporary, which gives everyone 30 days to save what they want. Temporary albums don’t count toward your storage.
Leaving an album somebody else owns won’t free any of your space, since that album was never on your plan.
Your own library is usually the bigger number
Shared Albums are one line in the iCloud list. If iCloud Photos is on, the bigger line is often your own library, and it tends to hold the same kind of waste: exact duplicates from saving the same image twice, runs of 10 similar shots where one is worth keeping, blurry frames, old screenshots and long videos nobody rewatches.
To be clear about what LuminaClean does and doesn’t do: it works on your photo library only. It can’t see or edit Shared Albums, remove participants or change iCloud settings. Everything above is done in Apple’s Photos and Settings apps.
For the library itself, LuminaClean scans on-device and groups exact duplicates, near-duplicate shots, blurry photos, screenshots and your largest videos. You approve every removal with a swipe, and each deletion goes to iOS Recently Deleted first. With iCloud Photos on, that’s where the iCloud saving comes from, once the album is emptied (see why Recently Deleted still takes up storage). You get 65 free deletes to start, then +10 every day, with full detection and no account, and there’s an optional Premium subscription for clearing a big library in one go.
Shrink the library you pay for.
LuminaClean finds duplicates, similar shots, blurry photos and large videos on-device. You approve every deletion, and each one goes to Recently Deleted first.
Related guides
- iPhone Storage Still Full After Deleting Photos? — the other common causes.
- Do Photos in Recently Deleted Take Up Storage? — the step that frees iCloud space.
- How to Delete Duplicate Photos on iPhone — four methods compared.
- Cleaner App Deleted Photos From iCloud? — how deletions sync.
- iPhone Storage Full? How to Free Up Space — the full guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do Shared Albums count toward iCloud storage in iOS 27?
New and upgraded ones do. Apple says photos and videos in shared albums you own count toward your iCloud storage from iOS 27, and so do the items participants add. On iOS 26 and earlier, shared album content was kept in iCloud without counting toward anyone’s storage. Temporary shared albums still don’t count.
Do photos other people add to my shared album use my iCloud storage?
Yes, if you’re the owner of a new or upgraded album. Apple’s limits page says uploads from contributors count toward the owner’s storage. You can delete anyone’s photos, videos or comments in an album you own, and you can remove participants or change what they’re allowed to do.
Will my old shared albums start using iCloud storage after I update to iOS 27?
No. Existing shared albums are unaffected unless you tap Upgrade Shared Album. Even after an upgrade, Apple says the photos and videos already in the album won’t count toward your storage. Only new items added after the upgrade count, and they’re stored at original resolution.
Do temporary shared albums use iCloud storage?
No. Apple says temporary shared albums don’t count toward your iCloud storage. They hold up to 5,000 photos and videos in total and are deleted after 30 days, so anyone who wants to keep something has to save it to their own library before then.
Can LuminaClean clean up my Shared Albums?
No. LuminaClean works on your own photo library only. It can’t see or edit Shared Albums, remove participants or change iCloud settings. What it does is help you shrink your main library by finding duplicates, similar shots, blurry photos, screenshots and large videos, which is usually the biggest part of the Photos number in iCloud.