Turn on Photo Stream

You need to turn on Photo Stream in iPhoto and on each iOS device that you want to include in your Photo Stream.

Before you can turn on Photo Stream, you need to set up your iCloud account on your computer and devices.

Note:  To use iCloud, you need an Apple ID. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you can create one during setup.

To set up iCloud on your computer:

  1. Open System Preferences and click iCloud.

  2. Type your Apple ID and password, and then click Sign In.

    If you don’t have an Apple ID, click “Create an Apple ID” and follow the onscreen instructions.

  3. Select your options and click Next.

  4. Click Done.

  5. To turn on Photo Stream, select the checkbox next to it.

If you choose not to turn on Photo Stream now, you can turn it on later in iPhoto preferences.

To set up iCloud on your iOS device:

  1. On your device’s Home screen, tap Settings, and then tap iCloud.

  2. Type your Apple ID and password, and then tap Sign In.

    If you don’t have an Apple ID, tap “Get a Free Apple ID” and follow the onscreen instructions.

To turn on Photo Stream in iPhoto:

  1. Open iPhoto and select Photo Stream in the Source list (on the left).

  2. Click Turn On Photo Stream (on the right).

    Any new photos you import into iPhoto are uploaded to iCloud and added to Photo Stream. By default, photos already in Photo Stream (for example, photos added to Photo Stream by an iOS device) are also automatically imported into your iPhoto library.

    To change your settings for adding photos to Photo Stream, or for importing photos into your iPhoto library, choose iPhoto > Preferences and click Photo Stream. You can also turn Photo Stream on and off in iPhoto preferences.

To turn on Photo Stream on an iOS device:

  1. On your device’s Home screen, tap Settings, and then tap iCloud.

  2. Tap Photo Stream.

  3. Tap the Photo Stream switch to On.

    Any new photos you take with your device are uploaded to iCloud and added to Photo Stream (a Wi-Fi connection is required).