How to Access iCloud Photos and Find Duplicates

During the first quarter of 2021, Apple announced record earnings of $111.4 billion. The tech giant’s phenomenal growth stems from Apple’s innovative products and good quality technology.

One of these innovations is the iCloud storage facility, which allows you to save your work to the cloud instead of your PC, freeing up space and adding security.

Even iCloud has its limits, though. So, if you find your allocated space is becoming a little crowded, here’s how to access iCloud photos, to can free up the space you need.

How to View iCloud Photos on Your Phone

Setting up your iPhone to save photos on iCloud is a convenient way to make sure you’ve got a secure backup of all your shots. That way, if anything happens to your phone, you won’t lose these precious memories.

When you go this route you can sync all your devices, so that you can access your iCloud photos from your PC and your iPad, too.

Syncing Your Devices

This is the easiest way to view your photos on iCloud while using your phone. It’s a simple process involving the following three steps:

1. Open Settings

2. Tap on your name, then iCloud, then Photos

3. Turn the slider to the On position

This syncs your photos with your device, allowing you to view the iCloud photo library in the Photos app.

You can also view your photos in your browser, as follows:

1. Go to iCloud.com via Safari

2. Sign in to your account

3. Tap Photos and browse away

This also stops all your photos from syncing to your device.

Troubleshooting iCloud Photos

There are a few reasons you can’t see your photos on your iPhone. Here’s what to do about them:

You’ve Disallowed iCloud on Cellular Data

Syncing your images and videos uses a ton of data, so your phone’s automatically set to sync only when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. You can disable this feature by navigating to Cellular data, via Photos, from your Settings menu.

You Haven’t Turned On your iCloud Photos

If you’re logged into iCloud, but your Photos aren’t turned on, you can’t view them. To remedy this, go o Settings, then tap on your name, and toggle the Photos switch to On.

You’re Not Signed In

Do you have multiple Apple IDs? If so, you might have logged in on two different accounts using your phone. To check which IDs you’ve signed in with, go to Settings and tap on your name.

How to Access iCloud Photos on Your Windows PC

If you have an Apple phone, but you want to work on your photos on a Windows computer, you’re probably wondering how to access iCloud photos from this OS.

It’s easy to do this, by downloading and installing iCloud for Windows. First, make sure you’ve set up iCloud on at least one of your Apple devices and signed in.

Then, follow these simple steps:

1. Download iCloud for Windows on your PC

2. Open the iCloud app and sign in with your Apple ID

3. Navigate to Photos and click Options.

4. Select iCloud Photos and click Done

5. Click Apply and turn on iCloud Photos on all your devices

On Windows 10 or later, you can share albums and customize their location. With Windows 7, you can also use My Photo Stream, if you turn it on beforehand.

Dealing With Duplicate Files on iCloud Photos

Sometimes, syncing photos between devices can cause you to store the same photos on iCloud multiple times. Remember, you don’t have unlimited access to iCloud photos, so you don’t want to waste space storing the same images.

Sure, you could just search your images looking for duplicates and delete them, but this isn’t a good idea.

Usually, photos you’re seeing in multiple albums are only stored once, although they’re visible in multiple places. That means you could easily delete a photo without realizing that it’s your only copy.

What’s more, iCloud Photos won’t alert you when you’re importing an image that’s already stored on the Cloud. It simply modifies the filename and adds a number to the end.

You can delete these files yourself by viewing your photos in chronological order to help you spot duplicates and send them to the trash can.

This is a time-consuming process, but there’s a better, faster, and safer way to do it.

There are apps available to help you find and delete duplicate image files safely.

Remo Duplicate Photos Remover

You can download this app onto your phone for easy duplicate removal. When you want to free up space, simply open the app and tap Scan.

It takes a few minutes to complete its search, but you can continue using your phone while it runs. When it’s done, Remo sends a pop-up notification.

You can view the files and file sizes on your screen and delete them with one tap.

Gemini 2

Gemini 2 is one of the most popular apps for dealing with duplicate image files. It’s fast, and easy to operate and can detect all kinds of duplicate files lurking in every nook and cranny of your phone.

Due to its extensive search capabilities, this app can search your iCloud images and detect duplicates too. It can also auto-delete the duplicates, so you don’t need to go through each one.

You can go now and download Gemini 2 from the app store if this sounds like a good solution for you.

Discover a Better Way to Do Everything

When you know how to access iCloud photos and delete duplicate files, you’re well on your way to maximizing productivity across your devices.

The fuller your devices, the slower they’ll run leading to frustration and even missed deadlines in some cases.

Would you like to discover more time, energy, and money-saving hacks? Browse our website for the latest information.