In iOS 27, new shared albums you create in the Photos app retain full-resolution quality for the first time, but they now eat up your iCloud storage — and that includes any items added by other people invited to contribute.
Currently, photos in a shared album are automatically reduced to 2048 pixels on the long edge (except for panoramic photos, which can be up to 5400 pixels wide). In iOS 27, both retain their full resolution. But here’s the major trade-off.
For years, Apple has let you store up to 5,000 photos and videos in shared albums without affecting your iCloud storage limit. That’s no longer the case in iOS 27. Perhaps more importantly, if you invite someone to a shared album and they add their own photos and videos to it, as the owner, that will also count toward your iCloud storage limit.
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Apple has also made it easier to invite people to shared albums. The company says friends and family can now join and collaborate across the web, even without an Apple account or Apple device. This means that Android and Windows users can contribute via iCloud.com, so the trend of participants adding photos and videos will only increase.
On the plus side, iOS 27 introduces a free alternative: you can create temporary shared albums that let users collaborate on short-term projects without eating up your iCloud storage. But after 30 days, all unsaved photos and videos in your library are deleted.
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Fortunately, existing shared albums by default are unaffected by the changes, but the Photos app does include an “Upgrade Shared Album” option for those who want to improve the quality of its content – but at the expense of iCloud storage.
Apple has not yet updated its support documentation to reflect the upcoming changes.
iOS 27 is currently in public beta and is expected to be released in September when Apple launches new iPhone models with 5GB of free iCloud storage included.
