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iOS 12: How to share photos and videos with expiring links on iPhone and iPad

iOS 12 offers the option to temporarily share photos and videos with an iCloud link. Follow along for how to make use of this handy new feature.

Particularly when you’d like to share more than a few photos or videos, using email or iMessage isn’t the most convenient choice. iOS 12 brings the quick and easy option of selecting content and sharing it via an iCloud link for one month.

Conveniently, those you are sharing with don’t even need to have an Apple device, iCloud account, or password to view the shared content.

iOS 12: How to share photos and videos with expiring links on iPhone and iPad

  1. Open the Photos app and tap Select in the top right corner
  2. Select the photos and videos you’d like to share
  3. Tap the share button in the bottom right corner (top left on iPad)
  4. Choose Copy Link
  5. After the Preparing… window closes, your link will automatically be copied to the clipboard
  6. Head to your message, email or other medium you’d like to share your content, tap and hold on a text field and tap Paste

Depending on how many photos and videos you selected, it may take a few moments to generate the iCloud link.

When sharing the link in Messages, there is a nice preview that shows a thumbnail of the first photo or video you selected.

If at some point you’d like to copy and share the link again, or stop sharing sooner than the default one month period, tap For You in Photos, and swipe down a bit to see Recently Shared. Tap the … icon in the top right corner as shown above.

For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:

Dearmob iPhone Manager for Mac


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