How to Accept a Shared Album Invitation: iPhone & iPad Guide

Do you want to share your photos with others without posting them on social media sites? If you and those you want to share with have Apple devices, you can share your albums via iCloud in a snap! This wikiHow article walks you through the process of creating a shared album to accepting an invite on an iPhone.

Quick Steps

Open the Photos app.
Tap the For You tab at the bottom of the screen.
Tap Accept next to the shared album invitation.

Section 1 of 6:

Accepting an Invite

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1
Open Photos. This app icon looks like a multicolored pinwheel.
- Do this if the notification is missing from your Notification Center. If you see the shared album invitation in your Notification Center, you can simply tap it to accept the invite.
It's the tab that looks like a card at the bottom of your screen.

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If you've been invited to a shared album, you will see that invitation here.^{[1]
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Section 2 of 6:

Accessing Shared Albums

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1
Open Photos. This app icon looks like a multicolored pinwheel.
- This method is useful once you've been invited to a shared album. Accept the invite, then you'll be able to see the album.
It's at the bottom of your screen.
Scroll down and you'll see the "Shared Albums" header. You can see all the albums you've been invited to.^{[2]
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Section 3 of 6:

Turning on Shared Albums

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Open Settings. Tap the app icon that looks like a pair of gears on a grey background.^{[3]
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- This method works on iPad and iPod touch as well as iPhone.
- If you're on a Mac, open the Photos app, then open Preferences > iCloud > Shared Albums.
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Tap your name. It's the first thing you see when you open the Settings app.^{[4]
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- If your iPhone is older than iOS 11, then you can skip this step.
This is next to a blue cloud icon.^{[5]
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It's the icon that looks like a multicolored pinwheel.^{[6]
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If you have an older iPhone, this will say "iCloud Photo Sharing" instead.^{[7]
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Section 4 of 6:

Sharing an Album

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1
Open Photos. This app icon looks like a multicolored pinwheel.
- Use this method if you already have an album with pictures that you want to share. If you don't have one already, you'll need to create a new one.
Tap Albums at the bottom of your screen to see all of your albums.
This is in the top right corner of your screen.
Tapping this will select all the pictures in your album. If you want to deselect one or more, tap them so they don't display a blue checkmark in the top right corner of their thumbnail.
The Share icon looks like an arrow pointing up out of a box and will bring up a menu.
6
Tap Add to Shared Album. It's usually the second option in the menu.
- You can also follow these steps to add other pictures to your shared album.
This is the album title that everyone else will see, so make sure it has a name that reflects what's in the shared album.^{[8]
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If that person, phone number, or email address is in your Contacts app, you'll be able to select them as you type.^{[9]
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Section 5 of 6:

Creating a Shared Album

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1
Open Photos. This app icon looks like a multicolored pinwheel.
- Use this method if you don't have an album that you want to share.
You should see this tab at the bottom of your screen and it will direct you to your albums.
This plus sign should be in the top left corner of your screen and will allow you to create a new album.
It's usually the last option in the drop-down menu.
This will be the name that everyone else sees, so make sure it reflects what is shared in the album.
6
Enter people to invite to your album, then tap Create. You can use their name, email address, or phone number.
- If you're not sure what their information is, but they are in Contacts, tap + to open the Contacts app.
- To add pictures to this album, tap the + tile and then tap to select photos from your photo gallery.
- Add more people to your shared album by tapping the person with a + icon in the upper right corner of your screen.
- Share your photos with people without iCloud by going to the People tab in your shared album and tapping "Public Website." Your photos will share to a public website so your friends without iCloud can see them.

Section 6 of 6:

Troubleshooting

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If you can't share the album (can't find where to add people to it), you might have created a regular, private album. Share the pictures inside your album to create a new album and share it.
In the case that this is blocked, you may not be seeing photos in a shared album. To fix this, go to Settings > Cellular > Photos.^{[10]
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If you aren't connected to the internet, you will not be able to share an album with others or make comments on uploads. ^{[11]
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Check Apple's system status page. If Photos is down, you won't see pictures or be able to share pictures in the shared album.
When you turn this feature off, you'll get a warning that all the shared albums on your phone will be deleted, but that's ok. They will be added again once you turn it back on.<re>https://support.apple.com/en-us/102503</ref>
Only iPhones, iPads, and Macs with at least iOS 7 will be able to see shared albums. If you haven't updated your iOS and are having issues with photos appearing in the shared album, you should try updating.

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Tips

If you don't want to use iCloud or a public website to share your photos, you can share your photos using Bluetooth instead. The receiving person, however, needs to be within Bluetooth range (up to 30 feet away).

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You can also share videos in shared albums, but they have to be under 15 minutes long. Supported formats include MP4, QuickTime file types, H.264, and MPEG-4.

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