⌥ I Kind of Fixed My iCloud Photos Problem and All I Got Was Two Blog Posts and Probably Years Off My Life

An advantage of publishing my problems with wide circulation is that sometimes people will be very helpful in their comments and emails.1 Plenty of people kindly suggested alternatives and ways to correct the problems I was having and, after many days’ work, I think I am on better footing. But first, it is my fault as a writer that it seems I did not differentiate clearly enough the two related issues I have experienced with iCloud Photos. The first problem is that it is very easy to get images into an iCloud-stored photo library, but extremely difficult to extract them. This issue is compounded by a lack of transparency and data verification. The second problem is that it is necessary to commit to a lifetime of storage if one uses a third-party cloud option. The software suggestions I received are manifold. The first is a category comprising a bunch of self-hosted options, of which the most popular seems to be Immich. This would solve the problem of a long-term commitment to a…