Apple introduces video sharing via Photo Stream in iOS 7 and Apple TV 6.0.
When Apple first announced Photo Stream back in 2011, many were disappointed that it was only limited to photos. In the past, there hasn’t been a way to share videos via iCloud, till now. With iOS 7 and Apple TV OS 6.0, you can now upload a video to a shared photo stream (quality is reduced to 720p). The coolest part about this is that videos added to a shared photo stream do not count against your iCloud storage limit. This means that you could download all of your videos to your computer through iPhoto and then upload these videos to a shared photo stream. Once you have a copy of the videos on your computer, you could delete them off of your iOS device and still have access to the videos (in HD 720p) through the shared photo stream on all your devices including Apple TV running iOS 6.0 or later. That way, you don’t have to fill up unnecessary space on your device with videos. Keep in mind, there is no way to download the videos from an iOS device at this point, so be sure to keep a copy on your computer (there is a greyed out Sharing icon in the shared photo stream which leads me to believe Apple will allow this feature in the future). If you make the Photo Stream public, then it does work as a nice backup because you can download the videos (in HD 720p) to your computer at any time through a web browser and the shared link to your Photo Stream. I would guess that it won’t be long before Apple allows users to download videos from shared Photo Streams directly to their iOS devices. Then, this would be a great backup system for all your videos.
So now, Photo Streams can include both videos and photos. When you share them with others, the people you have shared these with can add their own photos to the stream and comment on the photos you have posted. They can also “Like” photos and videos.
So, enough explanation, and on with the how to. Here is how to share video with a Shared Photo Stream in iOS 7 (accessible even on Apple TV with software version 6.0 and later):
1. Capture a video on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), or iPod Touch (Running iOS 7 or later)
2. Open the Photos app on your iOS Device
3. Locate the video you want to share (easiest way is to tap on Albums in the lower right corner and then tap on “Videos” – this is where all of the videos in your camera roll are stored). When you have located the video you want to share, tap on the “Select” button in the upper right corner of the screen. Then tap on the video you want to share and a blue check mark will appear on the video.
4. Next, tap the “Share” icon at the bottom left of the screen (this is the icon that looks like a box with an arrow pointing upwards). Then, tap the iCloud icon that appears in the share menu.
5. Finally, choose the Photo Stream you want to share the video to. Add a comment if you want and then tap “Post”. If you choose to add a new Photo Stream at this point, you will need to tap on the “Stream” text at the bottom of the Post box and then tap “New Shared Stream…”. You can then share the stream with others by typing in their email or you can leave it blank and share it later.
That’s it. Your video will upload to iCloud without using any of your free 5GB of space (or more if you have chosen to pay for it). Now you know how to share videos with Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad (Mini), and iPod Touch. The video can now be accessed by anyone you have shared the Photo Stream with. Photo Stream videos can also be accessed from an Apple TV running OS version 6.0 or later. To make the shared photo stream public, simply tap on the “Shared” icon at the bottom middle of the screen. Then, tap on the stream you want to make public. You will see the photos and videos you have uploaded to that stream. Next, tap on the “People” button at the bottom left of the screen. From here, you can flip the toggle switch to make your specific Shared Photo Stream public. This way, you can download all of your videos from a web browser onto your computer with the link provided. This essentially creates a cloud based backup option for videos in 720p resolution.