Do you have several photos and videos which you wish to share with a group of friends? Does the usual way of sharing it one by one via social media apps seem daunting? This is where the shared album feature in iCloud comes into play. You can see, add, and edit the photos and videos in a shared album.

These actions can be performed with everyone who has the access to the shared album. However, in order to do this, you need to first accept the shared album invite sent to you. Irrespective of when the shared album invite was sent to you, we will tell you about all the different ways in which you can accept it.

What is a Shared Album?

With the help of an album that is shared, you can share selected photos and videos with other Apple device users. All you have to do is invite the people you want by keying in their iCloud account name. Once they accept the invite, they can easily access all the photos and videos you have stored in the shared album. They can even add a few more photos and videos of their choice to the album.

How Do You Accept a Shared Album Invite

1. On iPhone

Want to know how to do it on your iPhone? Follow the steps given below.

• If someone has sent you a shared album invite, you should receive a notification on your device. Tap on this notification.
• If there is no notification, go to the ‘Photos’ app.
• Tap on ‘For You’.
• You should see the shared album invite here. Tap on ‘Accept’.
• Once the shared album is added, you can tap on it to access the photos and videos in it.
• If you want to add any photo or video to this album, you can tap on the ‘+’ option.

2. On your Mac/PC

If you want to accept it on your PC, you can do so by using the following steps.

• When someone invites you to an album that is shared, you would generally get an email regarding it.
• On your Mac, open this email.
• Click on ‘Subscribe’.
• After that, click on ‘Join’.

Once you have access to the shared album you can see all the images and videos and can even add any image or video or your choice.

Unable to Receive a Shared Album Invitation?

Shared albums on iCloud is one of the most used features among Apple device users. Lately, many users have reported facing issues with sending and receiving shared album invites. If you are one of them, here are 6 quick fixes that can help you out.

1. Check System Status

• If you face any kind of issue on any of your Apple devices, the first thing you must do is check ‘Apple System Status’.
• If you notice a green light right beside ‘Photos’, you can move on to the next fix. If not, you will need to wait for Apple to resolve the issue.

2. Make Sure that Icloud Photo Links are Not Expired

• The shared albums are generally shared with a link and these links expire after 30 days.
• If you are getting the message ‘Fail to Retrieve’ when you try to join a shared album with a link, there are high chances that the invite link might have expired.
• In such a case, you can ask any member of the shared album to send you a link again.

3. Check Network Connection

• Since shared albums are a feature on iCloud, you need a stable internet connection to access it without any hiccups.
• If you notice that the shared album is no longer visible on your device, there is a high chance that there might be internet connectivity issues.
• Open Safari or any other browser on your device and check the internet connectivity status.
• If required, you can reset the network settings by tapping on ‘Reset Network Settings’ option from the General Settings on your device.
• Reconnect your device to the internet and check if the issue persists.

4. Turn Off & On Shared Albums

• Sometimes a simple operation like disabling and re-enabling shared albums can fix the issue.
• To do this, go to your iCloud profile from ‘Settings’ on your device.
• Tap on ‘Photos’, look for ‘Shared Albums’, turn this off and turn it on again after a few seconds.

5. Turn Off Low Power Mode

• If your phone’s battery is low and you have turned on ‘Low Power Mode’, several features on your iPhone like the shared albums would have been turned off automatically.
• If this is the case, switch off ‘Low Power Mode’ from the ‘Battery’ option in ‘Settings’.

6. Update to IOS Latest Version

• If you haven’t updated your device to the latest iOS version, several issues like the shared album not being seen on the device can occur.
• You can check if your phone is updated to the latest iOS by tapping on ‘Software Update’ from the General Settings of your phone.
• To update your iOS to the latest version, select ‘Download and Install’.

By using any of the above fixes, the issue would be resolved.

Shared Album Invite – FAQs

Conclusion

Thanks to the shared album feature of iCloud, it is now easier than ever to share photos and videos with your friends and family. These features are very well integrated into the iPhone Photos app. With shared albums you can privately share images and videos with whomever you want without being worried about it being all over social media for everyone else to see. To use this exciting feature, you need to either create a shared album and invite people or you would have to get invited to a shared album. This article will help you in the latter case. If you face any issue while accepting invites to a shared album, the fixes given above can help you out.