Ancestorii vs iCloud Shared Albums after iOS 27.

Apple now treats shared albums differently depending on the software they were created on. Its Shared Albums limits page says albums created on version 27 or later, or on the web, store photos and videos in their original formats at full resolution, with no limit on albums or items beyond your iCloud storage and up to 100 participants, including the owner.

The catch is storage. Everything in an album you own counts towards your iCloud storage, including the photos and videos other people add, unless it is a temporary shared album, which is deleted after 30 days. In a busy family album, one person’s plan pays for everyone’s uploads.

Older albums can be upgraded. Afterwards, existing items still don’t count towards storage, but new ones do, and they are shared at original resolution. Opening an upgraded album on a device needs iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27 or later; anyone on older software can update or view it on iCloud.com.

Albums created on version 26 or earlier work the way most guides still describe. They don’t count towards your iCloud storage, but shared photos are reduced to 2,048 pixels on the long edge (panoramas can be 5,400 pixels wide), and videos can run to 15 minutes at up to 720p.

• Up to 5,000 photos and videos per album, from all contributors combined.
• Up to 200 shared albums per owner, and 100 subscribers per album.
• Up to 1,000 items an hour, or 10,000 a day, from one contributor across all shared albums.

An older album is a good way to look through photos together, but not a full-quality copy.

Everyone gets 5 GB of iCloud storage free. As of October 2026, Apple’s UK iCloud+ prices, tax included, are £0.99 a month for 50 GB, £2.99 for 200 GB, £8.99 for 2 TB, £26.99 for 6 TB and £54.99 for 12 TB. Family Sharing lets one plan cover up to five other family members.

Ancestorii’s Free plan gives the family one shared pool of 1 GB, with files up to 20 MB. Premium gives 100 GB, with files up to 10 GB, for £3.99, €4.99 or $5.99 a month, paid per family with no limit on members. On storage per pound, iCloud+ is far cheaper; Ancestorii is priced for the photos you choose to keep, not a whole photo library.

Since iOS 27, yes. Apple says friends and family can join and contribute their own photos on the web, even without an Apple Account or Apple device. That makes shared albums far more useful for families with Android phones.

For albums created on iOS 26 or earlier, the owner can turn on Public Website, which publishes the photos to a website anyone can see in an up-to-date browser.

Ancestorii doesn’t depend on which phone anyone has: there are free apps for iPhone and Android, the same email and password work on the website, and you can invite relatives by link, email or family join code.

None of this replaces the album you already have. It gives you a place for why a photo matters, in the words and voices of the people who were there. See how family photo albums work on Ancestorii.

If everyone uses an iPhone and you mainly want to pass round holiday photos, a shared album is simple, built in and free within your storage, and since iOS 27 relatives on Android can join on the web. Just remember that new albums count towards the owner’s storage, so whoever creates the family album may need a bigger plan.

If you want the story kept with each photo, voices you can play back and a record organised around the people in it, that is what Ancestorii adds. The two work well together, but neither should be the only copy. Apple says deleting a shared album deletes all its photos permanently, although copies people saved to their own libraries stay. The Library of Congress recommends at least two copies of important photos, stored as far apart as practical, and our guide to backing up family photos shows how.

For the long term, Apple’s Legacy Contact lets someone you choose request data from your account after your death, which may include photos. They need the access key you generate and a death certificate, and setting it up needs iOS 15.2, iPadOS 15.2 or macOS Monterey 12.1 or later. See what happens to your photos when you die.

Ancestorii isn’t a photo library or a backup, and it won’t replace iCloud Photos. It is My Family, a private space only the people you invite can see, where everyone can add photos to albums, give them dates and stories and record voice notes, from the iPhone or Android app or the website.

Free families share 1 GB with unlimited albums, timelines and capsules, and no card is needed. Premium is £3.99 a month for the whole family. Ancestorii shows no ads and doesn’t sell your data, and nothing becomes public unless someone chooses to publish it on Our Stories, the separate public feed.