Sharing Photos Among Mixed Phone Users

Sharing Photos Among Mixed Phone Users

This is a quick post about sharing photos between iPhone and Android users. I confess up front that I use an Android phone. Among my relatives, friends, and business associates, I am an outlier, a rebel, or just a misguided soul. Everyone around me seems to use an iPhone. One report estimates that worldwide there are more than 1 billion active iPhones and over 3 billion active Android devices. Apparently, only one of the 3 billion Android users are in the Washington DC area. Now back to the point of this post.

You are familiar with the scene. You are at a special family or social gathering, and someone suggests taking a group photo. One or more individuals take group photos on their cellphones and say they will share the photos with the other attendees. If not done a certain way, the recipients may be disappointed in the photos that they receive. iPhone and Android phones do not use the same messaging protocol. As a result, photos sent from an iPhone to an Android and vice versa are highly compressed and lower quality. While the lower-resolution photos may be acceptable for quick viewing on a small screen, these are not the photo files you want for your important family and friends photo archives and certainly not the photo files you would want to use to make a print. Even on a phone, the detail in faces will be lost if you zoom in on a low-resolution image.

Messages sent from an iPhone to an Android phone are highly compressed and of lower quality because Apple does not use iMessage but an older text messaging protocol that limits file sizes sent to Android phones. Apple flags text messages to Android users with a green text bubble on the message.

The good news is that there are reports that by the end of 2024 Apple will begin using the more modern RSC (Rich Communication Services) messaging protocol used by Android phones that will allow for the transfer of full-resolution photos between iPhone and Android phones. Some commenters have suggested that this switch is in anticipation of pressure from the European Union for Apple to upgrade to the more modern standard used by Android devices. This is similar to Apple finally transitioning to USB-C plugs in response to EU pressure.

How to Send Full-Resolution Photos

In the interim, there is an easy way to send full-resolution photos to Android users from an iPhone that I have tested with my two iPhone technology advisors.

• Open the Library in the Photos App on your iPhone.

• Click Select in the upper right corner of the app.

• Select the photos you want to share.

• Tap the Share Icon (a square with an arrow) in the bottom left corner.

• Scroll down and select Copy iCloud Link. The window will close confirming you have copied the link to your clipboard.

• Paste the iCloud link into a text message or email. The iCloud link will expire a month from the date it was generated.

• The recipient should store the files on a drive that does not compress photos such as a laptop, desktop, external drive, or Cloud storage location.
  

iPhone users have the option to save compressed files on their phones and have the full-size photos stored on the iCloud. See Optimize iPhone Storage Settings for more information. iPhone users can send full-resolution files to other iPhone users via iMessage provided that turn off the Low-Quality Mode under Settings/Messaging. It is also advised to transfer full-resolution photos when you are connected to Wi-Fi. Given the variables above, an iCloud link seems to be the easiest way to ensure high-quality photos are distributed to all.

Now is a good time to check your iCloud account to make sure you have plenty of storage available so your full-size photos are saved. iCloud storage is complicated for several reasons so review the Apple support information carefully. A critical concern is that “When you use iCloud Photos and delete a photo or video on one device, it's also deleted on all other devices where you're signed in with the same Apple ID.” iCloud is not an independent backup. See my previous blog post for information about the best practice

3-2-1 backup strategy.

If there are any Android users out there who want to reciprocate and share full-resolution photos with iPhone users, you can follow a similar process.

• Open the Photos App on your Android device.

• Select the photos you want to share.

• Tap Share.

• Select Create Link

• Paste the Google Photos link into a text message or email.

• The recipient should store the files on a drive that does not compress photos such as a laptop, desktop, external drive, or Cloud storage location.

Now is a good time to check your Google Photos account to make sure you have plenty of storage available so your full-size photos are saved. Google Photos storage is also complicated for several reasons so review the Google Photos support information carefully. There is an option to only remove photos from the device, but just having the photos on Google Photos is not an independent backup. See my previous blog post for information about the best practice 3-2-1 backup strategy.

I hope the above information is helpful.

Feel free to pass along the link to my blog post page to anyone you think might be interested in information about life story legacy videos and photo organizing. And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog at the bottom of the blog page for more information about life story legacy videos and photo organizing.

Bryon