[idkwhattocallme]

Apple photos is my privacy first social network. I have "shared albums" with my families, different friend/hobby groups. There is an activity feed so whenever someone shares a photo I get a notification, can like like, comment. It just has the basic features and works really well. Here's the thing, I pay $40 a month for the icloud bundle. So technically they've monetized it already. I've always wondered if others use it similarly...

[mglikesbikes]

Exactly. Privacy-first networks (like OP using WhatsApp) already exist and are in use and are $FREE.

[nicce]

I would not say WhatsApp as privacy-first network, but otherwise I agree.

[morkalork]

For me it's just plain old texting group chats, which compared to texting in the old days, is not so bad with RCS messaging. It's free (with cellphone plan), no ads, chronological timeline, private, can send dumb videos and memes all day long while connected to WiFi.

[yabones]

I think this is the reason why "social media" seems so dead now. People stopped posting publicly (for obvious reasons) and almost all of the "social" web is in private group chats. People don't want their life broadcast permanently and prolifically anymore, and they want to share it with just a subset of their friends. The only people left posting to the "public web" are attention seekers, scammers, influencers, people that don't know any better.

[23B1]

Do you mind if I ask how this works

1) with people who aren't on icloud/iOS?

2) publishing-wise? Like are they getting 'feeds' in their imessage apps or...?

[nox101]

1) it doesn't work outside of iOS/macOS really. 2) it's an app on both platforms with it's own communication protocol

You can use Google Photos similarly and it's cross platform. Not sure about commments tho

Line and Facebook also have "private" social media feeds. By private I mean only people you approve can view. No idea how mined they are for data for ads

[idkwhattocallme]

AFAIK, it's IOS only. The one android user in my family switched to iphone after feeling left out for a year. Other groups also are all iphone

The feed is actually in the Apple Photo app. There is a section for "shared albums" and a link to "activity" that has a feed UI.

I've always thought if the shared album was tied directly to the group message that would be nirvana, but I don't believe that's a possibility.

[ensignavenger]

Are you able to share photos with others who don't have iCloud accounts, or do you only associate with fellow Apple users?

[randomname4325]

I do this as well! There is a link that android users can use to view, not sure about upload. My feature wish is that you could associate a shared album with a group message and then it's all I'd ever need. Also not sure you've run into this, but we recently hit the 5K pic shared album limit and had to create a new album.

[TSUTiger]

You can via a public link