Update 2: Hold on. I’m not so sure this is actually what’s happening.
The exact language from the Photo Stream KB page says:
There is no limit to the number of photos you can upload to My Photo Stream over time, but iCloud limits the number of photos that can be uploaded within a given hour, day, or month to prevent unintended or excessive use. […]
There is no limit to the amount of photos you can upload to My Photo Stream over longer periods (such as several months or years). Photos uploaded to My Photo Stream or shared photo streams are not counted against your iCloud Storage.
That sounds like unlimited photo stream uploading forever. But I think what they’re actually talking about is throttling your uploads if you get out of hand.
This FAQ page says that “The photos you upload to My Photo Stream are stored in iCloud for 30 days to give your devices plenty of time to connect and download them.”
That’s how it’s always been. You can upload all you want and have at least 30 days to get them out of Photo Stream and onto your computer. But when the dust settles you’re still only allowed 1,000 photos.
Alas, I don’t think that has changed after all.
Also worth noting is that the FAQ page was updated on October 28, 2013 while the photo stream KB page was updated on September 18, 2013.
Below is what I first wrote with my original link, but I think I was wrong in the interpretation. I deeply apologize for my mistake.
* * *
This is great. You can now store unlimited photos in your Photo Stream and they don’t count against your iCloud storage plan.
Though it isn’t a complete replacement for what we lost with Everpix, it does solve one of the biggest problems we had with Photo Stream: that 1,000-photo limit.
Everpix actually solved two issues: (1) syncing all your photos from all your devices to all your devices; and (2) assisted re-discovery.
This updated Photo Stream limits help with the first problem — syncing all photos to all devices — but it doesn’t solve it quite as elegantly as Everpix, Loom, and ThisLife. For example: the pictures I take with my E-PL5 which I then save to my Mac, are not automatically uploaded to my Photo Stream — I still have to import them into iPhoto.
And the second problem — assisted re-discovery of old photos — isn’t solved at all by Photo Stream.
Here are some of the things I loved about Everpix that aren’t a part of how iCloud Photo Stream works:
- Daily flashback emails that would send me the photos from this day in history (one year ago, two years ago, etc.)
- Auto detection of “more important” photos. Everpix basically had a “highlights” reel that — based on the quality of the image and the contents (people vs food) — would show you what it thought were most likely the best photos from all your pictures.
- Auto upload from the Mac of any folder you chose.
BUT! I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. The lifting of the Photo Stream sync limit is fantastic. Photo stream is better than ever before while retaining its simplicity — it doesn’t require any fiddling, and it’s exactly what most people need.
Update: Totally missed this the first time through, but this Apple Knowledge Base article was last updated almost two months ago, on September 18, 2013. Curious that myself and a few others I’ve talked to have not seen an increase in Photo Stream capacity, also why wasn’t this bigger news back on or around September 18th? It’s kinda a big deal.