General Questions

Is PhotoDrive associated with Flickr/Yahoo?

No. While we abide by Flickr's rules, PhotoDrive is not at all affiliated with nor endorsed by Yahoo or Flickr. PhotoDrive uses the Flickr API to request access to your Flickr account, so our app can then manage your collection and upload photos privately on your behalf. PhotoDrive is a brand new way to use the Flickr service.

1TB for free? How do you make money?

Flickr, owned by Yahoo, provides the 1TB of storage, not us! We just provide the tools to use it, keeping our costs low. While the PhotoDrive app is free today, we may one day charge a small fee to new users of the app to cover both our and Yahoo's costs.

What are the limitations of the PhotoDrive service?

PhotoDrive is a robust photo solution, one that we and our families trust as our primary photo solution.
But like any service, there are some important limitations you should know about to best use & understand our service.

General limitations

• Videos uploaded are limited to 3 minutes. Per Flickr policy, videos longer than this will be trimmed to 3 minutes.
  As a general policy - not just for Flickr - we recommend limiting your videos to 3 minutes or less when possible :)
• If you have a lot of photos on Flickr (10,000+) PhotoDrive can take a while (~5 minutes+) to install. It takes a while to gather the necessary information about your collection from Flickr. But stay with us, it's worth the wait! Subsequent loads will be instant.

iPhone/iPad app limitations

• Sometimes, videos uploads to Flickr can fail, and will get stuck in the "encoding" state. Our app will detect this and automatically retry, but, after 3 tries we give up. If this happens you are notified, and an album is created for failed uploads on your device.

Mac app limitations

• Photos without timestamps (scanned photos, screenshots, photos from Facebook, etc) will not be uploaded. Please use Flickr to manually upload these images.
• PhotoDrive uses timestamps to determine duplicates, uploading just one photo for every second in time. So, if you have several photos from the same second, only one will be uploaded. Likewise, edits to photos are viewed as duplicates and are not uploaded. While we're working on a better solution to this, in the meantime, please manually upload these images.
• If an upload fails, several attempts are made to try again. If an image cannot be uploaded, there is currently no notification. We are working to improve this as well.
• While PhotoDrive supports RAW formats, Flickr technically does not. Images are converted to JPEG and the original RAW data is appended to the JPEG file. This process is invisible in regular use, but should one day the PhotoDrive app no longer be available, you will need a tool to extract the RAW data from the JPEGs on Flickr.
• Flickr provides no ability for apps to determine deleted photos. We do our best to detect deletions, but if while copying a folder you have repeated 'file removed' errors, please log out and log back in to fully refresh your photo list.
• As to not overload Flickr's servers, updates to your PhotoDrive folder are only loaded every 30 minutes. To refresh sooner, please choose "Refresh" from PhotoDrive's menu bar icon.

Recommendations

• We here at PhotoDrive keep a 2nd copy of our unorganized collection as an emergency backup, and so should you. (No matter what service you use!) No service is perfect, but we believe PhotoDrive strikes the right balance of reliability, value and service provided.
• We're working on ability to keep a full copy of your PhotoDrive always downloaded to your Mac for offline (/backup) access, in case anything were to ever happen to your Flickr account. Today, images are only downloaded when you view or copy them from your PhotoDrive folder. Once this feature is ready, we highly recommend making use of it!

Are my photos private on PhotoDrive?

Yes - everything you upload to Flickr using PhotoDrive is entirely private. Once uploaded, you may optionally choose photos to share with others on Flickr on a photo-by-photo basis.

Is PhotoDrive a secure place for my photos? What if you get hacked, or go out of business?

When you use PhotoDrive, your photos are stored securely with Flickr - owned by Yahoo - not with us. In fact, at no time do the access codes for your Flickr account leave your phone/computer - our servers store no information about you other than your user ID and a list of file dates/sizes to help speed up de-duplication. So yes, PhotoDrive is safe to use.

Likewise, with any service, you should be concerned about whether or not it still exist many years from now. With PhotoDrive you get that peace of mind, because again your images are stored with Flickr not us. So, in the event we're no longer around, there's a robust ecosystem of Flickr applications that will be happy to help you out.

I'm an existing Flickr user who has a curated public collection already there. Is PhotoDrive for me?

Absolutely! You have some options.
1) You can sign up for a second Yahoo account, using that for your personal photo storage. This will allow you to have two entirely seperate identities, one for your public portfolio and one for your private/personal collection.
2) You can use your existing account. Whereas many of your photos on Flickr today might be public or semi-private, everything PhotoDrive uploads will be entirely private. In this way, PhotoDrive can enhance your use of Flickr, as it will help you upload & organize photos which you can then later share.

iPhone/iPad App Questions

Does the PhotoDrive app work offline?

Yup! View & edit your collection on a plane, on the subway, whenever. We'll keep track of your changes and apply them next time you're online. Thumbnails of all of your photos are stored on your device, so you'll still be able to browse, just not in high-definition.

I have a lot of photos! How much space will PhotoDrive use on my phone?

Much less than your photos are taking up now! PhotoDrive stores only thumbnails on your device, instantly downloading sharper versions as you browse, giving you instant access to your entire collection without filling up your phone. To be exact, PhotoDrive will use about 20-25kb per image, meaning about 0.25GB per 10,000 photos. As you use the app, another ~0.20GB may be used to store higher-resolution images as you browse.

When is it safe to delete photos from my phone?

Check your PhotoDrive app. Once you see all photos have been uploaded, you're safe to remove those photos from your device. Since video uploads can fail and may need to be retried, please confirm that the video appears in your PhotoDrive before removing it, and remember that video uploads are limited to 3 minutes.

For general backup, we recommend copying your original photo files to your computer before removing them from your device.

Does PhotoDrive upload in the background?

Yes, it does. PhotoDrive is optimized for iOS 7 to use as little battery as possible. As long as you have "Background Refresh" enabled from your phone's "Settings" > "General" > "Background App Refresh", PhotoDrive will be awoken on occasion to check for new photos to upload.

Please note, when uploading large batches it works faster in the foreground - so for best results, leave the app open and plugged-in when doing your first-ever import.

What kind of photos & videos are supported?

PhotoDrive for iOS will upload all types of images (JPEG, PNG, GIF), as well as videos. Please note, per Flickr's limitations, video uploads are limited to 3 minutes per video and will be trimmed if longer.

I have a lot of photos to upload... and it's taking forever. What do you recommend?

For best performance on your first full upload, please:

• Ensure your phone is on Wifi
• Keep your phone plugged in
• Keep the PhotoDrive app open, and do not lock your phone

If you do this, the PhotoDrive app will prevent your phone's screen from shutting off until there's nothing left to upload. Do this overnight, and by morning you should be good. :) Don't worry, this is perfectly safe to do, and is totally worth it.

Mac App Questions

How does my PhotoDrive folder work?

Your PhotoDrive folder is what's called a "virtual folder". While you can browse it like a regular folder, the files aren't actually downloaded to your computer, saving you space and time. As soon as you view a photo or copy it to your harddrive, we'll download the original copy for you manage.

Can I edit my PhotoDrive's organization from my Mac?

Not at this time. Besides uploading new images, your PhotoDrive folder is currently read-only. To reorganize or remove photos, please use the PhotoDrive iPhone/iPad app, or the Organizr on Flickr's website.

Are RAW images supported?

Yes! While Flickr doesn't officially support RAW images, we create a special RAWJPEG-format image that consists of a JPEG image with the original RAW data added to the end. To Flickr, this image is treated like any other JPEG. But to PhotoDrive, we'll recognize this as a RAW image and download only the RAW segment when accessed from your PhotoDrive folder.

How does PhotoDrive detect duplicates?

PhotoDrive detects duplicates by looking at each photo's timestamp, only uploading just one photo per date-taken (down to the second). This means if you have copies of the same photo in multiple places, good news, PhotoDrive will detect this and only upload one copy :) On the other side, be aware that if you somehow took 3 photos within one second, it will only be uploading one of them. This includes edited copies of photos, which PhotoDrive will view as duplicates. While we upload the most recent copy, you may need to upload some edits manually. (We're working on a system to improve this.)

Will PhotoDrive move my photos? Do I have to move them to a specific folder on my hard-drive?

No and no. PhotoDrive allows you to select folders of photos to import, no need to move them. At no point will PhotoDrive move, modify or otherwise disturb any of the photos you choose to import.

How much space will PhotoDrive use on my computer?

Very little! To be exact, PhotoDrive uses 17kb per photo, meaning about 0.17GB per 10,000 photos. PhotoDrive stores only thumbnails on your computer, downloading images only when you access them, giving you instant access to your collection without bogging down your Mac.

I uploaded some photos from my phone, but I don't see them in my PhotoDrive. What gives?

Please try refreshing; see the PhotoDrive icon in your Mac's menu bar. Since PhotoDrive is an add-on service to Flickr we aren't notified of new uploads, and only check for changes every 30 minutes.