Facebook introduced a photo sync feature in 2012, and that was at a time when people had just started using their phones for taking photos, but used to upload them to their profile from computers. The feature, which has now been killed, was a great way for users to store photos and prep them for sharing on the platform, says a report from Business Insider.
Facebook did notify users before
With the feature, whenever a user took a photograph on their phone, Facebook automatically uploaded it to a private album. Users had the option to share the photos they liked and delete the ones they did not like from the private album.
On Sunday, Facebook started closing the feature, as now most users upload photos through their phones. TechCrunch was the first to report that the feature will be closed in December after the social network started notifying its users that the feature will be turned off. A Facebook spokesman confirmed that the company is phasing out its photo sync feature.
What options do users have now?
The sync albums will disappear altogether from the platform. The company is offering users two ways to recover the images. The spokesman informed users that people making use of photo syncing will be able to move the previously synced photos to the new Moments app, allowing them to view, download or delete the photos. Users can also download a zip file of their synced photos to their computer or delete them using their Facebook profiles if they do not wish to use the Moments app.
Facebook’s photo syncing tool served as a great back-up for a camera roll, but the Moments app, released in June, does not offer the same capabilities to its users. The app sorts photos into groups to be shared privately. Now with the photo sync feature gone, users will need to free up some space on their phones for the images, or they will have to find a new service apart from the Moments app to automatically sync the images.
