How do I view pictures on ipad/iphone that are stored on a Windows share on my home WiFi network

Question

There are a number of apps which claim to do this, some free, some paid.

I tried one but the images (2-3Mb) loaded intolerably slowly and so it was not appropriate for browsing.

Which software do I need to easily and quickly browse regular hires camera photos on a windows share, from ipad / iphone?

Solution

For future reference, my current thinking is Plex or Kodi or similar. Serve the images directly off my home network. Plex will generate image thumbnails automatically. Requires some configuration of wifi router to allow external access.

I would not describe this as quick and easy by any means, but it seems like the best, most stable, most supported solution.

I have also softened on the option of cloud storage. Google Photos allows unlimited storage space for images up to 16MP, and videos up to 1080p. Take the pain of uploading once and then have access anywhere.

This would be easy but very slow to set up.

Comments

[Lawrence]

You might be better off using something like a DLNA server on the windows computer and a DLNA client on the Apple devices, though I'm not sure about what DLNA servers/clients you can use for Windows/Apple.

[Will Sheppard]

I eventually settled on Google Photos as it offers unlimited storage at a reasonable resolution. As my photos were already organised by folder, I used PicBackMan software to automatically create albums based on these folder names and put the photos in the right albums. In conclusion: Cloud storage and supporting software is now viable and sophisticated enough for it to be worth the effort of uploading your data.