AOL Pictures Shutdown: What Happened to Your Photos
AOL Pictures was AOL’s online photo storage and sharing service, and it shut down on December 31, 2008. This article explains what happened to users’ photos, the American Greetings PhotoWorks transfer offer, and where to safely keep your photos online today.
Quick answer: AOL Pictures closed at midnight on December 31, 2008. Users could download their photos, buy a DVD archive, or transfer them to American Greetings PhotoWorks, and the PhotoWorks claim window ended on June 30, 2009. Photos that were not saved by then can no longer be recovered from AOL. Today, keep photos in a service such as Google Photos, iCloud Photos or OneDrive, and keep a second backup.
Table of Contents
What happened to AOL Pictures?
We wrote this on the day the AOL Pictures online photo service shut down, December 31, 2008 at midnight. AOL partnered with American Greetings PhotoWorks so users could keep access to their pictures. AOL Pictures users were offered three options:
- Download pictures to your computer.
- Buy a DVD archive of your pictures.
- Transfer your pictures and albums to American Greetings PhotoWorks.
After the shutdown date, users could no longer buy a DVD archive or download images from AOL Pictures.
The American Greetings PhotoWorks transfer
PhotoWorks was an online personal publishing company and photo community acquired by AG Interactive, the media subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation, in 2008. It let users share and store digital photos, host personalized web pages and storefronts, and turn their images into photo products.
The AOL Pictures FAQ explained that if you missed the December 31, 2008 deadline, your photos would still be available through American Greetings PhotoWorks. You had to register a PhotoWorks account and confirm your AOL Pictures user ID and password before June 30, 2009. After that, the images were no longer accessible through either AOL Pictures or PhotoWorks.
Can you still recover AOL Pictures photos?
No. Both deadlines passed long ago, so AOL Pictures photos that were not downloaded or transferred in 2008-2009 cannot be recovered from AOL. If you are looking for old photos, check:
- old computers, external drives, CDs and DVDs (including any AOL DVD archive you bought);
- photos you emailed to friends or family, which may still be in their inbox or yours;
- other sites where you shared the same pictures at the time.
Best AOL Pictures alternatives today
The lesson from AOL Pictures is simple: free photo sites can close, so keep more than one copy. These are well-known places to store photos now:
- Google Photos: backs up photos from Android, iPhone and the web, with free storage shared across your Google Account.
- iCloud Photos: the natural choice on iPhone, iPad and Mac, syncing your library across Apple devices.
- Microsoft OneDrive: photo backup built into Windows, with phone apps for camera upload.
- Flickr: a long-running photo community for sharing and showcasing your best shots. See our list of Flickr tools.
Whichever you pick, keep a second copy on a computer or external drive, and check how each service handles inactive accounts.
FAQ
When did AOL Pictures shut down?
AOL Pictures shut down at midnight on December 31, 2008.
Where did AOL Pictures photos go?
Users could download them, buy a DVD archive, or transfer them to American Greetings PhotoWorks. Unclaimed photos stayed available through PhotoWorks only until June 30, 2009.
Can I still get my AOL Pictures back?
No. The download and transfer deadlines passed in 2008 and 2009, so look for copies on your own drives, discs or emails instead.
What is a good replacement for AOL Pictures?
Google Photos, iCloud Photos and OneDrive are popular for photo backup, and Flickr is good for sharing.
I had some pictures on photoworks, can I transfer them to american greetings photoworks?
By
Georgew Hoke
Today everyone seems to be get engaged with social media and twitter and you have mentioned all of the suspects through which people can do social media. You said very well that every one should be careful to do so and thats great
Rod, Did you have any luck? I too am up against the same stone wall. Thanks, Howard Grabill
How do I recapture all the pics I had on AOL?
i also dont know how to find my pictures please help me get my pictures back i transfer to american greetings
I am trying to get my pictures sent to PW but I cant get into aol pictures and according to the photoworks help desk I need to log in at aol pictures in order to have my pictures sent over. Is there something I’m missing here? Ohh and I have tried everyday for a week to log onto pictures.aol.com, I have also used different computers with different connection capabilities. have they shut down early? or are they using a different address?
My exact situation. Did you have any luck? Thanks, Howard Grabill, Danville, KY.
I don’t want to lose all my pictures, but not sure how to keep them with American Greetings PhotoWorks.
I am 86! I don’t understand this but I do want to transfer to Photo Works – don’t want to loose my pictures. Please guide me – Thank You
When my pictures were on AOL, I could include one of them in my email. That is no longer possible. I’ve transferred my photos to American Greetings PhotoWorks. Is there some way I can now include a photo in an email?
How do I get my pics. I already transferred them to photoworks last year now I don’t know how to see them
When my pictures were on AOL, I could include one of them in my email. That is no longer possible. I’ve transferred my photos to American Greetings PhotoWorks. Is there some way I can now include a photo in an email?
I have already transferred my photos to PhotoWorks. There is a much worse situation we former AOL bloggers must contend with, however. Actually there are many things AOL didn’t consider when they quickly decided that we should be hosted elsewhere, and decided we belonged at Blogger. But I’ll name only one of the mistakes AOL made.
AOL had us migrate improperly. Let me see if I can explain this correctly. I had a Google PR of 4 or was it 5 when I was at AOL. I believe 4. When I went to Blogger it instantly became 0. Now it is -1. I used to get a lot of traffic from Google. Now I am not even listed in Google except through Twitter. I am very upset and need to contact Google and let them know that we were not properly moved.
What has happened is that our AOL blogs are “redirecting” to our new Blogger blogs. If I type my former AOL blog URL into the Google search box, my blog comes up. It then redirects to my new blog, which then comes up. Google is thinking I am “redirecting” traffic to my new blog.
Redirecting, as I am sure you know, is putting up a site or blog that exists to redirect traffic to a new blog or site. To think I am doing this is ludicrous. If google would check out my site, they would see that my AOL blog doesn’t even exist anymore. How could I possibly be using it for redirection?
You may say that they are using a plugin, some kind of software, and how would they know about my one single blog. Everyone makes mistakes. Well, this is what I say to that. If it is happening to me, it must be happening to ALL of those who came from AOL.
Those who came from AOL are sometimes a naive lot. Shh, don’t say I said so. Most don’t know about Google SEO or PR, don’t monetize or even know they can, don’t know what redirecting means, don’t know that their blogs are not being indexed and don’t have backlinks, don’t know that they were getting traffic from Google and no longer can because their PR dropped. They also don’t know about blogs that will help them make their blogs better. I have mentioned SEO and other terms, and they just say, “huh???”
So why do I care about Google fixing ALL of the former AOLers who brought their blogs to another platform? Maybe it’s the principle of the thing. Maybe it is because they would want more readers and commentators if they could get them through SEO. I know they would! I know I WOULD. And it’s the principle of the thing. If we are supposed to be in google and indexed, we are supposed to be in google and indexed. Now I am off to talk to google to see if they will fix the problem. Perhaps after I persuade them into fixing the problem, no demand that they do, you can put word out in your blog, notifying those formerly from AOL that their blogs are fixed and how to get their blogs indexed by Google. If you do this I will send the readers your way via my blog. I have a lot of readers at times. By the way, I am subscribing to your blog. I like it. It’s very practical.
If you’re wondering, I found you through Twitter.
Thanks for listening. I hope it was okay to put this problem in here. If you want to talk more about the issue you can DM me. I’ll leave my twitter address below.
krissy knox :)
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Ken – I read the terms here
https://www.shutterfly.com/photos/?helpFile=terms.html
There is no fee to open an account at PhotoWorks.com or any other Web sites hosted by PhotoWorks, Inc.
To get your archive on DVD, the printed cost is as follows
1 – 500 pics- $14.99
500 – 1,000 pics- $19.99
Each additional 1,000 pics- $4.99
what are the cost and how do i send pix from my computer