The Photos app on your Mac lets you download photos from iCloud to a folder on your computer or external hard drive. This creates a backup copy of the images that aren’t affected by changes you make in the Photos app. Connect your iPhone to your PC with the aid of a lightning cable Launch the Photo app from your PC Start menu At the top right corner of your Windows page, you will find the ‘Import’ button. Click on it Select the photos you will like to import, and click ‘Continue’. The transfer process will commence immediately.
- How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptop Mac
- How To Download Pics From Iphone To Apple Laptop
- 1. In The Very First Step, You Need To Create A Connection Between IPhone And Windows Laptop. Doing So Will Prompt Autoplay Window Appearance> From...
- How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptops
- How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptop Without
- Support.microsoft.com › En-us › WindowsImport Photos And Videos From An IPhone To PC
“Our smartphones are the sources of our utmost pleasure: they accompany us most of the time and capture everyday moments with their powerful cameras. High-resolution pictures populate Camera Roll rapidly. Next thing you know, you are searching for a way to transfer photos from iPhone to PC as your storage is full.
If you wonder how to download photos from iPhone to computer, iTunes can’t be of much help. In this post, you’ll find 8 most popular ways to transfer iPhone photos to PC without iTunes, and thus clean up space on your device:
How to get photos off iPhone using Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer allows you to get photos off iPhone: just connect your iPhone to computer and run Windows Explorer. Then, find your iPhone name under “Portable devices”. Open the “DCIM” folder, then drag and drop photos to your PC.
How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptop Mac
The only benefit, really, is that the photos will be present on your PC. However, the following caveats may spoil the fun when transferring photos from iPhone to PC:
😕 The photos are in disarray: the album structure is not preserved and there isn’t any coherent timeline;
😑 You cannot choose the photo format, which is a shame, since most PCs do not digest HEIC files;
🙄 Photo orientation is not respected :( If your photos were vertical – well, they’ve just gone to the dark side!
😯 Finally, your iPhone might not be detected by PC at all. Many Apple product owners struggle to make Windows recognise the device.
If you’d like to transfer photos from iPhone to PC in the right order and appearance, with album structure preserved and an opportunity to convert upon transfer – try CopyTrans Photo. We also have drivers for iOS devices, so your iPhone won’t stay unnoticed!
How to transfer photos from iPhone to PC without iTunes
If you are interested in how to download photos from iphone to computer in a quick way, try CopyTrans Photo – a simple solution for transferring photos between your iPhone, iPad, and PC.
To transfer iPhone photos to PC connect your iPhone to your computer and start CopyTrans Photo. All your iPhone photos will start loading immediately. The photos from your iPhone will be shown in the left-hand pane of the program, while all the pictures and folders on your computer will be displayed on the right side.
Now you can select some of your images or all of them at once (by pressing the ctrl and “A” keys simultaneously) as well as all your photo albums, and copy photos from iPhone to PC with a simple drag-and-drop.
Finally, click the green “Apply” button and you’re all set!
This way you can easily transfer iPhone photos to PC and organize them in albums so that they look exactly like they do on your Apple device. You can also back up all photos in one click using the Full Backup option in CopyTrans Photo.
Why people choose CopyTrans Photo:
⭐ Transfers photos and videos between iPhone and PC preserving the original quality and EXIF data;
⭐ Copies photo albums back and forth, preserving album structure;
⭐ Converts HEIC to JPEG;
⭐ Works offline;
⭐ Compatible with the latest iOS, iTunes, and Windows versions;

⭐ Works with the new Apple format, ProRAW.
How to transfer photos from iPhone to PC (Windows 10, 7) using an iCloud alternative
Now you need to know how to copy photos from iPhone to PC using an iCloud alternative. If you have iCloud Photos enabled on your iPhone, you can use CopyTrans Cloudly to transfer photos from iPhone to PC:
Open CopyTrans Cloudly from the CopyTrans Control Center, enter your iCloud password and login and choose the Download option.
Then select the folder where you would like to store all your photos on your computer and start downloading. After it’s finished, open this folder and you will find all your images there.
After you downloaded all your photos and videos, you can switch off iCloud Photos on your iPhone and remove all your images and videos from icloud.com with CopyTrans Cloudly. This will free up a lot of storage in your iCloud account and you can even downgrade your iCloud storage plan and pay less.
By the way, we have a comprehensive guide on how to download all photos from iCloud. We compared the strengths and weaknesses of all three methods described in this article and created a table for you to decide which one suits you best. Check it out!
CopyTrans Cloudly | iCloud.com | iCloud for Windows | |
Downloading all photos | Downloads everything at once | Downloads only 1000 items at a time | Downloads everything at once |
Preserving album structure | Yes | No | No (downloads by year) |
Downloading originals | Yes | Yes | Not always |
Incremental download of new photos (without creating duplicates) | Yes | No | No |
Deleting all photos | Deletes everything at once | Deletes only 1000 items at a time | No |
Retrieving permanently deleted photos | Yes | No | No |
Speed (depends on the Internet connection speed) | 15-30 minutes for every 5 GB | Eternity | 1,5-3 hours for every 5 GB |
Viewing and selecting photos before downloading | No | Yes | No |
Using on a Mac | No | Yes | No |
Uploading photos to iCloud | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ADVANTAGES:
⭐ Uploads JPG, HEIC or PNG images to iCloud from PC;
⭐ Unlike iCloud, CopyTrans Cloudly preserves the album structure of your iCloud photo pibrary;
⭐ Doesn’t create duplicates;
⭐ Recovers permanently deleted photos from iCloud.
How to transfer iPhone photos to PC through icloud.com
You can also use iCloud to transfer iPhone photos and videos wirelessly to PC:

Enable iCloud Photos on your iPhone (Settings> Apple ID> iCloud> Photos). After this, your photos and videos will start uploading to your iCloud.
You can check the box next to “Download and Keep Originals”, if you want to keep the high-resolution original photos and videos on your iPhone, or “Optimize iPhone Storage”, if you want to store the original photos and videos in iCloud and have space-saving versions on your device (i.e. only thumbnails).
After this, log into your iCloud account from your PC, select the photos you want to download one by one, and click the Download symbol in the top-right corner.
Install the Dropbox app on your iPhone, start it, and tap the plus symbol at the bottom of the screen > Upload Photos. Choose individual photos or select them by moments and add them to your Dropbox.
Now install Dropbox on your computer and open the Dropbox folder you have created from your iPhone. Your iPhone photos will appear there. You can then move pictures from your Dropbox to any folder on your PC.
Download Google Drive from the AppStore and install it on your iPhone. Open the app, tap the plus symbol at the bottom of the screen > Upload > Photos and Videos. Now you can select photos and upload them to your Google Drive.
Then install Google Drive on your computer. A folder called “Google Drive” will be created automatically on your PC. Open this folder and find your uploaded pictures in it.
Run CopyTrans Backup Extractor. The program will automatically start searching for backups on your PC. This should be super fast!
- Click on the backup that contains your photos. Click on the backup that you need (if it is encrypted, you will be prompted to provide the backup password).
- Choose “Photos”, click “Extract” and then select the folder you want to extract to. This can be a folder on your PC or an external hard drive.
- Wait until the photos are extracted. After that if you click on “Go to folder”, you can see which photos have been extracted.
your iPhone is lost or broken;
you have deleted some important photos from your iPhone but still have them in the backup.
NOTE: Unfortunately, Apple scrapped the option to select and download multiple iCloud photos to your PC at once. Now you can download 1000 photos at a time. You can also download them in small batches by sharing entire moments. To select the moment, click on the small plus sign at the right top corner of one of the moments. You can download them to your PC after that.
How to download pictures from iPhone to computer via Dropbox
With Dropbox, you can transfer iPhone photos to PC via LAN, to do this:
NOTE: You’ll get only 2Gb of free space in Dropbox, while a 1Tb account will cost you $9.99 monthly. Photos on your iPhone should be picked individually or selected by moments, not in one big batch. In addition, the original structure of folders on your iPhone won’t be retained. If you have accidentally copied a photo twice, Dropbox does not detect this and creates a duplicate.
How to move photos from iPhone to PC using Google Drive
Google also offers 15GB of storage for free and allows you to transfer photos from iPhone to PC wirelessly. This is how to download photos from iPhone to computer via Google Drive:
NOTE: 100Gb of storage space will cost $1.99 a month. With Google Drive, you cannot select more than 10 photos at once. The photo albums you created on your iPhone will not be imported. If you select images you uploaded before, Google won’t detect this and will create duplicates.
How to email iPhone images to yourself
There is one more way to transfer iPhone photos to PC: you can send them by email. This method is very slow though, unless you need to transfer only a few pictures.
To do this, go to the Photos app on your iPhone > Camera Roll > Select. Now select photos (not more than 5), click the icon at the bottom left corner and select “Mail” from the list of suggested options.
NOTE: You cannot send more than 5 photos at a time, so this process is very tedious.
How to extract iPhone photos from a backup
This method is especially useful if your iPhone is lost or broken. All you need is any iPhone’s backup (on your PC or in iCloud) and CopyTrans Backup Extractor:
NOTE: if you can’t see the backup you need, it may be stored in iCloud. Let CopyTrans Backup Extractor сheck it for you: just click on “iCloud Backups”.
- When this method is the best?
CONCLUSION:
The best option to transfer iPhone photos to PC is CopyTrans Photo. You can pick just a few photos or transfer all of them back and forth between your iPhone, iPad, and computer. CopyTrans Photo will save the album structure you have on your device. With CopyTrans Photo, you can store your personal images on your PC or external hard drive and you do not have to worry about the security of your personal data. CopyTrans Photo is constantly evolving and getting more and more new features. Additionally, the $19.99 price makes it the most favorable option, which will save you a lot of time and nerves.
Which method do you prefer? Let us know in the comments.
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Transferring iPhone photos and videos to your Mac can save precious space on your mobile device. Plus, it’s easier to edit and retouch when you’ve got a larger screen with a higher resolution, not to mention that native Mac tools allow you to convert, resize, and organize your images in no time. In this article, we’ll cover the four quickest ways to transfer your images over.
The best ways to transfer photos from an iPhone to a Mac
Because iPhone and Mac are parts of the Apple ecosystem, there are multiple ways to connect them and move content around. Some involve using a USB cable, others work wirelessly. These methods have proven the handiest in our experience:
- Sync photos to your Mac using Finder (macOS Catalina or later)
- Move photos and other content with AnyTrans
- Import pictures to the Photos app
- Upload photos using ImageCapture
- AirDrop photos from iPhone to a Mac
- Transfer photos using iCloud
Let's talk about all these in more detail.
Before you transfer your iPhone pictures to the Mac
Although Macs have more storage than iPhones, that storage is not infinite, so you might want to avoid dumping thousands of unneeded pics onto your Mac. We’re talking blurry party selfies, multiple shots of the same sunset, taken just seconds apart, long-forgotten screenshots of long-forgotten conversations — those can add up to a few gigabytes.
So before you start the transfer, scan your iPhone pics with Gemini Photos: Gallery Cleaner. This app will find all the clutter you’ve accumulated over the years, such as similar shots and blurry photos, and help you delete them in no time.
Now that you’ve done that, here are our top ways to transfer photos and videos.
How to import photos from an iPhone to a Mac with a USB cable
The most common ways to transfer pictures from your iPhone to your Mac involve connecting your devices with a USB cable. But even then, you have options depending on which application you want to use. Below you’ll read about four different apps that will help you sync your photos.
Move photos from iPhone to Mac using Finder
Starting with macOS Catalina (10.15) or later, you can sync your iPhone with a Mac using Finder. Follow these steps to sync photos from your iPhone to your Mac:
- Connect your iPhone to your Mac with a USB cable.
- On the Mac, open a new Finder window.
- In the sidebar, under your Devices, click on your iPhone.
- At the top of the window, click Photos.
- Check the “Sync Photos” box.
- Choose the app or folder that you want to sync from.
- Choose to sync all photos and albums or just selected albums.
- Click Apply.
How to transfer photos from iPhone to computer with AnyTrans
iCloud and Photos are obvious choices for image transferring, but they're not without flaws. If you want to transfer all content from your iPhone without having to wait forever, and back it up at the same time, a third-party utility like AnyTrans for iOS makes much more sense.
A combination of a backup tool and media downloader, AnyTrans helps you migrate content. Here’s how you use it to move photos and everything else from your iPhone:
- Launch AnyTrans and ensure both your devices are connected to the same network.
- Connect iPhone to your Mac’s USB port.
- Allow AnyTrans access to your photo library.
- Go to Device Manager > Export iPhone content to computer.


Your content will travel instantly. What’s more, it will sync to iCloud — so there’s no need to worry your photos don’t have a backup.
Import photos from an iPhone to a Mac using Photos
How To Download Pics From Iphone To Apple Laptop
One of the quickest methods is to plug the Lightning-to-USB cable you use to charge the iPhone into one of your Mac’s USB ports. When an iPhone is connected, the macOS Photos app automatically opens and suggests importing your photos. Here’s the import process, step by step.
- Connect your iPhone to the Mac using a Lightning-to-USB cable
- If needed, unlock your iPhone and confirm it trusts the device
- The Photos app should load and show you the images from your iPhone in the main window. If that doesn't happen, select your iPhone from the left-hand menu in the Photos app. Now you’ll see all of the images and videos stored in your iPhone’s Camera Roll.
- Click Import All New Items in the top right-hand corner, or go through the photos, select the ones you want to import, and click Import Selected
Once the import is complete, you can ask Photos to automatically delete the pics on your iPhone, giving you space to start again and take even more pictures.
Upload photos from iPhone to Mac using Image Capture
Another method for transferring your pictures from iPhone to Mac is with the Image Capture app, which comes by default with macOS. Follow these steps to import pics from your iPhone:
- Connect your iPhone to your Mac with a USB cable.
- On your Mac, open Image Capture.
- In the sidebar, select your iPhone under the Devices category.
- At the bottom of the window, click the Import To menu to choose where to save your pictures.
- Select the pictures you want to import and click the Import button or click Import All.
How to transfer photos from an iPhone to a Mac wirelessly
If you don’t have a USB cable nearby, don’t worry. You can still send pics from your phone wirelessly. And even if you have a cable close, you might want to try one of these methods to save you the hassle of plugging your iPhone into your computer.
Send photos from iPhone to Mac using AirDrop
1. In The Very First Step, You Need To Create A Connection Between IPhone And Windows Laptop. Doing So Will Prompt Autoplay Window Appearance> From...
If you need to move just a few of your images over to your Mac, the quickest way to do that is by using AirDrop.
Start by switching AirDrop on your iPhone.
- Go to Settings
- Tap General
- Scroll to AirDrop
- Set this to Everyone to send data via AirDrop to any device
How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptops
Now switch it on on your Mac:
- Open Finder
- Click Go in the menu bar and select AirDrop
- A Finder window will open, with the AirDrop icon at the bottom. It looks like an old-fashioned set of blue radio waves
- Below this icon is a dropdown. Click on it and select Everyone.
Give both devices a few moments to find one another.
Now, here’s how you transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac with AirDrop:
- Open Photos on your iPhone
- Select the pics you want to transfer
- Tap the sharing button in the bottom left-hand corner
- Wait till AirDrop finds your Mac and tap on it
- On your Mac you’ll see a pop-up window asking you to accept the photos. Click Accept.
Depending on your Mac’s settings, you may be asked where you want to save the photos. Once you’re done transferring, you can switch off AirDrop on your Mac and iPhone.
Sync photos from an iPhone to a Mac using iCloud
Another way to move photos from an iPhone to a Mac is with iCloud. iCloud Photo Library, a.k.a. iCloud Photos, can do all the heavy lifting. However, if you’ve got over 5GB of photos and videos, you’ll need to upgrade your storage plan, paying anything from $0.99 per month for 50GB to $9.99 for 2TB of cloud storage.
To set up iCloud Photo Library on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings
Tap on your name at the top
- Go to iCloud
- Underneath the iCloud storage indicator, you’ll see a list of Apps Using iCloud
- Tap on Photos
- Switch on iCloud Photos
Now, to set it up on your Mac:
- Launch the Photos app
- Go to the Photos menu in the menu bar
- Click on Preferences
- Next, click on iCloud
- Check the box next to iCloud Photo Library (iCloud Photos in macOS Mojave)
How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Laptop Without
Provided you’ve followed both series of steps and both your devices are using the same Apple ID, your photos and videos will automatically sync between iPhone and Mac.
Remember: while you have iCloud Photo Library on, any changes you make to photos on one device will automatically sync to the other. So if you want to delete them on your iPhone and keep them on your Mac, switch off the sync after you’ve transferred everything.
Support.microsoft.com › En-us › WindowsImport Photos And Videos From An IPhone To PC
Whichever method you use, Apple makes it easy to transfer photos and videos from an iPhone to a Mac. Just make sure you move the pics you really need, otherwise you’re just shuffling clutter around.