With the Photos app and a USB cable, you can transfer photos and videos to your computer. You can also make your photos available on all your devices with iCloud Photos.
Use iCloud Photos
iCloud Photos keeps your photos and videos safe, up to date, and available automatically on all of your Apple devices, on iCloud.com, and even your PC. When you use iCloud Photos, you don't need to import photos from one iCloud device to another. iCloud Photos always uploads and stores your original, full-resolution photos. You can keep full-resolution originals on each of your devices, or save space with device-optimized versions instead. Either way, you can download your originals whenever you need them. Any organizational changes or edits you make are always kept up to date across all your Apple devices. Learn how to set up and use iCloud Photos.
The photos and videos that you keep in iCloud Photos use your iCloud storage. Before you turn on iCloud Photos, make sure that you have enough space in iCloud to store your entire collection. You can see how much space you need and then upgrade your storage plan if necessary.
Import to your Mac
- Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac with a USB cable.
- Open the Photos app on your computer.
- The Photos app shows an Import screen with all the photos and videos that are on your connected device. If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the device's name in the Photos sidebar.
- If asked, unlock your iOS or iPadOS device using your passcode. If you see a prompt on your iOS or iPadOS device asking you to Trust This Computer, tap Trust to continue.
- Choose where you want to import your photos. Next to "Import to," you can choose an existing album or create a new one.
- Select
the photos you want to import and click Import Selected, or click Import All New Photos.
- Wait for the process to finish, then disconnect your device from your Mac.
Import to your Windows PC
You can import photos to your PC by connecting your device to your computer and using the Windows Photos app:
- Update to the latest version of iTunes on your PC. Importing photos to your PC requires iTunes 12.5.1 or later.
- Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your PC with a USB cable.
- If asked, unlock your iOS or iPadOS device using your passcode.
- If you see a prompt on your iOS or iPadOS device asking you to Trust This Computer, tap Trust or Allow to continue.
Then, visit Microsoft's website to learn how to import photos to the Windows Photos app in Windows 10.
If you have iCloud Photos turned on, you need to download the original, full resolution versions of your photos to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch before you import to your PC.
When you import videos from your iOS or iPadOS device to your PC, some might be rotated incorrectly in the Windows Photos app. You can add these videos to iTunes to play them in the correct orientation.
If you want to ensure photos from your iOS or iPadOS device have the best compatibility with Windows 10, try these steps:
- On your iOS or iPadOS device, open the Settings app.
- Tap Camera, then tap Formats.
- Tap Most Compatible. From now on, your camera will create photos and videos in JPEG and H.264 formats.
Visit Microsoft's website to learn how to import photos using Windows 7 or Windows 8.
Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.
Published Date: June 17, 2022
Android file transfer: How to move data between your phone and computer
Moving files between your Android device and a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook doesn't have to be difficult — or dependent on any cloud services.
Contributing Editor, Computerworld |
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Your smartphone is a powerful computer in your pocket — and with Android, part of that PC-like muscle means being able to plug your phone into any Windows, Mac, or ChromeOS system and then drag and drop files either way.
Unlike iPhones, Android devices allow you to access their file systems directly from a desktop, without the need for any cumbersome interfaces or complicated procedures. In fact, transferring files to or from an Android device is basically no different than plugging an external hard drive into your computer and moving data to or from it.
All you need is your phone, your computer, and a cable to connect 'em — with micro-USB or USB-C on the phone side and USB-A or USB-C on the computer side, depending on the specifics of your devices. (Most current Android phones use USB-C, whereas most pre-2016 devices have the older micro-USB standard. USB-A, meanwhile, is the traditional connector port you're used to seeing on computers, though more and more models now also offer USB-C.) There's a decent chance that the same cable that connects your phone to its wall charger will work.
Got it? Good. Here's what you need to do next, depending on whether you have a Windows, macOS, or ChromeOS system:
Android file transfers for Windows computers
With Windows, things are as simple as can be. Just plug your phone into any open USB port on the computer, then turn on your phone's screen and unlock the device.
Swipe your finger down from the top of the screen, and you should see a notification about the current USB connection. At this point, it'll probably tell you your phone is connected only for charging.
After you connect your phone to your computer, a notification will let you prepare it for transferring files.
Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer" in the menu that appears. If media files are all you're planning to move, you could also use the "Transfer photos" (sometimes listed as "PTP") option, which'll treat your phone like a digital camera. Once you've made your selection, go to your desktop and open up a File Explorer window using the method that makes the most sense for your Windows configuration:
- Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar
- Open the Start menu and click This PC or Computer
- Click the This PC, Computer, or My Computer icon on your desktop
Then look for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da! You're staring at your Android phone's internal storage. You can now click around and browse folders, drag and drop files between your phone and PC, or manipulate the data in any way you want.
Your Android phone's storage looks like any regular hard drive when viewed from a computer. (Click image to enlarge it.)
Android file transfers for Mac computers
Got a Mac? The Android file transfer process is a bit more complicated for you — but fear not, for it's still pretty darn easy.
The main difference is that before things will work, you'll need to download and install an official Google program called Android File Transfer. To use the program, your Mac must be running macOS 10.7 or later, and your Android device must have Android 3.0 or later — something that should hopefully be a given on both fronts at this point.
Once the program's in place on your Mac, just plug your phone into your computer, turn on your phone's screen and unlock the device, and then look for the same USB status notification described above.
Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer." The Android File Transfer program should then automatically open on your Mac, and you should be able to browse your phone's storage and transfer files to your heart's content.
If the official Android File Transfer program doesn't work well for you — a vexingly common complaint among Mac users these days — consider the favorably reviewed third-party Commander One Pro as an alternative. It costs $30 for a single license or $100 for a five-user team license.
Or — well, skip down to the final section of this story for one other option.
Android file transfers for ChromeOS computers
You'd expect file transfers between Android phones and Chromebooks to be as simple as can be, considering that Google's the driving force behind both of those operating systems — and by golly, you'd be absolutely right.
Just like on a Windows system, all you've gotta do to connect your Android phone to a Chromebook is plug it into any open USB port, then tap the USB charging notification on the phone and select either "Transfer files" or "File transfer" from the prompt that appears — or select "Transfer photos" or "PTP" if you want your phone to be treated like a camera, with a focus exclusively on multimedia files.
Once you do that, the ChromeOS Files app should automatically appear on your Chromebook with your phone loaded as the active storage focus. You'll find an option within the app's menu (in the upper-right corner of the screen) to back up all of your phone's media files to Google Drive, if you want to go down that road — or you can simply drag and drop files in either direction as needed.
Pulling up your Android phone's storage on a Chromebook is easy as can be. (Click image to enlarge it.)
There's really not much to it — nor should there be.
And if you want an even simpler way to take care of business...
Don’t like cables?
Hey, wait a minute — aren’t there apps and cloud services for this sort of thing? Sure there are, and we've got you covered there, too. Check out "Transferring files wirelessly between devices" in our in-depth guide to file management on Android for everything there is to know.
This article was initially published in August 2017 and most recently updated in October 2022.
Read this next: The best Android apps for organizing your life
Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves up tasty morsels about the human side of technology. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday.
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