How to Transfer iPhone Photos to Your Computer

After taking hundreds or thousands of photos on your iPhone, you’ll eventually want to transfer those iPhone photos to your computer.

While having the photos on hand is nice, there are times when you’ll need to move them to your computer. Transferring your images to your computer is important when you need to clear up space on your iPhone. Or want to edit your photos on a bigger screen.

I’ll show you five different ways to transfer your iPhone photos to your computer. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so find the one that works best for you.

Transfer iPhone Photos to Your Computer with iTunes

If you’re a Mac user, you already have iTunes installed on your computer. iTunes is the best and easiest tool to manage your iPhone, including transferring photos.

To transfer photos with iTunes, follow these steps:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.
2. Open iTunes on your computer.
3. Click on the iPhone icon in the top left corner of the iTunes window.
4. Click on “Photos” in the left-hand menu.
5. Check the box next to “Sync Photos.”
6. Choose the folder where you want to save your photos.
7. Click “Apply” to start the sync process.

Transfer Photos with iCloud

If you’d rather not to use iTunes, you can also transfer your photos using iCloud. If you have enough iCloud storage, you can keep gigabytes worth of photos online. Otherwise, you can download your pics from iCloud to your computer.

To transfer photos with iCloud, follow these steps:

1. On your iPhone, go to “Settings” > “iCloud” > “Photos.”
2. Turn on “iCloud Photo Library.”
3. Wait for your photos to upload to iCloud.
4. On your computer, go to iCloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
5. Click on “Photos” to access your iCloud photos.
6. Select the photos you want to download to your computer.
7. Click on the download icon to start the download process.

Transfer iPhone Photos to Your Computer with AirDrop

If you have a Mac computer and an iPhone running iOS 7 or later, you can use AirDrop to transfer your photos wirelessly. AirDrop allows you to transfer files between Apple devices without the need for cables or other equipment.

While there’s no limit to the number of photos you can AirDrop at once, you’re going to be bottlenecked by WiFi speeds.

To transfer photos with AirDrop, follow these steps:

1. Make sure that AirDrop is enabled on both your iPhone and your Mac.
2. Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
3. Select the photos you want to transfer.
4. Tap on the “Share” button.
5. Select “AirDrop” from the list of sharing options.
6. Choose your Mac from the list of available devices.
7. Accept the transfer on your Mac to complete the process.

Transfer Photos with Third-Party Apps

There are many third-party apps available that can help you transfer your iPhone photos to your computer. Some of the most popular options include Dropbox, Google Photos, and OneDrive.

To transfer photos with a third-party app, follow these steps:

1. Download and install the app on both your iPhone and your computer.
2. Sign in to the app on both devices.
3. Upload your photos to the app from your iPhone.
4. Download the photos to your computer from the app.

Using this method is fairly simple, but it will also be time consuming. You can also be limited by the storage you have on those third-party apps. The upside is that storage options on Dropbox and Google Photos are fairly cheap, and you have the benefit of having them as backup after you’ve downloaded photos to your computer.

Transfer Photos with a USB Cable

You can always transfer your photos using a USB cable and go through iTunes or treat your iPhone like a hard drive. It’s not as convenient as the other methods, but it is still a reliable way to transfer your photos.

To transfer photos with a USB cable, follow these steps:

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer using a USB cable.
2. Open the Photos app on your computer.
3. Select the photos you want to transfer.
4. Click on “Import” to start the transfer process.

Transferring iPhone Photos to Your Computer Wrap-Up

As you can see, there are dozens of ways to transfer your iPhone photos to your computer. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Whether you prefer to use iTunes, iCloud, AirDrop, third-party apps, or a USB cable, you can find a way to get your photos onto your PC or Mac fairly easily.

By following this comprehensive guide, your photos will be safely backed up and easily accessible on your computer–and from there you can also transfer them onto an external hard drive.

The more backups you have, the better. Say goodbye to storage limitations on your phone and hello to editing and organizing your photos on a larger screen. With these five methods, you can transfer your photos with ease and choose the one that works best for you.