If you're running out of storage on Google Photos and you have an Apple device, you might want to consider transferring your photos to iCloud. iCloud allows you to access all your photos on any device that supports iCloud using your Apple ID.
Ready to move your photos from Google Photos to your iCloud account? Here’s how to get started.
Download All Photos from Google Photos Using a Computer or Mac
Before you start transferring photos, you may want to check for unwanted screenshots, wallpapers, and other images and remove them from Google Photos. Just open Google Photos in a web browser on your computer or Mac to delete those unwanted images.
Next, proceed to export your photos from Google Photos on your computer or Mac. To transfer them all, you'll need to use Google’s Takeout service to get a copy of your photos from Google Photos. Here’s how to do it:
- Open Google Takeout in your web browser.
- Log into your Google account.
- Click the "Deselect all" button near the top of the list to uncheck other items.
- Scroll down and check the box for Google Photos. Click on each included photo album to select specific albums by year or month.
- Scroll down and click on Next to continue.
- You can choose how Google will deliver these photos to you. Select the dropdown menu under delivery method to choose an option. You can receive a link via email, or add those photos to cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box.
- When you’re done, click the Create Export button. Google will email you the link once the download is ready in Takeout. Google will split the files into batches of 2GB if the photo size is large.
The wait time for this email depends on how many photos you have, and it may take hours or days. You will receive direct download links for your photos in the email, allowing you to download them to your computer or external storage device.
Keep in mind that Takeout download links are only valid for seven days from the day you request them.
Transfer Your Photos to iCloud
- Get iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store (if you haven’t done so already), log in with your Apple ID, and check your computer.
- Press Windows + E to open File Explorer. Click on iCloud Photos in the navigation pane. If you’re opening it for the first time, it will take a few minutes for iCloud Photos to download the thumbnails of your images.
- Open another File Explorer window by pressing Windows key + E, and navigate to the unzipped Google Photos folder.
- From the Google Photos folder, select all the images you want to import into iCloud.
- Drag those selected images into the iCloud Photos folder.
Your photos will now be stored in iCloud!
How to Import Photos from Google Photos to iCloud on a Mac
- Open the Photos app on your Mac.
- Drag your photos from the Google Photos download folder to iCloud.
- While the Photos app is open, go to Preferences > iCloud and make sure the iCloud Photos box is checked.
After that, you will be able to access your photos using the iCloud Photo Library.
