Whether because Google Photos was previously a free service and now you need to pay to get more storage, or because you are new to iPhone and were coming from Android, we will answer your question about how to transfer the photos you had saved in Google Photos to iCloud.
Move Google Photos to iCloud with the help of your Mac
The easiest and safest way to do this is to use your Mac . By downloading the images to your Mac, you can easily transfer them to the Photos app. So, if you have iCloud activated, you can view these images on any of your Apple devices, as they will be automatically synchronized.
How to do it? Follow these simple steps !
Pass a selection of photos
If you want to upload specific photos, you can do so by opening Google Photos in your web browser , for example, Safari.
Select the photos you want to transfer and download them to your Mac. Drag them to the Photos app , and voila! As if by magic, just make sure you have the iCloud option activated in System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud and check that the “Photos” option is activated and your photos will be synchronized.
How to import your entire gallery
If you want to transfer your entire Google Photos gallery to iCloud, we recommend doing so from the Google Takeout website . An official Google website that allows you to access all the data you have stored on Google , such as Google Drive. This way, it will be much more convenient for you to download your files.
- Sign in to the Google Takeout website and you’ll see a complete list of files available in your Google account.
- Check the “uncheck all” option and select only the Google Photos tick .
- Scroll down to the next step button and tap on it. Once in that tab you can select the destination (for example, send by email), how often to download it (in this case Export once) and the file type and size (in this case .zip format and the size you prefer).
- Click Create Export and the download link will be created .
Please note! This process is not automatic, depending on the file size and how many files you have in Google Photos it may take up to a few days.
Once you have received and downloaded these photos, you will only have to drag them to the Photos app and check that you have activated the “Photos” option in iCloud . You can do this from System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud.
Transfer photos from Google Photos to iCloud from a PC
If you don’t have a Mac with the same Apple ID to sync your photos with iCloud, the process will be a little different.
The first steps are the same, log in to Google Takeout and follow the process we explained in the previous section to download your photos. The only difference will be when importing your gallery into your Apple account :
- Go to icloud.com and sign in with your Apple ID .
- Click on “Photos”.
- Drag and drop photos from the unzipped folder into your browser window, or click the upload icon and select photos from your computer.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to seamlessly transfer your photos from Google Photos to iCloud, whether you’re new to the Apple ecosystem or already have an iPhone and Mac. Now that you’ve mastered managing your photos on iCloud, do you want to learn more about Apple’s cloud ? We have a dedicated article telling you all about iCloud and iCloud+. Become an expert!