# Transferring photos from iPhone to computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892 "2022-06-26T14:27:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/1 "2022-06-26T14:27:36Z")
I take a lot of pictures (and more since apparently, I’m decent at it) on my phone, but now it’s telling me my storage is full. There are a lot of pictures on there I don’t want to lose. I bought a little flash-drive thing to upload them, but my computer doesn’t like it. Likewise just connecting my phone to the computer-it says there are “problems.” Could it just be one or two of the pictures it doesn’t like? Otherwise, I can email them all to myself from my phone but that would be laborious since it will only take a few at a time. Two other questions: Can I just copy everything from my iCloud photo folder to another on my computer? If I delete them from my phone, do they vanish from my iCloud? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/2 "2022-06-26T16:46:31Z")
As always, it’s a bit more complicated for Apple products, but not too onerous > **[Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201302)** > > 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. So if you use a Mac computer, it’s pretty native, otherwise you’ll have to use the Windows iTunes app, which is a kludge and getting worse all the time, but will get the job done. The link also includes the iCloud option you mention, but iCloud free storage is pretty limited, so I’d go with Photos/iTunes. Alternately, this link from Microsoft indicates (on Windows 10 at least) you can do a direct import w/out iTunes, but I’ve never tried. > **[Import photos and videos from an iPhone to PC - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/import-photos-and-videos-from-an-iphone-to-pc-2e4e4db4-4c3d-041c-b88f-3ee4358dd95e)** > > Get the steps for how to transfer photos and videos from your iPhone to your PC. > 1. Turn your phone on and unlock it. Your PC can’t find the device if the device is locked. > 2. On your PC, select the **Start** button and then select **Photos** to open the Photos app. > 3. Select **Import** \> **From a USB device** , then follow the instructions. You can pick the items you want to import and select where to save them. Allow a few moments for detection and transfer. Lastly, this link governs iCloud setup and has a section on what/what isn’t saved when you delete > **[Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support](https://support.apple.com/en-us/108782)** > > iCloud Photos works with the Photos app to keep your photos and videos securely stored in iCloud, and up to date on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and iCloud.com. > ## What happens when you edit or delete photos > > Your photos and videos are stored in iCloud in their original formats at full resolution. This includes HEIF, JPEG, RAW, PNG, GIF, TIFF, HEVC, and MP4 as well as special formats you capture with your iPhone or iPad, like slo-mo, time-lapse, 4K videos, and Live Photos. The photos and videos you capture with these devices are in [HEIF and HEVC](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207022) format. When you edit or delete photos or videos, it’s reflected across all of your devices. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/3 "2022-06-26T19:01:45Z")
Thank you! I’ll try this out and see what happens! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/4 "2022-06-28T21:18:59Z")
Small update: I did finally manage to move them using a flash drive, though when I plugged it in the USB port on the computer my wireless mouse stopped moving ( no clue why) so I plugged it in the back. Second time I did this my screen shut down so I’m not messing with that thing again. Long story short (too late) I did finally do what I wanted. Thanks for the replies everyone! ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/5 "2022-07-02T11:55:01Z")
I had this very issue recently and apple asked if I had iTunes installed. Previously I just used the lightning cable from the phone to the PC without problems. This week it started giving me problems. Haven’t gotten iTunes installed yet to test, but hope it will resolve the issues. The limited space in the cloud is also an issue (work phone) - I was trying the workaround of uploading the content into the cloud and then downloading to my PC, but my files are over capacity. I started doing one at a time but the first video from the cloud only downloaded as audio to my PC, so I’m putting it on hold until I get iTunes installed. If iTunes doesn’t work, I’ll look at the linked docs to see if there are other things I can do - I have no issue whatsoever transferring content from my android phone. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2022, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/transferring-photos-from-iphone-to-computer/966892/6 "2022-07-02T12:37:49Z")
I’ve done this on a Windows computer just by plugging in the iPhone and viewing it as a USB drive. I also installed iCloud and now it syncs automatically but I have to pay a couple bucks a month to get enough storage. I have not tested this but I think iCloud is a replication scheme whereby if you delete content on any device it will be deleted from all devices. Everyone seems to have their own version of this–Dropbox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive. The iPhone is my wife’s. Dealing with my Android is so much easier because you have more choices and don’t have to pray at the feet of Apple.