What is my phone model and iOS version?
The first step is to determine your exact iPhone model and iOS version, as the transfer process can vary depending on these factors. Here’s how to check:
- Go to Settings > General > About on your iPhone. Here you’ll see the model name (e.g. iPhone 6s) and iOS version (e.g. iOS 12.5.1).
- You can also check the model on the back of the device. Look for text like “iPhone 6s” or “iPhone 7 Plus”.
Knowing the specific iPhone model and iOS version will help ensure you choose a transfer method that is compatible. Older iOS versions may not support some newer transfer apps or features.
Back up the iPhone photos to iCloud
One way to get photos off an old iPhone is to back them up to iCloud. To do this:
- On your iPhone, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud.
- Under Photos, tap Options and make sure iCloud Photo Library is enabled.
- Connect your iPhone to a power source and WiFi to allow the backup to complete. This can take awhile if you have a lot of photos.
With iCloud Photo Library enabled, your iPhone will automatically upload and store your photos and videos in iCloud. You can then access your photos from any device where you’re logged into your iCloud account, like a new iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Just make sure you have enough available iCloud storage for all your photos and videos.
For more details on backing up your iPhone photos using iCloud Photo Library, check out Apple’s support article.
Transfer photos with iTunes
One way to transfer photos from your old iPhone is by using iTunes on your computer. Here are the steps:
First, connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB cable that came with your phone. Open iTunes on your computer. In iTunes, select your iPhone under the Devices section in the left sidebar.
Next, click on the Photos tab. Check the box that says “Sync photos from: iPhone”. This will allow you to transfer the photos from your iPhone to your computer through iTunes. If you want to be selective about which photos transfer, click the drop down and select “Selected albums, events, and faces” and choose which albums to sync.
Finally, click the Apply button in the bottom right corner. This will start the process of copying the photos from your iPhone to your computer. The length of time it takes depends on how many photos you have stored on your phone. You’ll see a progress bar displaying the status.
Once it’s complete, you can view the transferred photos in the Pictures folder on a Windows PC or the Photos app on a Mac. Your photos are now safely stored on your computer.
Use the Photos app (Mac)
One easy way to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac is by using the Photos app that comes pre-installed on all Macs. Here’s how to use the Photos app to import all new photos from your iPhone to your Mac:
First, connect your iPhone to your Mac using the included USB cable. Make sure your iPhone is unlocked and Photos is open on your Mac.
Open the Photos app on your Mac. It will automatically detect your connected iPhone and display any new photos on your iPhone that have not yet been imported to your Mac.
Click on “Import All New Items” to begin transferring all the new photos on your iPhone over to your Mac. The photos will be saved in your photo library on your Mac.
You can also click “Review for Import” to select individual photos to import, rather than importing all new ones.
Once the import is complete, you can view all your photos imported from your iPhone in the Photos app on your Mac, organized right alongside your other photos.
Transfer to an External Hard Drive
One way to get photos off your old iPhone is to transfer them to an external hard drive connected to your computer. Here are the steps:
- Connect the external hard drive to your computer using the provided USB cable. Make sure the drive is recognized by your computer before proceeding.
- Open the Photos app on a Mac or iTunes on a Windows PC. Connect your iPhone to the computer using the included USB cable.
- Once your iPhone is detected, click on it in the sidebar in Photos/iTunes. Go to the photos tab.
- Select all the photos you want to transfer or simply select all to transfer your entire camera roll.
- Click on Import or Download. Your photos will now copy over to your computer.
- Once the transfer is complete, locate the photos on your computer and drag/drop them to your external hard drive.
The external hard drive acts as a storage repository for all your photos. Store them safely so you can access years from now. Depending on the drive size, you can store entire photo libraries for many years to come.
Email photos to yourself
One easy way to transfer photos from your old iPhone is to simply email them to yourself. Here’s how:
Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select the photos you want to transfer. Tap the share icon in the bottom left corner and select Email. This will open up a new email message with the photos attached.
Make sure to email the photos to an address you can access on your computer, like your personal email. Enter your email address in the To field and hit send.
Once you receive the email, you can save the photo attachments to your computer. On a Mac, just double click each attachment to open it in Preview, then go to File > Export to save a copy wherever you like. On Windows, right click the attachments and select Save As.
Emailing batches of photos is a quick and easy way to get them off your iPhone and onto another device. Just be aware of any size limits for attachments in your email provider. You may need to send photos in several batches if there are a lot of them.
Use third-party apps
Third-party apps provide another option to transfer photos from an old iPhone to a computer or device. Apps like iExplorer, iMazing, and AnyTrans are designed specifically for iPhone data transfer and management.
These apps allow you to transfer photos wirelessly over Wi-Fi or wired using a direct USB connection. This provides flexibility to transfer photos even if you don’t have iCloud set up on your iPhone.
In addition to basic photo transfer capabilities, many third-party apps include extra features like:
- Transferring other data like messages, contacts, notes, etc.
- Selective transfer so you can choose specific photos to move
- Previewing photos before transfer
- Metadata and album structure preservation
- Encrypted data transfer for security
The key benefit of third-party apps is they provide robust transfer tools while being simple and easy to use. With their extra features and flexibility, they are often the quickest and most full-featured option for getting photos off an old iPhone.
Upload photos to cloud storage
One way to transfer photos from an old iPhone is to upload them to a cloud storage service like Google Photos, Dropbox, or iCloud. This allows you to free up storage space on your iPhone while keeping photos accessible from any device.
To upload iPhone photos to Google Photos:
- Download and install the Google Photos app on your iPhone from the App Store.
- Open the app and sign into your Google account.
- Tap “Backup & Sync” and enable backup for photos.
- Google Photos will now automatically upload all photos stored locally on your iPhone.
You can then visit photos.google.com to access your photos on the web or on any other device where you’re signed into your Google account.
Similarly, services like Dropbox and iCloud allow automatic syncing and backup of iPhone photos to the cloud. The benefit of using cloud storage is that photos remain accessible even when deleting them from the old iPhone to free up local storage space.
Transfer from old iPhone to new iPhone
One easy way to transfer photos from an old iPhone to a new iPhone is to use the Quick Start feature in the iPhone Setup app. This allows you to automatically transfer photos and other data from your old iPhone to your new iPhone when you are setting it up for the first time.
To use Quick Start, simply follow these steps:
- On your new iPhone, launch the Setup app when you first turn on the device.
- On the Quick Start screen, select the option to set up your new iPhone with your Apple ID.
- Make sure both your new and old iPhone are running iOS 12.4 or later.
- Place the phones near each other and follow the on-screen instructions to transfer data via Quick Start.
- Your new iPhone will now transfer your photos, messages, settings and more from your old iPhone. This may take some time depending on how much data needs to be transferred.
- Once complete, your new iPhone will have all your photos from your old iPhone available in the Photos app.
The key is that both iPhones need to be signed into the same iCloud account for Quick Start to transfer your photos seamlessly to your new device. As long as you use the same Apple ID on both devices, Quick Start provides a fast and easy way to migrate your photos when upgrading your iPhone.
Retrieve deleted photos
If you’ve accidentally deleted photos from your iPhone that you want to recover, there are a few options:
First, stop taking new photos with your iPhone. New data can overwrite the deleted photos you want to recover.
Next, use iPhone data recovery software like EaseUS MobiSaver or DiskDigger to scan your iPhone and recover deleted photos. These tools dig deep to find residual data from deleted files.
You can also try to retrieve the photos from an iCloud backup if you had iCloud backups enabled. Go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups > Select your device backup. Then you can choose to restore data like photos from this backup.
Finally, if you deleted the photos a long time ago, data recovery becomes less likely to succeed. Your best bet is to restore from an iTunes or iCloud backup that contains the photos.
