How do I recover pictures from my memory card to my phone?

Recovering pictures from a memory card and transferring them to your phone is a common task for many people. Whether you are trying to free up space on your memory card or want to access photos on your phone, moving them from a memory card to phone storage is relatively straightforward. In this guide, we will walk through the step-by-step process to help you seamlessly transfer photos stored on a memory card to your Android or iPhone.

Table of Contents

Things You’ll Need

Before starting the picture transfer process, make sure you have the following:

Memory card – This is the removable storage device where your photos are currently stored. Common memory card types include SD, microSD, and CF.

Memory card reader – You’ll need a memory card reader to connect your memory card to your computer if one is not already built-in.
Computer – You’ll transfer the photos to your computer first before moving them to your phone.
USB cable – To connect your phone to your computer.

Android phone or iPhone – The target device you want to transfer the photos over to.

Transferring Photos from Memory Card to Computer

The first step is to transfer the photos from your memory card to a folder on your computer. Here’s how:

Insert your memory card into the card reader slot on your computer. If your computer has a built-in SD card slot, insert it directly.

Open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS). Locate the mounted memory card under Devices and Drives.
Select all the photos you want to transfer and copy them. To select multiple photos, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) while clicking.
Paste the photos into a new folder on your computer. For easy access, create this folder on the desktop.

Once the transfer is complete, your photos will now be accessible in the folder on your computer.

Transferring Photos to Your Android Phone

With the photos now on your computer, it’s time to transfer them to your Android phone:

Connect your Android phone to your computer using a USB cable. You may need to unlock your phone and change the USB connection type to file transfer mode.

On your phone, you should see a notification that it’s connected as a media device. Open the notification and tap the connection option to open the file directory.
Open the folder on your computer containing the photos.
Select all the photos and drag and drop them into the phone’s storage folder on your computer.

The transfer may take some time depending on how many photos you are moving. Wait for the transfer to fully complete.
Once finished, disconnect your phone from your computer.
Open the Photos app on your Android phone. All transferred photos should now be available in the app.

Transferring Photos to Your iPhone

For iPhones, use the Image Capture utility on Mac or Photos app on Windows to transfer photos:

Connect your iPhone to your computer using a Lightning cable. Unlock your phone and tap Trust on the connection prompt.
On a Mac, open Image Capture. On Windows, open the Photos app.

In Image Capture or Photos, select your phone under Devices. This will show all the photos on your phone.
From your computer, drag and drop the new photos you want to transfer into the app’s interface. This will copy them over to your iPhone.
Make sure to click Import or Download on completion to save the changes.

Eject and disconnect your iPhone from your computer.
Launch the Photos app on your iPhone. The transferred photos will now be available in your library.

Transferring Photos Without a Computer

If you don’t have access to a computer, you can also directly transfer photos from a memory card to your iPhone or Android phone using just a memory card reader. Here’s how to do it:

Android Phone

Insert the memory card into your phone’s external memory card slot if it has one.
Alternatively, connect your memory card reader to your phone using an OTG (On-The-Go) USB adapter. This allows your phone to read memory cards.
Open the My Files or File Manager app on your Android phone.

Navigate to the mounted memory card folder.
Select the photos you want to transfer and tap Copy.
Go back to the root folder, open the DCIM folder, and tap Paste. This will copy them to your phone’s storage.

Once transferred, your photos will be accessible in the Photos app on your Android phone.

iPhone

Insert your memory card into the reader and plug it into your iPhone’s charging port using a Lightning to USB or USB-C adapter.
The Files app should open automatically. If not, open it manually.

Tap on the memory card under Locations.
Select the photos you want to import and tap the Import button.
The photos will be transferred to your iPhone camera roll folder.

You can view the imported photos in the Photos app.

Transferring Photos from iCloud

If your photos were synced to iCloud from another Apple device, you can also download them to your iPhone from iCloud directly:

Make sure you’re signed in to the same iCloud account on your iPhone and the device originally used to upload the photos.

Connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi.
Open the Settings app and tap [your name].
Tap iCloud > Photos.

Turn on “Download and Keep Originals”.
Your iPhone will download all your original photos and videos from iCloud.

Transferring from Google Photos (Android)

If your photos were backed up on Android, you can sync them to your new Android phone using Google Photos:

Make sure you’re logged into the same Google account that was used to back up the photos.
On your new phone, open the Google Photos app.
Tap your profile icon > Photos settings.

Turn on “Back up & sync”.
Set “Upload size” to “Original”.
Your phone will start downloading the original quality backups from Google Photos.

Troubleshooting Photo Transfers

In some cases, you may encounter issues when transferring photos from memory card to your phone. Here are some troubleshooting tips:

Photos Not Showing Up on Phone

Check if the transfer finished successfully without any interruptions.
Look in your phone’s file manager to see if photos are in the correct folder.

Try restarting your phone to refresh the media indexes.
On iPhone, check if iCloud Photo Library is enabled in Settings which may be hiding your local photos.

Memory Card Not Detected

Inspect your memory card reader, USB connector, and ports for any damage.

Try connecting the card reader to another USB port on your computer.
Reinsert your memory card to make sure it’s seated properly.
Try your memory card on a different computer or device to test if it’s working.

Transfer Extremely Slow

Use a USB 3.0 port on your computer for faster transfers.
Close any other resource-heavy apps on your computer during the transfer.
Check if your USB cable is damaged. A faulty cable can slow down transfers.

For Android, change your USB connection type to MTP as it’s faster than PTP.

Not Enough Storage Space on Phone

Offload existing photos and videos on your phone to free up storage space.
Try transferring fewer photos at a time.

For Android, insert a larger capacity microSD card for more storage.
On iPhone, upgrade to a model with more internal storage.

Tips for Successful Photo Transfers

Follow these tips to ensure smooth and successful photo transfers:

Use the native photo transfer process for your phone type instead of a generic file transfer.
Keep your devices connected and awake during transfers to prevent interruptions.
Organize your photos into folders or albums before transferring for easy management.

Review all photos after transfer to confirm they copied over properly.
Delete the photos on your memory card after a successful transfer to prevent duplication.
Make backups of your photos on an external hard drive as an extra precaution.

Alternative Ways to Transfer Photos

Aside from a direct USB connection, there are other ways you can transfer photos as well:

Cloud storage – Upload photos to cloud services like Google Photos, iCloud, Dropbox, etc. You can then access them on your phone by downloading from the cloud.
Email – Attach photos to an email and send them to yourself. Open the email on your phone and save the attachments.

Bluetooth – Select photos on your computer and transfer them to your phone using Bluetooth.
Wi-Fi direct – On Android, enable a Wi-Fi direct connection between devices to transfer files.
Google Drive – Upload to Google Drive on computer and open drive link on your phone to download.

Conclusion

Transferring photos from a memory card onto your phone takes just a few steps using the right method. With the photos safely stored on your phone’s storage, you can now easily view them, share them, and clear up space on your memory card for new images. Follow the best practices outlined here to ensure a smooth photo transfer process from start to finish. Over time, you’ll be able to master transferring photos between devices and never have to worry about losing your precious captured memories.