ICloud Photos to Google Photos: How to Transfer Directly



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Before tech companies were forced by lawmakers to offer greater data portability options in the United States and elsewhere, Apple was proactive and began offering a new option on its Data & Privacy website. Find out how to directly transfer iCloud photos to Google Photos and other supported services that are expected to launch in the future.

Background

When the GDPR was enacted in the EU in May 2018, Apple launched its Data & Privacy portal allowing users to view and download their data. The feature then arrived in the United States and Canada, United States, Australia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland in October 2018.

Now, in an update to its data and privacy tools, Apple has launched a feature to directly transfer iCloud photos to Google Photos (videos as well). Google Photos is the only participating service at this time, but more should become available over time.

Notably, switching from iCloud Photos to Google Photos will be less appealing as the latter ends unlimited free storage in June 2021. But there are still a variety of use cases that will stick around.

Another detail to keep in mind, transferring iCloud Photos to Google Photos with this new tool from Apple will not remove anything from iCloud, but will simply make a copy and transfer it directly to Google Photos. Also, smart albums, live photos, and some RAW files will not transfer (but it looks like the fixed version of your live photos will transfer correctly).

How to Directly Transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos

Apple Notes you will need to make sure of:

  • You use iCloud Photos to store photos and videos with Apple
  • Your Apple ID uses two-factor authentication
  • You have a Google account to use Google Photos
  • Your Google account has enough storage space to complete the transfer

If you are ready with this then:

  1. Go to the Apple Data and Privacy Login page (https://privacy.apple.com)
  2. Sign in with the Apple ID you want to transfer iCloud photos and videos from
  3. Under the third option down “Transfer a copy of your data”, click on “Request transfer of a copy of your data”
  4. From the drop-down menu, choose Google Photos as the transfer destination
  5. Choose whether you want to transfer photos, videos or both, click Continue
  6. Confirm that you have sufficient storage space on the Google Photos side
  7. Log into your Google account where you want to transfer your iCloud photos / videos
  8. Allow Apple to add photos and videos to your Google Photos account
  9. Finally, double-check your information and click on the “Confirm transfer” button

Apple says the process takes 3-7 days, and you’ll receive a confirmation email when it’s completed. Here’s a detailed look at the process:

How to Transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos Walkthrough 1
How to Transfer iCloud Photos to Google Photos Walkthrough 2

Follow the instructions to confirm that you have enough space with Google Photos to complete the transfer.

When you get to a login prompt, enter the Google Account email address you want to send the photos and video to (it’s a bit confusing as the graphic almost looks like Apple is asking for your ID. Apple).

The last two steps allow Apple to send your content to Google Photos and final confirmation:

For full details on how this feature works, check out Apple’s support document, but here are some of the highlights:

  • The transfer includes copies of photos and videos that you store in iCloud Photos, associated with your Apple ID. Formats include: .jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, some RAW files, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, . 3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts and .mkv files.
  • Only the most recent modification of the photo is transferred and not the original version. Duplicates appear as a single photo.
  • When possible, photos are transferred with their albums. Videos are transferred separately, without their albums.
  • Once uploaded to Google, the file names of albums and videos begin with “Copy of”.
  • Some content, including shared albums, smart albums, photo stream content, live photos, some metadata, and photos and videos stored in other folders or locations, is not transferred at all.

How to transfer your Apple data to other services

For now, Google is the only partner participating in Apple’s direct iCloud photo transfer option. But it looks like Apple will add more options in the future. This could potentially include direct transfers for different types of Apple data than iCloud photos.

However, you can manually download and move your data to any service you want. Follow our walkthrough on this:

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