How to backup iPhone Photos to a Mac!

iPhone storage full? Here’s how to transfer your iPhone’s photos and video to your Mac or an external hard drive.
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Our video gear: kit.com/AppleInsider/video-pr...

[@colleenh6860]

Thank you! The best video presentation I have seen on something to do with iphone photo back-up on a mac. Very clear & concise. Will be looking for more of your videos if I have questions concerning my apple products.

[@larryd6143]

Thank you, but I had to freeze frame every three seconds. You are fast! Second when I had a digital camera, I would just stick the "chip" from the camera into the Mac and it downloaded automatically with dates. I succeeded with your instructions but I don't know if I could do it again. Why does Mac make everything so complicated? I transferred all my info from my old Mac to my new Mac and even the Mac supervisors didn't know how to access the old info.

[@3shTHEillest]

Thank you for this! You're awesome!

[@malikapatel4069]

Thank you!I literally click the back up button and it says my storage is full.Now I can free up storage.THANKS!👍

[@The888lkw]

best video straight forward and clear instructions thanks

[@1946Norma]

Thanks, it was a better explanation than other that I have seen.

[@LauraTuller]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@soultruesk8rlifelong]

Wow this was actually useful and it worked. Not something I find often in videos

[@vcharlemagne]

do you have a video to backup your whole iPhone to an external HD?

[@ZKAttack]

Thanks man, that helped a lot.

[@haydensimpson5959]

Dudes thanks that helped sooooooooo much

[@salooo7e]

How about from iCloud to external hard drive? Thanks

[@calicoastin7015]

Excellent video thanks!

[@wildexploration6487]

Thanks helped me so much💯

[@jaminseo4757]

what if there is no "delete items after import" button anywhere on my screen. I googled it and there isn't even a "delete items" box either

[@nctripp1]

Very helpful...Thx

[@gurnanis]

Hey - as always one has to trust Apple Insider for all our news, leaks and reviews etc. Would really appreciate an update to the same video above of backing up iPhone Photos to Mac OS Catalina as there's no 'Masters' folder any more. Also if we can create a Photo Library directly on an external SSD and transfer from iPhone to the external library without having to go thru importing to system library & moving it to a new library there on deleting the imported photos, etc. Wonder if there's a shorter process with so many software updates since the release of your video. Once again Thank You @Appleinsider for everything on Apple with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & KZbin :)

[@EastMontana1]

excellent video !

[@arinregita7973]

hello, i wanna ask you . in my mac cannot make new album photos to drag other hard drive. that always icon launch . how to change it ?

[@iamdarshanmehta]

This is good, thanks. Now how to restore it back again?

[@meilinaa.8185]

So ssooooo helpful and comprehensive

[@Italia311]

Thank you...now I can clean out my “lieberry”

[@crisotunity]

Or connect your iPhone to your mac, then open Image Capture and import photos on your mac or external drive. Easy.

[@raymondfurgason8959]

Damn yes, thank you! Lets make out. Male or Female doesnt even matter, you saved my phone.

[@andrewkogan6673]

i have 900+ photos/videos. 42 popped up this way what the fuck. this is why im about to switch back to android

[@djchouse]

I use to always use Image Capture, but when I use it now, it takes forever. What am I doing wrong? Help!!!!

[@AH-sc8be]

crisotunity LIFESAVER

[@MRDTBOSS]

Dude, thanks!

[@gee3883]

Thanks big help Mr

[@hii3192]

hi thank you for the video, may i ask a question why are the photos in my library different from the ones in import (some photos are missing from import) is it safe as long as they are in my library?

[@aidanosei17]

hi , so how do you move the pictures from the mac to the iphone though , got a new phone & i'm kinda stuck, can anyone help?

[@tiannadowney6843]

Any people here during 2020 coronavirus ?

[@miffyluvbug]

Yeah lol

[@hetvaishnani]

Yeah

[@jackpiccione6499]

**2021

[@mya.d6]

yes

[@Marmelaadka]

The copy i made didn’t copy anything instead deleted everything i had please is there any way to fix this?

[@jessicaortiz3173]

So I’m new to this.If I have them on my iCloud with they be safe if I delete them from my iPhone???

[@lada_kov]

And still why is it so complicated haha. Thanks for the video!

[@DONKEDONKA]

couple of issues to address: 1. are Live Photos saved, also are photos saved to the individual folders that have been defined on the phone? 2. if you have photos saved in notes, are those foto's going to disappear from notes if we've not backed those notes up and have selected the option to "delete photos from phone after transfer?" too late!

[@youjinpark3303]

How do u go back to ur old photo library

[@Jacknjellify531.]

I want to do this wirelessly, is there an iphone to mac app.

[@dc4me44]

Hmmm. This makes my desire to switch to an iPhone harder. I'm used to my android's drag and drop... I'll just wait and see what the price of SE2 will be like. I'm a bit terrified to pay 1k for a phone that might have burn in and causes headaches and eye strain. Can we please have an LCD with the design of the iPhone X?

[@conraddupreez355]

Hello. How can I delete photos from the imports and do everything over?

[@meetasharma9824]

Thanks

[@LizC815]

Why does my MacBook Pro not give the option to delete items after import????

[@Aviation4_350]

what mac os are you running

[@annetteshively2891]

My Mac is not recognizing any of my photos taken after the end of May. Message says it cannot recognize format, but I haven't changed a thing, they are just pictures captured by my phone. Any suggestions? BTW, I air dropped some into a file and I can see them, but when I try to import the file into lightroom, I get a message saying there are no pictures in the file. Help?

[@mileymarie7786]

My only issue with importing my iPhone photos to my Mac, is that not all of my photos from my iPhone show up on my Mac. I have 13,000 on my iPhone, yet when I plug it in, the Photos app on my Mac says I only have 5,000 photos..... Does anyone know why this happens and why to fix it?

[@soniatee8458]

My Photos App is full. Is there any way to bypass using the Photos App and simply drag and drop from iPhone onto external HD?

[@insightfulkittens0930]

I import but when I delete off my phone I see it also deleting on my mac. Any tips?

[@trtimuraparkehd8607]

hello i came to ask my iphone is disabled andi dont want to restore it because theyre is some pictures of my lost ones and i dont have it backed up..... so do you think i can back it up while its disabled

[@Thomashorsman]

Can you not do it via iTunes?

[@KriRio]

and video?

[@USCG.Brennan]

I was able to send photos from my iPhone to my desktop Mac with ease via email until I had a new battery installed in my iPhone 5S a few weeks ago. But ever since, even though I follow the same steps, the photos don't arrive on my computer anymore. What's can I do?

[@sunlitviolet]

When i plug my phone into my computer it starts charging my phone, i don't get any pop up. am i doing something wrong?

[@Aviation4_350]

mine does not have that box to check at 1:06

[@prajaktab513]

There is no Pictures tab in finder after creating photos 2:09 .... help!

[@humairabagadia1638]

i imported my photos to my laptop but i cant seem to import them to my externnal hardrive when i try importing photos to my drive it copies my mac photos application and not the photos

[@Vidyograf]

Too complicated for android users, I really regret switching to the iphone ! How to just back up all of the photos and videos to an folder in an external hard drive with copy and paste ?

[@berserker0555]

I really hate Photos App.... I prefer Image Capture

[@FransceneJK98]

Man this is sooo fast lol you lost me halfway 😂😂😂

[@spandanmishra9813]

What if your iPhone Storage backup is more than 128GB and your Mac is only having 128GB SSD storage. ?? In that case how can i backup my iPhone into my Mac ??

[@kyliemailemalia]

This helped but...my photos are still on my phone. If I delete my photos off my phone, will it delete on my Mac too?

[@1romancatholic]

Kylie Gapasin if you are plugged in via wire to your Mac. Otherwise no.

[@samguzman347]

Thank you 🙌🏽

[@lilydonald7620]

bro mine says items have not been ugloaded to icloud 😭😭

[@Jessikinnz]

My Mac doesn’t have sufficient storage to import all photos from my iPhone, is there any way of combatting this? If I get an external hard drive could I import them straight onto that? Thanks.

[@JessicaNicoleFaust]

Jessica E yes, I use the Seagate brand, called “seagate backup plus slim for mac” (& the “FOR MAC” is the important part) & I get 2T, which will hold 2000 GB. Otherwise you can get 1T, which will hold 1000 GB. I hope that helps! Or maybe you figured it out by now lol. Have a good day!

[@jeyendramaddali1663]

I have been doing the same since a long time, but recently my external hard drive dosent allow me to copy photos into it.(I used it for a Windows pc once).Any suggestions?

[@AppleInsider]

Unless it's full, I'm not sure why. Try to open the properties and see if it's locked or on read-only for some reason.

[@ArchCourt]

Don't know if you resolved this yet, if so, future people can read this. If you have used a hard drive on windows before mac you may have to reformat the hard drive, as it will only be readable on windows meaning you cant paste anything onto it from mac. Just google "reformat hard drive windows mac exFAT"

[@shoebmohammad926]

@@ArchCourt Yes you are correct, need to format the external hard drive.

[@guitaristinseattle]

Problem I have 9000+ pictures only 703 showed up on my camera roll. I need to transfer all over to my Mac, how?

[@1romancatholic]

Many people saying this same complaint and no response ever. SMH. THANKS (NOT) APPLE.

[@Anonymous-it5jw]

As I understand it, Camera Roll only has the photos you took with the cameras on that Apple device or images captured from the screen or which were put into the Camera Roll using another method. The photos in the Photo app should be in a Library file for that Photos app. In other words, the photos are stored in 2 separate places on the device, and the contents of each separate folder would have to be located and transferred separately.

[@sinistermedia6773]

Any pictures in iCloud will not show. Download all from iCloud then try again.

[@saimmushtaq3884]

I’m watching in 2020 😆

[@CValenton01]

NOT ALL OF MY PICTURES ON MY IPHONE SHOW UP IN PHOTOS! NOT EVEN HALF OF THEM! Wtf!?!!

[@brianmurray1469]

Me too. Even on a different computer, the computer backed up about 100 of 800 photos.

[@guitaristinseattle]

SAME HERE!

[@DillonLoomis]

Same! Any answers on this?

[@gizemvarlk1734]

all my photos are gone@@DillonLoomis

[@CheLudo037]

For all future people reading this and having this problem. You need to UPDATE your iphone software

[@ilovetwinks]

how to do the opposite of this

[@huangbinapple]

The downside is: once your photo sync to mac and deleted on the device, you can't edit them any more even when you sync they back to device.

[@jdengsky]

seriously, with hundred of millions iphone users, i can't believe there is simplier way to export iphone's photo to another location.

[@jennifermedia6288]

Are you two brothers??

[@hepgeoff]

This is very helpful, but you're going through the steps pretty fast and it's hard to keep up. I'm having to pause this video several times.

[@Debtanz49]

great information but for someone who may not be as savvy tech wise you talked way too fast

[@tripstreksandtravels5492]

This method doesn't work. Ive got 20,505 photos and 212 videos. When I attempt this method 5 photos show up!!!

[@joshx413]

What about Windows

[@AppleInsider]

Connect your iPhone to your Windows PC using the Lightning charging cable. Your phone will show up in the "This PC" menu. Just search for it in the Windows menu. Then open up it up and you'll have access to all of your photos and videos. Simply drag and drop them to wherever you want.

[@joshx413]

AppleInsider thanks for the response! when I do that, all my pictures are grouped into like 12 diff folders, some folders have 100 photos some have 50 and some have 1000. So hard to sort through. Lol

[@JohnLobert]

This guy does not know how to do it. He makes it WAY too complicated. As one of the previous posters said, use Image Capture. Fast, easy, reliable. There are also cheap third-party apps that will do the same thing. Explanations like this are what make Android users roll their eyes. Today, I'm rolling mine.

[@herbiespizza]

YES YOU CAN MOVE THE LIBRARY TO AN EXTERNAL DRIVE BUT AS OF 2018/MOJAVE YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO SYSNC WITH A IPHONE TO VIEW PICS AND VIDEOS ON YOUR PHONE. IF YOU CONNECT YOUR PHONE TO ITUNES THE PICS ON YOUR PHONE WILL BE DOWNLOADED TO YOUR PHOTOS LIBRARY BUT NOT BE SENT BACK TO YOUR PHONE FOR VIEWING. APPLE WILL DIRECT YOU TO PURCHASE ICLOUD SPACE AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO VIEW PICS ON YOUR IPHONE BY SYNCING THROUGH ICLOUD ONLY. ONCE YOU HAVE INSTALLED MOJAVE AND OPEN PHOTOS FOR THE FIRST TIME, MOJAVE WILL CONVERT YOUR FILES. ONCE THIS IS DONE, ONLY THE NEW VERSION OF PHOTOS WILL BE ABLE TO OPEN THE FILES. THIS OPERATION IS NOT REVERSIBLE. BASICALLY YOU CAN NO LONGER SYNC FROM AN EXTERNAL STORAGE DRIVE/NAS. YOU CAN PHONE APPLE TO CONFIRM THIS........UNBELIEVABLE THAT SUCH A BASIC OPERATION NO LONGER WORKS.

[@guitaristinseattle]

No one on the internet knows how to capture and delete your photos from an iPhone X! The image capture is WORTHLESS and does not reveal all your photos!

[@davidrollins4272]

You are talking WAY too fast

[@rjkral]

So incredibly unintuitive. My God!

[@JT-yo4gc]

You should speak a bit slower 👎🏻

[@dsaceyodad]

J T you can make the playback speed slower if you want slowpoke