If you want to transfer the pictures saved on your iPhone to a computer, you are going to have to follow specific procedures. This guide provides you with the methods that let you transfer all your photos from your iOS device to your computer.
If you have an iPhone, chances are you need to transfer photos from your iPhone to your computer sometimes. If you have still not figured out a way to do this, you are not alone. Due to iOS being a very restrictive operating system, sometimes even experts find themselves in confusion as to how they can perform a certain task on their device.
Luckily, there are some methods that you can use to get all your iPhone’s photos copied over to your computer. This guide tells you what those methods are and how you can use them. It also tells you why you would need to transfer photos from an iPhone to a computer; in case you have not found a reason to do that but you wish to learn.
Why Would You Want to Transfer iPhone Pictures to a Computer?
There are many reasons why you would want to copy photos from your iPhone to a computer. The following are some of the common reasons people transfer pictures from their iPhone to a computer.
Reason 1. A Safe Backup of Your Photos
An iPhone is still a smartphone and a handheld device. This means, you can place it somewhere and forget it, it can get stolen, or it can even fall off your hands and get damaged. When things like this happen, you lose access to the files on your phone including your photos.
But, if you copy your photos from your iPhone to a computer, you have a safe backup of all of your files. If anything unfortunate happens to your device, you can still have access to all your iPhone photos right on your computer.
Reason 2. Freeing Up Memory on Your iPhone
One of the common reasons why someone would want to transfer their iPhone pictures to a computer is that they want to free-up the precious memory space on their iPhone. If you are running out of memory space on your phone, or if you are on the verge of getting all your memory filed, transferring your photos to your computer and then deleting them from your iPhone is a good idea.
This way, all your large images will be stored on your computer making room for new items on your iOS device.
Reason 3. Editing Photos on a Large Screen
While there are many apps available to edit photos on your iPhone, nothing actually comes closer to the real photo editing experience that you get on a computer. If this is the case with you, you will need to first transfer pictures from your iPhone to your computer, and you can then edit your photos on there.
This is also a reason many users copy photos from their iPhone to a computer.
How to Transfer Pictures from an iPhone to a Computer
You probably have your own reasons as to why you want to copy your photos to your computer. The next thing you need to do is to learn how to actually do the task. The following are two of the methods to start moving photos from an iPhone to a computer.
Method 1. Use File Explorer to Access iPhone Photos on a PC
If you are a Windows user, you would be glad to know that you actually do not need any kind of apps to be able to access the photos saved on your iPhone. Your computer’s File Explorer utility can actually help you access all the photos that you have ever stored on your iOS device. This only requires a basic USB connection between your phone and your computer.
The following shows how you do that.
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to your Windows PC using the original USB cable.
Step 2. If you are connecting your iPhone to your PC for the first time, you need to tap on Trust on your iPhone so your computer can interact with your device.
Step 3. Open the File Explorer utility on your Windows PC. You should see your iPhone listed right there. Double-click on it to access the phone’s media files.
Step 4. You should see a folder called DCIM and that is where your iPhone’s photos are saved. You can copy photos from this folder over to another folder on your PC.
Copy iPhone pictures to a PC with File Explorer
That is how you use a built-in tool on your PC to copy pictures from an iPhone.
Method 2. Use the Photos App to View iPhone Photos on a Mac
In case you use a Mac, you can make use of the Photos app on your machine to import all the pictures from your iPhone. You can either copy all photos or select ones and they will all appear in the Photos app.
This is how you go about copying your iPhone’s pictures to your Mac.
Step 1. Plug your iPhone into your Mac using a USB cable.
Step 2. Launch the Photos app on your Mac and click on your iPhone in the left sidebar.
Step 3. On the right pane, select the photos that you would like to copy to your Mac. Then, click on the Import Selected button at the top.
Transfer iPhone pictures to a Mac with the Photos app
All your chosen photos will be transferred to your Mac. You should be able to view them in the Photos app whenever you want.
Transferring Pictures from an iPhone to a Computer using AnyTrans
While the above methods certainly help you get your photos moving between your devices, they are not the most efficient methods to do the task. There are actually some third-party apps that let you gain more control over the whole transfer process.
One such app is AnyTrans and it makes your whole job of transferring pictures between your iPhone and computer a lot easier. Not only does this app help you transfer photos in multiple directions, but it helps you to transfer photos from various library types on your iPhone as well.
If you would like to give this app a go, the following shows how.
Step 1. Grab the latest version of AnyTrans for your Windows or Mac computer. Then, install the app on your computer.
Step 2. Plug-in your iPhone to your computer using a cable and launch AnyTrans.
Step 3. Click on the Content to PC/Mac button in the app.
Transfer content from the iPhone to a computer
Step 4. On the following screen, choose the photo types that you want to transfer. Then, hit Next at the bottom.
Select the photos options to transfer photos to a computer
Step 5. Your photos should begin to transfer to your computer.
Pictures being transferred to a computer
Basically, all you need to do is select the type of content that you want to transfer and AnyTrans gets those files moving for you.
AnyTrans is not just a file transfer app but it is much more than that. Here are some of the features of this app that can help you in various scenarios.
Feature 1. Phone Switcher
Buying a new phone is exciting but that excitement goes away when you have a ton of data to migrate from your old device to the new one. AnyTrans has a solution to that issue. This app has a feature called Phone Switcher that helps you copy data between your devices when you get a new phone.
Switching phones is easier with Phone Switcher
You simply need to tell the app what data you want to copy between your phones and it will do that for you. Your new phone will then have all your chosen data copied from your old phone.
Feature 2. Media Downloader
One of the troubles you face as an iOS user is that there is no easy way for you to download new media content to your device. You need to rely on Apple’s apps like iTunes for getting new videos and music content. AnyTrans actually has a feature to eliminate that hassle and it is called Media Downloader.
Download content to iOS with Media Downloader
Media Downloader helps you to search and download content from various media sites to your iPhone or iPad. You can choose the sites and files that you want to download, and the app helps get that downloaded content copied to your iPhone.
Feature 3. Online HEIC Converter
If you do not already know, your iPhone uses a file format called HEIC to store your photos. This format is not as common as other image formats. That means, you might not be able to view the images in this format on all your devices.
Convert HEIC pictures to a popular image format
Fortunately, AnyTrans has an Online HEIC Converter that helps you to convert all your HEIC photos to widely recognizable formats like JPG and PNG. This is a web-based tool which means you can upload your HEIC photos from a browser, convert those photos, and download them back to your computer.
Conclusion
No matter the reason, transferring photos from an iPhone to a computer is not as daunting as you might think. You should now know multiple ways to copy iPhone photos to your computer. You now also know about an app that makes it extremely easier for you to get your photos copied to your computers.
Author | Emily Forbes
An Entrepreneur, Mother & A passionate tech writer in the technology industry!
Email:- forbesemily@yandex.com
