Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos

Apple this week introduced a new service that's designed to make it quick and easy for iCloud users to transfer their stored photos and videos to Google Photos.

apple transfer google photos 1
As outlined in an Apple support document, you can go to Apple's privacy website and sign in to see the "Transfer a copy of your data" option. If you select this and go through all the steps, Apple will transfer your ‌iCloud‌ photos and videos to Google ‌Photos‌.

Transferring photos and videos from iCloud Photos does not remove the content you have stored with Apple, but it provides a backup method and stores a copy of the content on Google ‌Photos‌.

apple transfer google 2
The transfer process takes between three and seven days, with Apple verifying that the request was made by you. To do the transfer, you must have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID account and you must have a Google ‌Photos‌ account with enough storage to complete the transfer.

Smart Albums, Live Photos, photo stream content, some metadata, and some RAW photos are not able to be transferred, but formats including .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 are compatible.

Only the most recent edit of a photo is transferred rather than the original version, and duplicates appear as just one photo. Images are transferred in their albums whenever possible, but videos are transferred separately.

Apple's transfer service is available to customers in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States at this time.

Top Rated Comments

cmaier Avatar
42 months ago

Great, now they want my google user and password.
Why not just give me the option to download everything?
Who says Apple gets your Google id and password? Don’t you just authenticate with Google and Apple gets a token that you have successfully authenticated?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mizzoucat Avatar
42 months ago
What about moving photos from Google Photos to iCloud?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deeddawg Avatar
42 months ago
If I wanted Google to have all my photos, I'd already be using their service.

Nice of Apple to provide an option for moving between platforms.

Not that I think it's anything to do with being nice, more likely a defensive maneuver to help against any monopolistic accusations.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vicviper789 Avatar
42 months ago
Ah yes, perfect for when Google cancels the service at a random point in time
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rob_2811 Avatar
42 months ago
This seems like a win for privacy.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
igneousc Avatar
42 months ago
live photos have been around for what? 7 years now? And there's still no decent way to back them up or any decent standard for the format. Moving them outside of an Apple photo library is still a disaster.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Apple Music Messages and Notes Feature 1

iOS 18 Rumored to Add New Features to These 16 Apps on Your iPhone

Tuesday April 30, 2024 10:44 am PDT by
Apple is expected to announce iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, and new features have already been rumored for many apps, including Apple Music, Apple Maps, Calculator, Messages, Notes, Safari, and others. Below, we recap iOS 18 rumors on a per-app basis, based on reports from MacRumors, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and others: Apple Maps: At least two new Apple Maps features are...
apple watch ipad demo 1

Check Out This Apple Watch iPad Demo Unit From 2014

Wednesday May 1, 2024 1:46 pm PDT by
With the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch approaching, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at an interesting bit of Apple Watch history. After the Apple Watch was announced in 2014, and before it became available in 2015, Apple sent out custom Apple Watch iPad demo kiosks to retail stores. The Apple Watch and iPad units used for these devices were specially designed, had custom ...
Apple Event Let Loose Pastel Green

Report: Five Things Apple Won't Announce at Its Event Next Week

Friday May 3, 2024 4:30 am PDT by
Apple is holding at least five announcements for later in the year that will not arrive at the company's "Let loose" special event next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report detailing his expectations for Apple's upcoming event, Gurman noted that there are a total of five things that the company is holding for later in the year: AI features: While Apple may tease new...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri 1

Tim Cook on Generative AI: 'We Have Advantages That Will Differentiate Us'

Thursday May 2, 2024 2:11 pm PDT by
During today's earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook again spoke about Apple's work on generative AI. He said that Apple has "advantages" that will "differentiate" the company in the era of AI, and some "very exciting things" will be shared with customers in the near future. We continue to feel very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI. We are ...
maxresdefault

Will the New iPad Pro Really Have the M4 Chip?

Wednesday May 1, 2024 8:30 am PDT by
While Apple's upcoming iPad Pro models have been expected to feature the M3 chip for over a year, recent reports have unexpectedly suggested that the new devices will instead feature the as-yet-unannounced M4 chip. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Last week, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that he now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro ...