How to Move Pictures from Google Photos to iCloud

May. 25, 2021

Transfer Pictures from Google Photos to iCloud

I feel more confident with iCloud photos because it’s well integrated into all my Apple devices. So I have pretty much decided to switch over from Google Photos to iCloud. So in this article, I will show you how to move pictures and videos from Google Photos to iCloud.

First, let’s see how you can move a select few photos from Google Photos to iCloud. You should use this method if your Google Photos library is full of random pictures (because it was free and you never cared about seeing what gets uploaded) and you only want some of these pictures to be available on iCloud, where you are paying for the storage. Follow the steps to see how it works:

That’s it. Your pictures will now be uploaded to iCloud Photos, and you will be able to access them on any Apple device without any hassles. You can also use this method to import any other photos or videos to your iCloud library.

There’s a higher chance that you want to shift your entire Google Photos library to iCloud. So let’s check out how you can move your entire library from Google Photos to iCloud. It is, however, a time-consuming process because you will need to ask Google for a copy of your entire library of photos and videos in the cloud.

Based on how many pictures you click regularly and how long you’ve been using Google Photos, it could be a massive number of photos and videos.

As I mentioned above, this process can take quite some time. You don’t have to keep the page open or active if you don’t want to. You can navigate away from it and do anything you want. Google will send you an email when your export is ready for download, and you can then download your entire Photos library from the link in the email.

Now that you have downloaded your photos library, you need to sync it with iCloud Photos. On a Mac, you can use the built-in Photos app for this step. You need to download “iCloud for Windows” (Free) and use it to sync your photo library with iCloud on your Windows 10 PC.

That’s it. You have successfully moved your Google Photos library to iCloud. Do note that the process of uploading photos and videos to iCloud can also take a long time depending on how many images and videos you have, so be patient.

The best thing about Google Photos is automatic backups, right? Well, you get that feature with iCloud Photos as well. Now that you have moved from Google Photos to iCloud, here’s how to enable automatic backup for iCloud Photos.

Your iPhone will now automatically back up photos that you click from your iPhone. What’s more, it will also intelligently clear up storage space on your iPhone when needed by removing some of the older photos and keeping them only in the cloud.

That’s pretty much all you need to know to completely and easily move from Google Photos to iCloud. As mentioned above, Google Photos’ new policy for counting photos/ video backups towards the 15GB free quota kicks in from June 1, so you should switch as soon as possible. Also, if you don’t wish to switch to iCloud, check out other popularGoogle Photos alternatives. So, have you decided to switch over to iCloud photos? Or are you sticking with Google Photos? Let us know in the comments section below. Also, if you are someone who wishes to go the other route andtransfer iCloud Photos over to Google Photos, do check out our linked guide for more details.