Want Apple Photos on your PC? Well you kind of can . . .
ICLOUD PHOTOS LIBRARY FOR EVERYONE
THE APPLE/PC CONUNDRUM
A common question I get about Apple Photos is how do you get images from your iPhone to a PC.
The thing is that Apple Photos, which defines user-friendly photo management in the Apple Photos ecosystem, doesn’t run on Windows, which creates a bottleneck in PC photo management if you have an iPhone. It’s not that there aren’t workarounds, but it’s a conundrum that confronts many PC users who had hoped to take advantage of the full Apple Photos magic when they bought their iPhone.
Apple Photos is designed to work like a bank for your photos and videos. You deposit images (your iPhone camera) and they go into a central repository (iCloud Photos Library). From there the images are accessible and editable from any connected ATM (Mac, iPad, other Mac, etc.). iCloud (the central bank) is what makes the whole thing work so well.
How do you get your iPhone photos on a PC?
And the advantage of seeing your pictures on a 13 inch or larger screen is obvious. Comparing fine detail and enjoying your pictures at 8”x 10” or larger sizes is a wonderful experience; in some cases, essential.
And for large projects like making a photo book, working with pictures on a computer is a much more efficient task than on mobile. The Apple ecosystem just provides that option without lifting - or tapping - a finger.
But it’s an option that PC users can’t enjoy as easily.
Truth is, before Apple Photos replaced iPhoto, image workflows were one-way trips, from our cameras or scanners to our computers. You had to connect the device or insert a media card into your handy Mac or PC and import the images with your photo app of choice. Even PhotoStream, Apple’s first attempt at wireless transfers, was a one-way image delivery to iPhoto. Once complete, you deleted those pictures from your iPhone “camera roll” in kind of a digital remake of film delivery and processing workflow, and did all the editing in computer.
It was iCloud in 2015 that introduced the true 2-way distribution of images across devices and made the iPhone a major player in the Photos workflow.
But PC users can still enjoy a lot of photo value with an iPhone front-end just by taking a few extra steps.
MANUAL IMPORT
The tried-and-true connect and import workflow is still alive and well. When you open up your preferred photo app on the PC and connect your iPhone to it with a USB cable, the app will see your iPhone as a camera, and display the photos that are available for import. A good app will also compare those photos with your albums and let you choose just the new ones to add. This system costs you only the price of the USB cable and you get the original, full quality images with all their metadata. Clean, simple, and about as fast as it gets. Once you’ve finished the import you can delete those pictures on your iPhone.
This workflow doesn’t require an iCloud account, but be mindful of the fact that any photos or videos you take aren’t backed up anywhere until you import them to your PC. They are only on your iPhone. You will also need the Original sized images on your iPhone, even if you back up to iCloud. Otherwise you would be importing Preview-sized images to your PC.
ICLOUD LINKS
One of the handiest features of iCloud is that you can select pictures on your iPhone and create a downloadable online gallery using iCloud Links. This is a little-known feature of Apple Photos that lets you share full-sized images and metadata with your PC. You can choose up to 1000 photos and videos and create a link that is live for 30 days. The link works like a standard download link and lets you save the photos to a folder of your choice on your PC. You can create an iCloud Link either in your iPhone Photos app, using the Share button, or in iCloud Photos itself.
ICLOUD FOR WINDOWS
Believe it or not, Apple does offer some PC connectivity through an app called iCloud for Windows. You can get details and download for free from the Microsoft Store.
iCloud for Windows gives you direct access to several iCloud features including your iCloud Photos Library. Images synced to iCloud from your iPhone can be downloaded to your PC in Year/Month folders. Images that get added to iCloud for Windows will get synced back to your iPhone.
JUST LIKE THE PROS
The limitation with all these workflows is that they don’t offer the automatic two-way exchange that exists in the Apple Photos ecosystem. In the Apple universe, a color correction or a cropped image or a new Album created on a Mac shows up quickly on the iPhone. And vice-versa.
With a manual import, image transfer via iCloud Links or iCloud for Windows, you are creating an independent copy of the Library on your PC. Any changes to color or organization that you make on the PC exist only on the PC and would have to be manually transferred back to the iPhone. Then you would delete the Original.
It all adds a level of complexity, keeping them straight.
To be fair, though, that’s been the case for professional photographers since cameras went digital. Photo collections have always been saved to digital islands of a sort by project or folder or volume. If you are a photo enthusiast and enjoy the process, that can be a fine alternative. There is plenty of experience and support for any number of workflows that an iPhone/PC user can adopt.
Every day photographers want simple and easy.
And there are other software options that play well with Apple Photos and are cross-platform. Two standouts are Mylio Photos and the newer version of Adobe Lightroom. Both will access the pictures from Apple Photos and move you to their own ecosystem that plays on the iPhone AND PC. Lightroom even has its own built-in Camera App so you can bypass Apple Photos altogether.
But the thing is that Apple Photos has spoiled us. Manual workflows, additional software, download routines. We’ve embraced the iPhone life because we don’t have to fuss with all the deets of photography that once got between us and our pictures. For every day photographers, we want simple and easy.
Really simple.
The way Apple envisioned it.
ICLOUD PHOTOS LIBRARY
It all comes down to real estate. A big display. Seeing your pictures without reading glasses.
That’s where iCloud shines.
And it delivers what most people need.
I have a friend who lives the iPhone/PC life and actively shares her photos. She’s an admitted technophobe and remarked one day that it was so tedious emailing the pictures to her PC just to be able to choose among several images. She needed that bigger display to see her pictures clearly.
And that’s it.
She didn’t need to make color edits or retouch. She wasn’t even adding captions or deleting the clutter. She just needed to have a better view of her photos.
Introducing her to iCloud Photos changed everything.
If you are using iCloud to back up your Apple Photos Library, then you have a mirror of your iPhone pictures on iCloud Photos Library, and you can access it just like you would any other website.
iCloud Photos changed everything
Apple promotes the value of iCloud as a storage/sharing option - à la Google Drive - a back up resource, and a system syncing service for the larger Apple environment. But they don’t do a great job of showcasing the value for PC users. Or for those who have no computer at all.
When you log into iCloud.com you get access to iCloud Photos Library which offers about 80% of the features you get in Photos on a Mac. You can:
View photos full size
Create Folders and Albums
Browse Year and Month
Share via iCloud Link
Make and View Shared Albums
View Memories
Delete photos
Tag Favorites
Upload and Download photos
Edit Title
Adjust Date and Time
Add Captions
Add Locations
Play a Slideshow
So you get a full browser based experience, just like you’re used to with Google Photos or Amazon Photos, but everything you change is synced back to your iPhone too. Just like a Mac.
To be sure, there are many good reasons to find a workaround you like that also gets your photo collection on your PC, but for so many every day viewing and organizing tasks, just logging into iCloud Photos Library can offer a near Apple experience without digging deep to buy a Mac.
Give it a try the next time you or a family member is feeling photo challenged because of a PC bottleneck.
If you are looking for some help with your photos, here are 2 ways you can work with me:
The New Apple Photos Layout - If you are overwhelmed by the new Apple Photos on your iPhone or iPad, you will love my new course - FIND YOUR PHOTOS FAST: How to Use the New Apple Photos on iPhone. 10 short videos take you through the new features and how to customize it to suit your style.
I do online consults with every day Photos users worldwide. Anything picture related on the Apple platform and a little more. I've helped thousands of people with their every day photography needs. No judgement. No jargon. Get your photos organized and backed up safely.