In this article we will learn how to transfer Photos from your iPhone or iCloud directly to your Google Photos account.
The Google Photos app has been available on the AppStore for quite sometime now.
However I personally don’t like the level of sync Google Photos has on iOS devices as it is slow and takes time.
Now this slowness is not Google’s fault, it’s the way Apple has built its iOS Platform.
Apple limits background speed for applications to save on battery life and hence the sync to Google Photos only happens efficiently while the app is open.
Now Apple has launched a new feature that allows you to transfer photos stored on iCloud directly to your Google Photos account.
This feature was developed due to the stringent regulations coming up in the European Union regarding Data Portability.
Google has been known to be a platform to allow great data portability and now Apple is trying get there one step at a time.
Data Portability has been a debatable topic especially during the digital age.
You as a user own your data and the vendor only provides you with its platform. The vendor can not lock you down to it’s platform and that is the concept all the SaaS technologies.
I have seen plenty of SaaS applications that make it nearly impossible to move out data between platforms and this allows the platform to retain its customers in a hostage like situation.
With this feature addition, you may need to Subscribe to Google One, which is Google’s additional storage solution. You may check out some interesting features like a free VPN that you can get along with Google One here.
Let’s get directly to the topic of this post now.
So how do you transfer photos from your iPhone/iCloud to Google Photos?
The new tool is located within Apple’s privacy settings and I have detailed its steps below,
Steps to Transfer photos from iPhone/iCloud to Google Photos
Step 1
Visit privacy.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID
Step 2
Select “Request to Transfer a copy of your data” under the “Transfer a copy of your data section”
Note: In certain cases you may not find this section within privacy.apple.com as this feature is currently rolled out only to a few countries.
Step 3
Once in here, you will be shown the amount of photos you have on your iCloud Photos and the size it currently consumes.
Step 4
Select the Destination where you want to transfer your photos. In this case it will be Google Photos.
Choose the components you want to transfer, select Photos, Videos or both.
Once done click Continue
Step 5
You will be taken to a section where you will be shown a disclaimer stating the amount of storage required at the destination which is Google Photos in this case. Verify if you have enough storage on your Google Account and then proceed to click continue once again.
Remember, Google Photos no longer offers Free Storage.
Step 6
The next step would have you Authenticate your Apple ID with your Google Account so that the data transfer can occur.
Grant the necessary permissions and proceed with the linking of accounts.
Step 7
Final confirmation, you are all set to get the transfer started, verify if everything is alright and go ahead to press the “Confirm Transfer” button.
Step 8
Sit back and relax, the process takes anywhere between three to seven days based on the size of your data.
Apple will send you an email notifying you once the transfer is completed.
Conclusion
That’s all! Simple and Easy method to transfer your photos from iPhone/iCloud to Google Photos.
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.