How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac

Get 7 ways to transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to your Mac computer in this article!

Roger Smith Last Updated: Sep. 18, 2020

AnyTrans – Full-way iPhone Photos Transfer Tool AnyTrans is a good choice for transferring pictures and videos from iPhone to computer (Mac &PC). Transfer photos with your free trial now! Free Download

As photo collections grow, you may find Photos & Camera takes up the most of your iPhone storage. For me, in iPhone storage, it shows that photos occupy 48 GB of my 128GB iPhone XR. At this moment, moving all pictures and videos to computer for backup and then delete them is a good option to free up the iPhone storage space. How can I transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook pro? Here in the following guide, we will focus on how to transfer photos and videos from iPhone to Mac computer, like iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini, Mac Pro in some simple ways. Just keep reading!

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans

How do I import photos from iPhone to Mac without iPhoto? You can have a try on the professional iPhone photos transfer tool – iMobie AnyTrans. And below are its outstanding features on uploading iPhone photos:

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If you prefer this way, just Free Download AnyTrans on your computer firstly, and then follow the steps below to import iPhone photos to your Mac quickly.

Option 1: How to Import All Photos from iPhone to Mac at Once

If you want to copy all the photos on your iPhone, like Camera Roll photos, Photo Stream photos, iTunes synced photos, iCloud sharing photos, and album photos, or some other specific albums to Mac, here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Download AnyTrans on your Mac > Run it > Connect your iPhone to Mac via USB cable > Click on “Device Manager” mode, and then choose the “Content to Mac” option.

Step 2: Uncheck the “Select All” box > Check the photos albums contain the photos you need > Click on the “Next” button to start transferring the selected photos to your Mac.

Step 3: After the process completes, you can click the “View Files” button to check the transferred photos on your Mac.

Option 2: How to Upload Multiple or Selected Photos from iPhone to Mac

If you just want to transfer some specific photos of some album to Mac instead of all the iPhone photos or the whole album, you can follow us to transfer multiple or selected photos from iPhone to Mac.

Step 1: Download AnyTrans on your Mac > Connect your iPhone to the computer via USB cable > Click on “Device Manager” mode, and then choose the “Photos” option.

Step 2: Choose the album contains the photos you need > Select photos you want to transfer > Click on the “To Mac“ button at the top-right corner to transfer the selected photos to your Mac.

Bonus Part. How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac Wirelessly If there is no USB cable available or your iPhone cannot be recognized by your computer, then you can try the AnyTrans app to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac wirelessly. Now connect your iPhone with Wi-Fi and do as the following steps: Step 1. Install AnyTrans app on your iPhone. You can download it by clicking the below button or directly search AnyTrans on App Store. Download on theApp Store Step 2. On your computer, enter anytrans.io in your browser, and you’ll see a QR code. Step 3. On your iPhone, open the AnyTrans app you just installed and tap on the Scan button to scan the QR code on your computer. Step 4. Then all your iPhone photos will show up on the computer. Select the photos you want to transfer and click the “Download” button to start transferring photos from iPhone to Mac. After the process completes, you can check them by going to Finder on your Mac > Downloads.

For iPhone 7 or later users who want to convert HEIC to JPG, please click the settings button to set it or using hassle-free HEIC to JPG converter to change these photos to JPG format on your computer.

When syncing photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans, you won’t lose any previous photo on your iPhone.

Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with Photos/iPhoto

On Mac OS X Yosemite or later, you can use Photos app to import iPhone photos, which replaces the old iPhoto and Aperture with a simpler photo editor and library manager. It also can be used to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac, and here we’ll show you how to make it:

Connect your iPhone to your computer with the USB cable. The Photos app on your Mac will automatically launch. If not, go to the launchpad and select the Photos app. Click the Import tab and select the photos you want to transfer to Mac. You can click Import XX Selected or Import All New Items to transfer photos to Mac.

For Mac OS X Yosemite earlier, you can use iPhoto feature on Mac to move Camera Roll photos from iPhone to Mac.

Connect your iPhone to Mac with a USB cable and then launch iPhoto on your Mac if it doesn’t open automatically. Select your iPhone photos and click Import to import photos. You can import all the iPhone photos or import some of them by picking up some photos and clicking Import Selected. You can add an Event Name for the imported photos before or after importing.

Bonus Tip: Trouble Shootings on Mac Photos App:

Where are photos stored on my Mac?

When you copy photos to your Mac with Photos app, they are stored in Photos library folder. Also, you can change the location to somewhere else like in a folder on your Mac or on an external drive, and still view them in Photos.

Here is where to find photos stored in Photos app: On your Mac, Go to Finder > Choose Pictures > Right Click Photo Library > Choose Show Package Contents > In a folder named Masters, you will find photos in different folders.

What if my computer doesn’t recognize the iPhone?

Some of our users report that the iPhone cannot connect to the computer, here are some fixes for How to Fix Computer Not Recognizing iPhone Issues >

What to do if photos not showing up on Mac?

If your images don’t show on Photos or iPhoto app on your Mac, you can try tips in this article: How to Fix Photos Not Showing up on Computer Issue >



How to AirDrop Photos from iPhone to Mac

How do I AirDrop from iPhone to Mac? On your iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center, and then tap the “AirDrop” button. You can also turn on AirDrop from Settings app > General > AirDrop. Select either “Contacts Only” or “Everyone,” depending on who you want to be able to send the photos.

Here is how to transfer iPhone photos to Mac with AirDrop:

On your iPhone, open the Photos app and find the photos you want to transfer to your Mac. Ensure you’re viewing the photos in thumbnail view and tap Select in the top right corner. Choose the photos you want to send to your Mac (selected photos appear with a blue checkmark). Then tap the Share icon (a square with an up arrow). In the AirDrop section, tap the name of your Mac. Accept the photos on your Mac and they will be saved into the Downloads folder on your Mac.

How to Sync Photos from iPhone to Mac with iCloud

iCloud Photos is Apple’s online photo storage service. When you activate iCloud Photos, all your iPhone photos get stored in iCloud so you can view and download them from your Mac. Note that you must be signed in with the same Apple ID on your iPhone and Mac. Here is how to sync iPhone photos to Mac with iCloud:

On your Mac, click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen, then go to System Preferences > Choose iCloud. Check the box next to the iCloud Photo Library (iCloud Photos in macOS Mojave). On your iPhone, go to Settings > Photos > Ensure iCloud Photos is on.

How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with Image Capture

Follow the steps on how to using Image Capture on Mac to import photos from iPhone:

Connect your iPhone to Mac with USB cable > Run Image Capture on your Mac. Select your iPhone from the device list if it is not selected > Set the output folder for your iPhone photos. Click Import or Import all to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

How to Send Photos from iPhone to Mac with Email

If you just want to transfer several photos from iPhone to Mac and your Mac is not at your hand, Email becomes a wonderful choice. Here is how to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac with Email:

Run Photos App on your iPhone > Tap on Albums to open Albums Page > Choose the target album. Tap on Edit button > Pick up the photos you want to transfer > Tap on Share button and choose Email. Type your Email address and complete the Email > Tap on Send > Sign in your Email on Mac and download those pictures and store them on Mac.

Transfer Photos from iPhone to Windows PC

There are also many ways to transfer iPhone photos to PC, and using the Windows default Photos app is one of the good ways. Here are steps on how to transfer iPhone photos to computer via Photos (windows 10/8):

Connect your iPhone with your computer with the USB cable. The Photos app should automatically launch. If it doesn’t, launch it from the Windows Start menu. Click the Import icon in the upper right corner of the Photos app. Click on From a USB device and it will start searching for photos on your iPhone. After that, choose photos to import to your computer.

To get more ways and details on how to transfer iPhone photos to Windows PC, you can move to this guide: How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Computer (Windows).

In addition, if you want to transfer photos from Mac back to your iPhone, just refer to How to Transfer Photo from Mac to iPhone >

Since iOS 11, iPhone has taken HEIC as the default format of its photos, as this new format is more efficient in terms of storage space. However, HEIC is not widely compatible, especially on Windows PC. If you have trouble opening HEIC photos on your computer and want to convert HEIC photos into other formats such as JPG, PNG, JPEG, etc, you can try a free tool – iMobie HEIC Converter.

The Bottom Line

Although you can get 7 or even more ways to transfer photos from iPhone to your iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro, most of them only support exporting Camera Roll photos. If you want to transfer photos stored in other albums, you have to search for other solutions. Just like the table above shows, when it comes to transferring and managing iPhone photos, AnyTrans can be the best choice.

Except for transferring photos, it also can transfer other iOS contents, like Messages, Contacts, Videos, Movies, Notes, ect., and also supports transfer data from one iPhone to another Apple device directly. Why not download AnyTrans and try now?