How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac in 7 Ways

As photo collections grow, you may find Photos & Camera takes up most of your iPhone storage. For me, iPhone storage shows that photos occupy 48 GB of my 128GB iPhone XR. At this moment, moving all pictures and videos to the computer for backup and then deleting them is a good option to free up the iPhone storage space.

Here in the following guide, you will get ways to transfer photos and videos from iPhone to MacBook Pro/Air, etc. So you can fix photos not importing from iPhone easily.

Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with Photos/iPhoto

On Mac OS X Yosemite or later, you can use the 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:

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac.
2. Open the Photos app on your Mac, the Import screen will automatically appear.
3. You can click Import Selected to select what you want to transfer manually.
4. Or click Import All New Items to transfer all of your photos to Mac.

Tips: If you want to delete iPhone photos after importing to your Mac, you can check the “Delete items after import”, which will automatically remove your iPhone photos after importing to your Mac, as the picture below shows.

Also Read: How to Fix iPhone Photos Not Showing Up on PC/Mac >

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Any Mac

If you can’t transfer photos from iPhone to Mac, AnyTrans is a professional tool to move photos and videos to any Mac. And, you can do far more than transfer photos. For instance, you can move other iPhone files like all purchased or free music, contacts, WhatsApp messages, etc. With AnyTrans, you can manage all your photos without any hassles, transferring anywhere, deleting them in bulk, etc.

You can also make a complete backup for your iPhone, restore the backup when you need it, and manage iCloud/iTunes data, etc.

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 containing 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.

Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac Selectively

If you just want to transfer some specific photos of some albums to Mac instead of all the iPhone photos or the whole album, you can follow the steps below.

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 that 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.

Here is a video tutorial to show you how to easily transfer photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans:

AirDrop Photos from iPhone to Mac Wirelessly

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 the Settings app > General > AirDrop. Select either “Contacts Only” or “Everyone,” depending on who you want to be able to send the photos to.

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

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

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:

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

Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac with Image Capture

Image Capture is preinstalled on a Mac to help you copy photos from iPhone to Mac easily, here are steps:

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

How Do I Transfer Photos from iPhone to Hard Drive on a Mac?

1. Connect your iPhone or Mac to an external hard drive.
2. Make sure you Trust This Computer.
3. Long-touch the photos you want to transfer, then tap Copy.
4. Select the location where the hard drive is on and tap Paste.

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 in your hand, Email becomes a wonderful choice. Here is how to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac with Email:

1. Run Photos App on your iPhone > Tap on Albums to open Albums Page > Choose the target album.
2. Tap on the Edit button > Pick up the photos you want to transfer > Tap on the Share button and choose Email.
3. 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.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where Are Photos Stored on My Mac?

When you copy photos to your Mac with the Photos app, they are stored in the 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 the 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.

2. 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 >

3. What to Do If Photos Not Showing Up on Mac?

Any pictures in iCloud will not show when you import photos with Photos or Image Capture. You can download it all from iCloud and then try again.

Camera Roll only has the photos you took with the cameras on that iPhone or images captured from the screen.

4. Fix iPhone Keeps Connecting and Disconnecting from Mac

• Check USB cable > Try using a different cable > Try unplugging and then replugging.
• Check the charging port on the bottom of your iPhone and remove any debris.
• Avoid a defective, damaged, or non-Apple-certified cable, you may see the “Accessory Not Supported” error.
• Restart your iPhone and restart your Mac.
• Ensure that you have the latest version of iOS 14.
• Disconnect your iPhone from your Mac and on your iPhone tap: Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset Location & Privacy.

5. The MacBook Air/Pro doesn’t Have USB-A Ports?

Some MacBook Air/Pro doesn’t have USB-A Ports. As Apple said: “You can connect a USB-C power adapter and cable to charge your notebook computer. If you have a device that doesn’t connect to this port, you might be able to use an adapter to connect it.”

These Mac models don’t have USB-A ports and have USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports:

• MacBook Pro introduced in 2016 or later
• MacBook Air introduced in 2018 or later
• iMac was introduced in 2017 or later
• iMac Pro (all models)
• Mac mini introduced in 2018
• Mac Pro introduced in 2019

The Bottom Line

Although you can get 7 or even more ways to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac, most of them only support exporting Camera Roll photos. If you want to transfer photos stored in other albums, AnyTrans can be the best choice.

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