What you need to know
- Apple has created an official way to transfer your iCloud Photos collection to Google Photos.
- The Google Photos app did let users do this on their end, but this is the first time Apple has created its own way of handling the transfer.
Apple has launched its own method to let users transfer their iCloud Photos collection from its own service to other services like Google Photos.
The company revealed the new functionality in a support document on the Apple Support website. The company does note that the service is only available in the following countries and only works with Google Photos to start:
This service is initially available to customers in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States for transfers to Google Photos.
Apple says to make sure of the following before you start the transfer:
- You're using iCloud Photos to store photos and videos with Apple.
- Your Apple ID uses two-factor authentication.
- You have a Google account to use Google Photos.
- Your Google account has enough storage available to complete the transfer.
If you'd like to transfer photos from iCloud to Google, here's how to do it:
To start a request to transfer the photos and videos in iCloud Photos: 1. Sign in with your Apple ID at privacy.apple.com. 2. Select Transfer a copy of your data. 3. Follow the prompts to complete your request.You'll be asked to sign in to your Google account to start the transfer.You'll receive an email notification of your transfer request and another email when your transfer is complete. If you cancel your transfer request before it's complete, and some photos or videos have already been transferred, they remain in Google Photos. You can check the status of your request at privacy.apple.com/account.
To learn more about the new feature and what to expect when you transfer photos from iCloud Photos to Google Photos, check out the support document on the Apple Support website.
