You want to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac and edit them on more powerful software. There are six ways to export iPhone photos to your Mac.



The secret to productivity on an Apple device is the tight integration between the iPhone (or iPad) and the Mac. AirDrop is Apple’s proprietary technology that allows you to quickly transfer files between Apple devices within range (approximately 30 feet). Before you follow these steps, turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your iPhone and Mac.

Open the Photos app on your iPhone.

Select the photos you want to transfer to your computer. Click the share icon at the bottom of the screen.

Select AirDrop, which is the first icon on the sharing menu.

Select your computer name.

The iPhone uses the sent message below the computer’s name to confirm the transfer.

Note: To automatically save photos, you should have both your iPhone and Mac logged into the same iCloud account. If not, you will need to click “Save” when the file arrives on your computer.

2. Using photos

The Photos app on the iPhone and Mac is the central location for all photos and videos. That’s why the app is the most organized way to transfer photos from an iPhone to a Mac.

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable and open the Photos app.

The Photos app on the Mac displays an import screen that contains all the photos and videos from the iPhone Photos app. If the Import screen does not appear, select the iPhone name in the Photos sidebar.

Unlock your iPhone. The iPhone can display a “trust this computer” notification. Click Trust to continue.

Click Import Selected Photos to transfer a particular photo, or Import All New Photos to transfer the entire camera roll.

Use the file application

Think of the file application as a file manager on your phone. You can connect to cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive and use them to transfer files between devices. This utility allows you to organize photo transfers, compress them as needed, and send them to the Mac using any cloud service as a bridge. You must first connect and enable them.

Open the Files app on your iPhone.

If you are on another screen, click the Browse TAB.

Click on the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner.

Click Edit.

Under Locations, switch from the list and enable a third-party service or application.

Click Finish.

To transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac, use these locations on the Files app.

Send photos through the file application

Select one or more photos to transfer from the iPhone.

Click the share icon to display the shared table.

Select Save to File.

Select the cloud service and its folders to save the photos. If necessary, create a new folder. You can rename a single photo before exporting it.

Click Save.

Go to your Mac and view your photos or videos in iCloud Drive.

As you can see, you don’t just have to use iCloud with the Files app. It also makes it easier to send photos to a shared folder among friends and family in the cloud, and it can even back up your iPhone photos.

4. Use iCloud photos

With iCloud Photos, you can sync and view all of your photos on every Apple device you own. The only problem is the free but limited 5 gigabytes of storage for all file shares on iCloud. Because iCloud is a backup and syncing service, it’s easy to transfer photos from an iPhone to a Mac. Before you do that, check that all your devices have iCloud photos enabled.

Open Settings on your iPhone.

Scroll down and click on the photo.

If disabled, switch the iCloud photo switch to green.

Launch the Photos app on your Mac.

Open photos on your Mac.

From the menu go to the Photo > Preferences.

Click on the up

Select the check box on the iCloud photo to enable it.

Use this official Apple support video to learn how to download photos from iCloud photos to your Mac. You can choose to download them while shooting or through any edits you make.

5. Use iCloud photo streams

Confused by iCloud photos and iCloud photos flu? You are not alone. ICloud Photos lets you store all your photos and videos in the cloud. The iCloud Photo Stream only uploads new photos (not videos and live photos) to devices with the iCloud Photo Stream turned on. It only stores photos from the last 30 days and up to 1,000 photos. This doesn’t count toward your iCloud storage limit.

If you just want to view your most recent photos and transfer them to your Mac, use the iCloud Photo Stream and turn it on. Otherwise, use iCloud Photos to back up all your photos and videos, as described in the previous section. Other differences are mentioned in the Apple support article.

Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone and click on our name at the top.

Head to iCloud > photos.

Use the toggle switch to enable my photo stream.

Go to your Mac and open Photos

Select “Photo” > “Preferences” > “iCloud”

Select the My Photo Stream check box to enable it.

Photos will automatically sync from your iPhone to the photo stream. If you do not see this option, please first go to “Photos” > “Preferences” > “iCloud” to deselect “iCloud Photos”.

6. Use Image Capture on a Mac

The Image Capture application for MacOS is designed to import images from digital cameras and scanners. But it can also be used to upload photos and videos from any other device, such as an iPhone connected to a Mac.

Connect the iPhone to the Mac using the cable and unlock the iPhone when prompted.

In the Image Capture application on the Mac, select the device in the Devices or Shares list.

Select the image to transfer to the Mac.

Open the “Import to” pop-up menu at the bottom of the window and select the location where the image will be stored. You can also use these images to create PDFs or Web pages.

To transfer an image to Photos, select Other, then Select Photos.

Seamlessly transfer your photos from iPhone to Mac