(19 votes, average: 3.47 out of 5)You probably already know how to back up iPhone photos to your computer. Now that you’ve tweaked and edited them to your heart’s content, you might also be wondering: how to transfer photos from computer back to iPhone? And we are here to help!
There are many ways to transfer your images from PC to iPhone, starting with iTunes and ending with different cloud solutions. If you are dissatisfied with standard methods, you may also seek help with specialized software like CopyTrans Photo. In this article, you will find a comprehensive overview of all the ways to transfer photos from PC to iPhone. Keep on reading for detailed info or choose one of the ways below:
How to transfer photos from computer to iPhone with CopyTrans Photo
If you are looking for a quick way to transfer your images to iPhone, we have a solution just for you: CopyTrans Photo. The app has an intuitive interface, gets things done quickly and you can see thumbnails of all the files you’re operating at any moment. The process of transfer is intuitive, but you can always see our instructions below!
Here is how to transfer photos from PC to iPhone:
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If you haven’t done so already, download and install CopyTrans Photo:
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Launch CopyTrans Photo. Connect your iPhone to PC with a USB cable. If prompted to trust PC, press “Trust”.
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You will see your iPhone library on the left and your PC library on the right:
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Create a new album in your iPhone’s Photo Library. Click on the album: the working area on the left will display the contents (no files there for now).
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Using the folder tree on the right, navigate to the PC folder with the photos you want to transfer.
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Drag and Drop the files from the right working area to the left.
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Click on “Apply Changes” and wait for the syncing process to complete.
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All done! Your photos are now waiting for you in the folder “From my Mac” on your iPhone.
Some advantages of using CopyTrans Photo:
- The app will save photos from your PC in the native Photos app on iPhone. It will also successfully transfer the EXIF data (date created, location, etc) and preserve the order of images.
- You can also transfer videos from PC to iPhone if they are not larger than 1Gb. They will also appear in the native Photos app after transfer.
- CopyTrans Photo is not a cloud solution and you don’t have to have iCloud Photos enabled in order to use it. CopyTrans Photo doesn’t require an internet connection.
- Another key benefit for users of iPhone 7 and above: the program supports HEIC photos. It can view and transfer HEIC photos, and even convert HEIC to JPG.
Some disadvantages:
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CopyTrans Photo will transfer the first 100 photos for free, and then ask you to purchase a license with us (or get more free actions by spreading word about the product). But you can always try first and consult our 24/7 support service if you have any questions.
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The app does not do automatic syncing and places the photos into Photo Library. However, CopyTrans Photo will provide a much greater opportunity for creating and editing Photo Library albums then iTunes, and once you’ve organized all the photos there you can just copy them to Camera Roll on your device.
How to transfer photos to iPhone using iTunes
The first app that comes to mind when you think about transferring photos to iPhone is, of course, iTunes. Apple-based solution, it will allow you to transfer files to your iPhone quickly. However, as with so many Apple products, the whole process is tainted by some weird-flavoured magic, leaving behind a bitter taste and a silent question of whether it was really worth it (read on for an explanation).
To transfer photos from PC to iPhone with iTunes:
- Launch iTunes and connect your iPhone to PC with a USB cable.
- Click on the device icon in the top-left corner of iTunes window.
- From the panel on the left, choose “Photos”.
- Tick the box “Sync photos” and choose the folder from which to import photos to your iPhone (Copy photos from -> Choose folder).
- Click on “Done” and wait until iTunes finishes syncing your photos.
- Well done! The photos now reside on your iPhone. To browse through them, navigate to “From my Mac” album.
We would not recommend using this method because of the following disadvantages:
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You will only be able to sync one folder at any time. If you change the folder later, your previous images will be erased.
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The operation will erase all the images previously stored in Photo Library (your Camera Roll photos will stay intact).
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Images in the Photo Library can only be changed/deleted from the PC, and iTunes won’t let you delete the images separately – only do a full resync. To be able to create and edit the content of albums inside Photo Library, you can use CopyTrans Photo.
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The sync will not be automatic anyway. You will need to relaunch it every time you need to introduce changes.
Upload photos to iCloud using CopyTrans Cloudly
This option can help you sync PC photos to all your iOS devices at once, provided that you have iCloud Photos enabled. Once you upload photos to iCloud, they will automatically appear on all your devices that share the same Apple ID.
The following steps explain how to upload photos to iCloud via CopyTrans Cloudly:
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Download and install CopyTrans Cloudly:
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Launch CopyTrans Cloudly and log in with your iCloud credentials. SSL connection guarantees the safety of your personal data.
- Choose “Upload”.
- Select the files you want to upload to iCloud. CopyTrans Cloudly works with .HEIC, .PNG, and .JPEG formats.
- When everything is selected, click “Upload”.
- Wait while CopyTrans Cloudly is doing the job.
- Now you know how to upload photos and videos to iCloud from PC using CopyTans Cloudly. And once the photos are in iCloud, they should appear on your device!
Advantages:
- CopyTrans Cloudly can upload files with native iPhone extension, .HEIC.
- You can upload your whole library in one iteration.
- Easy-to-use interface.
Upload photos to iCloud using iCloud.com
Another option is to use the web interface Apple provides to upload photos to iCloud. For that, open icloud.com in your web browser of choice.
You log in, select the Photos section in the main menu and immediately see your iCloud Photo Library on your computer screen. To put photos on iCloud, click on the “Upload photos” button at the top-right corner and select the photos you want to import.
The photos should immediately appear on your iPhone and any other device having the same iCloud account signed in. If that does not happen, check if iCloud Photo Library is enabled on your iPhone or iPad: Settings> Your Name> iCloud> Photos> iCloud Photos.
Disadvantages:
- Everything that you store in iCloud makes it to the Apple servers as well. If you want to delete some images forever, they will disappear from your account but not from the Apple servers. We even conducted an investigation and created a tool that can recover deleted photos from iCloud.
- On icloud.com, you can manually sort the uploaded images by album. But within an album, the photos are sorted by the transfer date and you cannot change this order online.
- Another major drawback is that if you disable iCloud Photo Library and turn it back on after some time, any pictures you previously added to iPhone with iTunes (or any other third-party app like CopyTrans Photo) will get deleted. That’s why you should be extra careful with this setting and regularly backup your cloud photos to a computer.
Send pictures from computer to iPhone via Google Drive
If you have a Google account, you are automatically eligible for 15Gb of free storage on Google Drive (originally SkyDrive). However, Google Drive shares this storage space with other apps, like Gmail and Google Photos.
In order to use this option, you will need to download the official Google Drive app on your computer and your iOS device. Once you run Google Drive on your PC, create a new folder and copy photos to iPhone. The folder will appear with the photos on iPhone in the Google Drive app.
You can create additional folders to transfer multiple photos to iPhone and move them between folders. There is also a possibility to sort photos within one folder by date or by name.
Disadvantages:
- The uploaded photos will not be saved in the native Photos app on iPhone but in the Google Drive app.
- You cannot edit the photos within the app without first copying them into the native folder – double work.
Dropbox: add photos to iPhone from PC without iTunes
Dropbox offers only 2GB of free storage to their users. On the other hand, you do not have to install the program on the PC. In order to transfer photos from a computer to iPhone, save your data online on dropbox.com directly: log in, create a folder and upload the photos from the computer. After that, go to the Dropbox app on your iPhone to see your imported pictures.
Disadvantages:
- Unfortunately, you can only upload individual photos, since Dropbox does not allow importing a folder.
- Images will possibly lose in quality.
- Although you can import HEIC photos, there will be no possibility to open them.
Transfer photos to iPhone with OneDrive
With Microsoft’s OneDrive you get 5Gb of storage space for free. Just like Google Drive, it requires you to install the official OneDrive app on both your computer and iDevice to transfer photos to iPhone. Drag the desired files or entire albums to the program window and after a few seconds, you will see the images the iPhone in the OneDrive app.
The photos are transferred in the original quality including the date created. You can also choose to sort the photos automatically by tags.
Disadvantages:
- The photos will not make it to the Photos app; instead, they will be placed to OneDrive app, which should be installed on the iPhone beforehand.
- OneDrive app does not provide built-in image editing, nor support for HEIC photos: if you place HEIC images in OneDrive, you won’t be able to view them or copy to the Photos app.
BONUS
Pro-Tip: After you’ve transferred your photos to your iPhone, use a photo editing tool like Instasize to improve how your photos look before uploading them to your feed! Choose any image on your iPhone to improve color settings, size, aspect ratio, or even make a colourful collage. Check it out yourself!
Conclusion
If you don’t trust cloud solutions, find iTunes hard to use and want to keep your photos in the native Photo app, CopyTrans Photo is the best solution for you. The program allows managing iPhone photos and videos on PC and has several unbeatable advantages such as managing Live Photos, viewing pictures in HEIC format, keeping excellent quality, order and EXIF files, and much more. Give it a go today!
