| ▲ | reconnecting 8 hours ago |
| Surprisingly, there is no official way to download all (400 Gb) photos from iCloud. Here is an open-source command-line tool to download all your iCloud photos. |
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| ▲ | kccqzy 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| That’s not true. On any Mac or iPhone you can choose the iCloud Photo Library storage option to download all instead of letting the system optimize the storage. And if you turn off iCloud Photo Library, it will also try to download it all. I know this because I stopped using iCloud Photo Library and that was how I got all my photos downloaded. |
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| ▲ | possiblerobot 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | +1 to this method. After optimise storage is disabled on the Mac, wait for all photos to download. Then, open the photos library bundle and you'll see every photo there, full res. Copy them wherever you like. Also, if you leave optimise storage disabled and continue to use Photos, every photo will be cloned in any local or cloud backups of your machine. This strategy creates additional photo redundancy separate from iCloud while still benefiting from library syncing. | | |
| ▲ | mbirth 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Or use the great osxphotos tool that works with Apple Photo’s SQLite database to let you manage all the photos in your library. https://github.com/RhetTbull/osxphotos | | |
| ▲ | Barbing 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | Demo .gif sold me (Been meaning to make a software demo gif gallery, best way to understand many categories of apps) |
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| ▲ | lostlogin 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | This was my strategy too, but with a disgusting script which quit photos.app, rsync the photo library to a network share, then reopened photos.app so that it kept downloading from iCloud. Not sure if the open/close is required, but I didn’t want to find out. | | |
| ▲ | lencastre 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | I don’t fully trust iCloud Drive / Photos therefore I use FSViewer to download all photos from my iOS device du jour (making sure to keep the HEIF formats), this way I get the Edited (slo-mo, live, portrait, usw) and pristine versions as Jobs intended. All kidding aside, after the gray area gate of 2017-2021 I had to find a more reliable backup workflow. As of today I only use iCloud Drive / Photos to extract some RAW photos that for some reason some picky apps don’t save to the photo album (looking at you ProCam 8.0). I made several tests including hash comparisons and imagemagick diffs and I am quite pleased. |
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| ▲ | reconnecting 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Someone gave me a new iPhone (120GB) and a new MacBook Pro and asked me to download all their photos from iCloud. Long story short, after 120GB of photos were synchronised to the iPhone, the MacBook Pro refused to copy them, and now there's no storage left on the iPhone. Also, Photos on Mac doesn't have an option to download photos directly, so the only valid option Apple offers is to download them through the web interface (max 1,000 at a time). There is no official way to download iCloud library that is over phone capacity. Period. | | |
| ▲ | js2 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Photos on Mac doesn't have an option to download photos directly Yes it does. It's called Download Originals to this Mac. https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/use-icloud-photos-pht... You keep asserting to the contrary, but I've been syncing my entire photos library to my Mac for years, since it was iPhoto even. Obviously if you have a larger photos library than storage space on a particular device, you cannot synchronize the entire library to that specific device. e.g. my photos library vastly exceeds my iPhone 13 mini storage, so on my iPhone, I don't sync everything. But my Mac has 2 TB of storage, and Photos is setup to sync all my photos, and does so, reliably, and has been, again, for years now. Additionally, unlike with this open source tool, I can keep advanced data protection enabled. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | This is from the iCloud manual: > Any new photos and videos you add to Photos appear on all your devices that have iCloud Photos turned on. You have your photos because they are new. If they had been taken before, they would not have synchronised automatically with Photos on MacOS. | | |
| ▲ | coder543 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Please stop repeating your incorrect points that are contradicted by everyone else’s real experiences. Yes, new ones will be uploaded. That doesn’t mean old ones won’t also be downloaded. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | I have tried 3 different Macs with different versions of macOS prior to looking for a workaround, and everywhere the result is the same: old photos are not downloaded automatically from iCloud, and there is no button to start this process - for this exact reason. Want to prove me wrong? Create a new macOS user and open Photos with your iCloud. It will be empty until you start copying photos from your phone. It will take much less time than arguing here. | | |
| ▲ | coder543 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | You're arguing with a lot of people who have personally seen this work. You can listen to other people. You can also go to an Apple Store and let them show you what's going wrong here. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Perhaps no one here has tried to download an entire iCloud library at once, or perhaps size is an issue, but that doesn't change the fact that there is no download button for iCloud Photos and iCloud Photos Downloader simply solves this. That's what this post is about. | | |
| ▲ | troad 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I can personally confirm I've downloaded an entire iCloud library at once, to a brand new Mac, using the 'Download Originals to this Mac' option. As have many others here, I would think. That's literally what that option is for. If it's not working for you, you might be dealing with a bug, or perhaps you haven't given it enough time to sync. If you go to Photos > Library and scroll down, it should show you the sync status. | |
| ▲ | coder543 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | iCloud Photos Downloader is an option, yes, but it is incorrect to say that Apple does not provide an official way to do this on Mac. Again, I direct you to the Apple Store so someone can show you in person, since you won't listen to anyone on here. |
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| ▲ | fizwidget 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | That doesn’t sound right. My photo library is larger than my iPhone’s storage yet downloads fine on my Mac. Just need to make sure “optimise storage” is enabled on the iPhone and disabled on the Mac. Once everything’s downloaded on the Mac, you can either export through the Apple Photos menu or just copy the “originals” directly from the Photos bundle. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This works because you had synchronised your iPhone with your Mac previously. If you start with an empty Photos library and phone, it is impossible to put all the photos on the phone and thus transfer them to your Mac. | | | |
| ▲ | fakedang 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | And people say Linux is hard to work with.... |
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| ▲ | reconnecting 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Okay, and if there are 300 or 500 GB of photos, how do you synchronise them with your iPhone? | |
| ▲ | hu3 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | that's good to know. can I then download the photos from iPhone to a backup hard-drive or transfer to a folder in my computer? | | | |
| ▲ | Nextgrid 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Thanks to Apple's exceptional software quality the app has plenty of bugs and good luck exporting a lot of files out of said library - you're in for an endless game of spinners (it does some network IO on the main thread), "not responding" and memory leaks. But hey at least we've got Liquid (gl)ass now. | | |
| ▲ | wookmaster 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Worked well for me for 70k photos but took a long time | |
| ▲ | CharlesW 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > Thanks to Apple's exceptional software quality the app has plenty of bugs… I use Photos for macOS daily and I've never run into a bug with my 50K+ photos library. (To be fair, Photos doesn't do that much, and I use it more as a master catalog with Aperture's spiritual successor Nitro.) > …and good luck exporting a lot of files out of said library… Not sure why you would need luck to copy the "Originals" folder from the library package. |
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| ▲ | reddalo 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Technically, there is: users of the European Union can get a full export of all data that Apple has about them, including all the stored photos. It can be requested from here: https://privacy.apple.com/ |
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| ▲ | catskull 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I was able to request a photo dump as a non-EU customer using this link. | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It sounds really weird that instead of making a separate utility, or allowing you to download iCloud Photos in the native Photos application on Mac, Apple requires you to go through a legal procedure. I'm OK with clicking a button to download all photos to Mac, but there is no such button. Or maybe there was one previously, but it has now disappeared. | | |
| ▲ | einsteinx2 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | > or allowing you to download iCloud Photos in the native Photos application on Mac Here’s the official documentation page for exporting directly using Photos for Mac without syncing everything locally: https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/download-photos-to-yo... You can also choose to sync all photos locally with Photos for Mac by setting “Download Originals to this Mac” as described on this page which is what I do to keep a local copy: https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/photos-settings-pht51... If your Mac doesn’t have enough space, export them to a USB hard drive or if you’re using the download originals option, first move your library location to the USB drive as also described on the link above. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Thank you. That's exactly what I expected to work, but for some reason this approach failed for me on a new Mac with an empty Photos library. I enabled "Download Originals," but 10+ years of iCloud photos never appeared. There's no manual "fetch all from iCloud" button, no progress indicator, no way to diagnose what's wrong - the sync just silently fails. Luckily, iCloud Photos Downloader bypasses Photos entirely and pulls directly from iCloud. |
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| ▲ | ireadmevs 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | How does the archive they provide look like? Many zip files?
I would like to retrieve them and offload to another storage service but I don’t have local storage enough to hold all of it at the same time, unpack and then reupload. I would need to do it in stages. | | |
| ▲ | Tempest1981 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Yes, many ZIP files. You can select the ZIP file sizes, from 1 to 25 GB, iirc. Although a few end up larger than 25 for some reason. And took 1-2 days for Apple to "prepare". | |
| ▲ | lostlogin 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | While that’s a pain for you, it’s also a pain if they have multiple files for those that have enough storage. Photo management is a bit of a nightmare as it’s an awful lot of small(ish) files. |
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| ▲ | SchemaLoad 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Doesn't work if you have Advanced Data Protection (end to end encryption) enabled. |
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| ▲ | nemothekid 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I think if you are on PC. But on Mac with the Photos App Cmd+A > File > Export Unmodified Originals |
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| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | There is no straight way to download photos from iCloud to Mac. | | |
| ▲ | wookmaster 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | The comment you're replying to just gave one, I did it recently for 70k photos. select all > export. That's it. It just took 30 hours. |
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| ▲ | 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | cdrnsf 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I'm not sure it's surprising. Apple doesn't want you to leave and making something as important as your photos difficult to move helps with that. |
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| ▲ | Tempest1981 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | From 2024: > Users of Google and Apple’s photo cloud services can now transfer images between them. It was already possible to export photos and videos from iCloud to Google Photos, but now it can also be done the other way around: from Google Photos to iCloud. https://www.techzine.eu/news/applications/122196/google-and-... (2023 Data Transfer Initiative (DTI)) | |
| ▲ | lostlogin 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | What’s missing? The files are there on the Mac, they are there to download on the cloud (various mentions of method mentioned here). | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | There is NO button on Mac to download photos from iCloud. You can only do this from your phone and then synchronise them to your Mac. | | |
| ▲ | coder543 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Yes, there is a button on Mac: https://support.apple.com/guide/photos/use-icloud-photos-pht... As long as you are signed into the Mac with the same iCloud account used on the iPhone, this will download them all. No, you do not need to get them all downloaded to the iPhone ever for any reason for this to work. Period. You need to stop repeating that, because it is wrong. How many people have to say the same thing? Yes, you will have to go into a hidden folder to access the Originals once they're downloaded if you want to copy them somewhere else, but it's like two clicks. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | I've been using Mac since Mac OS X 10.4 (~2005) and was under the same impression. However, in reality, when you use the same Apple account on both devices with the Photos app on macOS (yes, with the 'Download Originals' checkbox enabled), it only downloads photos that you upload from your phone. And if you look at the iCloud tab in the Photos app, it says 'Automatically _upload_ and store all your photos and videos in iCloud', so it works from Mac to iCloud, and doesn't help to download full iCloud library. | | |
| ▲ | coder543 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | No, you are not correct. How many people have to tell you this? It absolutely works the way I said it does, because I have seen it work that way. Just because you accidentally turned off iCloud Photos in your Apple Account settings on that Mac (or some other similar issue) does not mean it does not work this way when properly signed in. If you want something to try, go to System Settings -> Apple Account -> Photos and see if "Sync this mac" is turned off. It needs to be on. There could be other ways that this feature is disabled, but that is one of them. Not seeing something work is not evidence that it does not work. You have not seen it work, but that is not proof it does not work. Seeing it work is evidence that it works. I have seen it work. Other people have seen it work that way, and their replies are all over this thread. Apple documents that it works this way. Yes, it will upload photos to iCloud if enabled, but it also downloads them. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | When you take a new photo, it synchronises with all your devices, and therefore you see it on your Mac, iPhone, etc. However, if you get a new Mac (I got one because my library was under capacity), Photos will not start synchronising your 10-year-old photos until you process them through the phone. I hope I've made it clear now. | | |
| ▲ | coder543 4 hours ago | parent [-] | | Your point has been clear the whole time. It is still not correct. |
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| ▲ | raw_anon_1111 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | You can use the Photos app on your Mac and download originals | |
| ▲ | mr_toad 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | There are two options in the file menu - you can export the originals, and there is an option to export them as .jpg. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | From iPhotos (Photos) app to hard drive. Subject is to download photos from iCloud. |
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| ▲ | wookmaster 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Select all, Files > Export. It's simple to download iCloud Photos. | |
| ▲ | lostlogin 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | One of us is missing something.
In Photos.app I clicked download originals. The photos are there on my Mac. It’s bit gross to get at them though - right click on app > show package contents. Are you wanting a way that doesn’t involve the photos app? You can do that from iCloud over a browser. | | |
| ▲ | reconnecting 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | If you open the Photos app (macOS) connected to iCloud with an empty library, there will be no photos until you import them from your phone. Hope this is clear now. iCloud via browser has a limit of 1k photos per download. | | |
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