We’ve been talking a lot lately about leaving Google Photos for other services, mainly because it was a bit shocking to watch this free subscription storage service in turn (once you’ve reached the 15GB storage cap in all Google services). However, this is the way things are. And if you still prefer Google’s features to, say, pay for iCloud, Apple has a new tool you can use to copy your photos and videos from your rival cloud service.
To get started, go to Apple Data and privacy website and sign in with your Apple ID. You will see a screen that looks like this:
Click on “Request a transfer of a copy of your data” link under a similarly named title. You will then be shown a screen where you can choose the transfer destination (Google Photos) and select just want to transfer your photos, videos, or both:
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You will then be asked to sign in with your Google Account and allow Apple to transfer data to your photo library:
As part of the confirmation process for the copy, Apple notes that the transfer could take between three and seven days – ah, digital life. You’ll also need enough free space in your Google Account for all your files, or else everything won’t be copied if, or when, all your storage space fills up. Apple is trying to give you a decent estimate of how much space you will need to empty, but You’re wrong about “a little more than you need” than “even money” if you have to a little data cutting in your Google Account.
And you’ll also want to make sure you know what’s being transferred before taking a drastic step, such as deleting your Apple account (or at least all previously saved photos and videos). Like Apple notes:
- The transfer includes copies of the photos and videos you store in iCloud Photos, associated with your Apple ID. Formats include: .jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, some RAW files, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v ,. 3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts and .mkv files.
- Only the latest photo editing is transferred, not the original version. Duplicates appear as a single photo.
- Whenever possible, photos are transferred with their albums. Videos are transferred separately without their albums.
- Once transferred to Google, file and video file names begin with “Copy of”.
- Some content – including shared albums, smart albums, photo feed content, live photos, some metadata, and photos and videos stored in other folders or locations – is not transferred at all.
These are a lot of precautions, so if you want to create a real archive of all the media you’ve stored in iCloud, we recommend using the “Get a copy of your data” option. from Apple. You can then decide what to upload to Google Photos and what might be needed to be archived elsewhere. And, yes, that means you’ll be using your bandwidth to make transfers, but you’ll have even more control over your data.
That being said, if you have free space – or a fake Google account – having a secondary backup for most of your media never hurts.