There are several ways to transfer photos you took with your iPhone over to your Mac. Some of these methods are better than others, depending on how many photos you have.

Downloading your pictures to a computer without iTunes is easy. Regardless of whether you own a PC or a Mac, your computer will recognize your iPhone as a camera when connected, which makes copying photos to your computer simple.

AirDrop

The first method we’ll cover is probably the best solution overall. If you’re not familiar with AirDrop, it’s a feature on iOS and macOS devices that allows users to wirelessly transfer and share all sorts of files with other Apple users over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

To transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac, you just use AirDrop to “share” these photos with yourself. On your iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center, and then tap the “AirDrop” button.

Next, select either “Contacts Only” or “Everyone,” depending on who you want to be able to send you AirDrops. Choosing “Contacts Only” will work fine for what we’re doing now, but select whichever one you want.

You’ll now see that AirDrop is on and ready to go. Keep in mind that turning AirDrop on also automatically turns on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Next, move to your Mac and access AirDrop by opening a Finder window, and then selecting “AirDrop” from the left-hand sidebar (or by hitting Shift+Cmd+R on your keyboard).

At the bottom, find the “Allow me to be discovered by” option, and then click the dropdown arrow next to “No One.”

Just like on your iPhone, select either “Contacts Only” or “Everyone”. Again, turning on AirDrop on your Mac automtically turns on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

After enabling AirDrop on your Mac, you can close the Finder window, and move back to your iPhone for the next step.

Open up the Photos app, and then tap a photo you want to send to your Mac—or hit “Select” and choose multiple photos to transfer.

With at least one photo selected, tap the “Share” button in the bottom-left corner.

In the “AirDrop” section, you should see your Mac listed. Tap it to transfer the selected photos to your Mac.

On your Mac, open the “Downloads” folder to see the transferred photos.

iMessage Yourself

If you’d rather not mess around with AirDrop, but still want to transfer photos wirelessly, you always can send them to yourself through iMessage. Of course, for this to work, you need to have iMessage enabled on your Mac.

To quickly see if you have iMessage enabled on your Mac, send yourself a text message from your iPhone. Open up the Messages app on your Mac and see if you received the text message. If so, then you’re good to go. If not, here’s how to enable iMessage.

In the Messages app, open the “Messages” menu and then click the “Preferences” option.

Click the “Accounts” tab if it isn’t already selected.

Next, sign in with your Apple ID credentials if you haven’t already.

After you’ve signed in, turn on the “Enable this account” option if it isn’t already.

You can now transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac using iMessage. When you receive the photo (or photos), all you have to do is drag them out of iMessage to whatever location you want.

Image Capture

You can also transfer photos by plugging your iPhone directly into your Mac with a Lightning cable, and then using the built-in Image Capture app on your Mac.

Plug your iPhone into your Mac, and then open Image Capture. You can find this app in the “Applications” folder, or through Spotlight Search.

In the “Image Capture” window, click your iPhone in the “Devices” list at the top-left corner of the window. Also make sure that your iPhone is unlocked before continuing.

Next, you should see all of your iPhone photos listed, along with some EXIF data for each photo.

Select a photo by clicking it. Hold the Cmd key down and click to select multiple photos. When you have all your photos selected, click “Import To” dropdown menu, and then select a folder where you’d like the save the photos.

Click “Import” to import the selected photos. You can also just click “Import All” to transfer all the photos on your iPhone to your Mac without going through the selection process.

iCloud Photo Library

For the sake of completeness, we should talk about iCloud Photo Library. In short, iCloud Photo Library isn’t the best method for transferring photos. Honestly, it’s not even a really good method.

iCloud Photo Library automatically syncs your iPhone’s camera roll with your Mac, so whenever you take a photo on your iPhone, that photo automatically appears in the Photos app on your Mac. It’s really convenient, but unfortunately, it also can be pretty unreliable.

RELATED:Everything You Need to Know About Using iCloud Drive and iCloud Photo Library

If you want to try it out anyway, you can learn more about the feature and how to enable it in our full guide. But the jist is that you open Settings, tap your Apple ID, navigate to iCloud > Photos, and then enable the “iCloud Photo Library” option. You also need to do this on your Mac by heading to System Preferences > iCloud, and then enabling the “Photos” option.

In the end, if you already use iCloud Photo Library and find it does an okay job, then that’s probably how you should stick to transferring photos. However, if you haven’t already set up iCloud Photo Library—or don’t want to use it—then there are definitely better methods for getting those photos transferred over.

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How to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac, MacBook or iMac? Read this post to know 7 ways to easily import photos from iPhone to Mac. Also supports importing photos from new iPhone XR and iPhone XS (Max).

AnyTrans for iOS – iPhone to Mac Transfer Tool

Download AnyTrans for iOS on your Mac computer, like iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro firstly, and then follow us to transfer multiple or all photos from iPhone to your Mac with a few clicks. Supports all iPhone models.

It is a real pleasure to build your photo library with your iPhone by capturing photos, saving images from Apps and taking screenshots. However, as photo collections grow, you will find more and more storage are taken by Photos & Camera, even it becomes the biggest one. At this moment, many of you might choose to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac/PC computer for backup and then delete them to free up iPhone space.

Here in this post, we will focus on how to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac computer, like iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini, Mac Pro in 7 ways, including Photos, AirDrop,iCloud, Preview, Image Capture, Email, and an iOS photo transfer. Just keep reading!

Part 1: How to Transfer Multiple/All Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS

To get photos from iPhone to Mac you can have a try on a professional iPhone photo transfer tool – iMobie AnyTrans for iOS:

• Supports Transferring All Photos – including photos in Camera Roll, Photo Stream, Photo Library or My Albums, etc.
• Super Fast Transferring Speed – transfer almost 588 photos from iPhone to Mac within 1 minute, that is to say, it will only take you about than 5 minutes to transfer 3000 photos from iPhone to Mac.
• No Harm to the Picture Quality – all pictures you transferred from iPhone to Mac computer will be kept in original picture quality.
• Offers You Two Options When Transferring iPhone Photos to Mac – supports one-click transfer and selectively transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.
• All Photos Will Be Well Organised – all photos you exported from iPhone to Mac computer will be listed according to the Album, preventing you from a great mess.
• Transfers Photos from iPhone to Mac in Other Formats – you can import live photos from iPhone as MP4/M4V, export Heic photos to JPG to a computer.
• 100% Safe and Secure – AnyTrans for iOS is developed by an Apple-trusted developer.You have our guarantee that accidents like data loss or information leakage would never occur.

Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe

After downloading and installing AnyTrans for iOS on your iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro, and no matter which device you are working with, like iPhone 3GS/4/4s/5/5s/5c/6/6s/SE/7/8/X or the latest iPhone XR/XS (Max), all you need to do is following us to import multiple or all photos from iPhone to Mac with the detailed guides below.

Guide 1: How to Transfer All Photos from iPhone to Mac at 1-Click

If you want to transfer all the photos on your iPhone, like Camera Roll photos, Photo Stream photos, iTunes synced photos, iCloud sharing photos and album photos, or all the photos of some specific album to your Mac, you can follow us to make it at one click.

Step 1: Download AnyTrans for iOS on your Mac, install and run it. Connect your iPhone to Mac computer with USB cable > Click Device Tab on Homepage of AnyTrans for iOS > Click Content to Mac button.

How to Export All Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 1

Step 2: Select the photo categories you want to transfer, like Camera Roll, Photo Library (the photos Synced from computer), Photo Video (the videos taken by iPhone), etc. > Click Select button to pick up output folder > Click Right Arrow button to starting transfer all iPhone photos to Mac.

How to Export All Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 2

Step 3: View the exported photos on your Mac computer. You’ll see all the kinds of photos keep organised, just like the following screenshot shows, you easily find the photos you like:

How to Export All Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 3

Guide 2: How to Transfer Multiple or Selected Photos from iPhone to Mac

If you just want to transfer some specific photos of some album to Mac instead of all the iPhone photos or the whole album, you can follow us to transfer multiple or selected photos from iPhone to Mac.

Step 1: Download and install AnyTrans for iOS on computer > Connect your iPhone to computer with USB cable > Click Device tab on home of AnyTrans for iOS > Click button to go to iOS content management page.

How to Transfer Selected or Multiple Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 1

Step 2: Select Photos category > Select the album with the photos you want to transfer, like Camera Roll, Photo Stream, Photo Library, etc.

How to Transfer Selected or Multiple Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 2

Step 3: Preview the photos in this album > Select the photos you want to transfer to Mac > Click To Mac button to get them to computer.

How to Transfer Selected or Multiple Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans – Step 3

Step 4: View the transferred photos on your Mac computer.

How to Transfer Selected or Multiple Photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 4

Bonus Part. How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac Wirelessly

If there is no USB cable available or your iPhone cannot be recognized by your computer, then you can try the AnyTrans app to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac wirelessly.

Now connect your iPhone with Wi-Fi and do as the following steps:

Step 1. Install AnyTrans app on your iPhone. You can download it by clicking the below button or directly search AnyTrans on App Store.

How To Download Photos From Mac To Iphone

Step 2. On your computer, enter anytrans.io in your browser, and you’ll see a QR code.

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac Wirelessly – Step 2

Step 3. On your iPhone, open the AnyTrans app you just installed and tap on the Scan button to scan the QR code on your computer.

Step 4. Then all your iPhone photos will show up on the computer. Select the photos you want to transfer and click the “Download” button to start transferring photos from iPhone to Mac. After the process completes, you can check them by going to Finder on your Mac > Downloads.

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac Wirelessly – Step 4

• For iPhone 7 or later users who want to convert HEIC to JPG, please click settings button to set it or using hassle-free HEIC to JPG converter to change these photos to JPG format on your computer.
• When syncing photos from iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS, you won’t lose any previous photo on your iPhone.
• This method also can be applied to transfer photos from iPad to Mac or iPod touch to Mac.

You May Also Like: How to Fix Can’t Import HEIC Photos to Mac >

Part 2: How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with iPhoto/Photos App

For Mac OS X Yosemite earlier, you can use iPhoto on Mac to import photos from iPhone to MacBook/Air/Pro/iMac.

Step 1Connect your iPhone to Mac with a USB cable and then launch iPhoto on your Mac if it doesn’t open automatically.

Step 2 Pick up photos and click Import to import photos. You can import all the iPhone photos to iPhoto by clicking Import XXX(the number of your Camera Roll Photos) Photos or import some of them by picking up some photos and clicking Import Selected. You can add an Event Name for the imported photos before or after importing.

How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with iPhoto

If you are working with Mac OS X Yosemite or later, you must have found that your Launchpad has a new App named Photos, which replaces the old iPhoto and Aperture with a simpler photo editor and library manager. It also can be used to export photos from iPhone to Mac, and here we’ll show you how to make it:

Run Photos App on your Mac > Connect your iPhone to Mac with USB cable > Click Import tab > Select the photos you want to export to Mac > Click Import XX Selected or Import All Items to transfer photos to Mac.

How to Upload Photos from iPhone to Mac with Photos App

Part 3: How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac with AirDrop

AirDrop enables you to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Mac. On your iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center, and then tap the “AirDrop” button. You can also turn on AirDrop from Settings app > General > AirDrop. Select either “Contacts Only” or “Everyone,” depending on who you want to be able to send the photos.

How To Download Photos From Iphone To Mac Air

Step 1. On your iPhone, open the Photos app and find the photos you want to transfer to your Mac.

Step 2. Ensure you’re viewing the photos in thumbnail view and tap Select in the top right corner.

Step 3. Choose the photos you want to send to your Mac (selected photos appear with a blue checkmark). Then tap the Share icon (a square with an up arrow).

Step 4. In the AirDrop section, tap the name of your Mac.

Step 5. Accept the photos on your Mac and they will be saved into the Downloads folder on your Mac.

Part 4: How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac with iCloud

Upload Photos From Iphone To Mac

iCloud Photos is Apple’s online photo storage service. When you activate iCloud Photos, all your iPhone photos get stored in iCloud so you can view and download them from your Mac. Note that you must be signed in with the same Apple ID on your iPhone and Mac.

Step 1. On your iPhone, go to Settings > Photos. Ensure iCloud Photos is on.
Step 2. On your Mac, click the Apple icon at the top left of the screen, then go to System Preferences > iCloud. Check the box next to iCloud Photo Library (iCloud Photos in macOS Mojave)

Sync Photos from iPhone to Mac via iCloud

How To Download Photos From Mac To Iphone 7

Part 5: How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with Preview

Connect your iPhone to Mac with USB cable > Launch Preview > Click File at the upper left corner of your screen > Choose Import from your iPhone > Pick up the photos you want to transfer by clicking Import or Import All > Choose destination for your iPhone photos.

Iphone Photos Copy To Mac

Part 6: How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac with Image Capture

Connect your iPhone to Mac with USB cable > Run Image Capture on your Mac > Select your iPhone from the device list if it is not selected > Set the output folder for your iPhone photos > Click Import or Import all to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac with Image Capture

Part 7: How to Send Photos from iPhone to Mac with Email

If you just want to transfer several photos from iPhone to Mac and your Mac is not at your hand, Email becomes a wonderful choice. So read on this post and transfer photos from iPhone to Mac with Email by following the step-by-step tutorial.

Run Photos App on your iPhone > Tap on Albums to open Albums Page > Choose the target album > Tap on Edit button > Pick up the photos you want to transfer > Tap on Share button and choose Email > Type your Email address and complete the Email > Tap on Send > Sign in your Email on Mac and download those pictures and store them on Mac.

If you are working with a Windows computer, and you are looking for solutions to how to transfer photos from iPhone to Windows 7/8/10/XP/Vista, you can move to this guide: How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Windows Computer. In addition, if you will want to transfer photos from Mac back to your iPhone, just refer to: How to Transfer Photo from Mac to iPhone >

Part 8: Comparison of Some Methods and Select the Best Solution

The Bottom Line

How To Import Photos From Mac To Iphone 7

Although you can get 7 or even more ways to transfer photos from iPhone to your iMac, MacBook Pro/Air, Mac Mini or Mac Pro, most of them only support exporting Camera Roll photos. If you want to transfer photos stored in other albums, you have to search for other solutions. Just like the table above shows, when it comes to transferring and managing iPhone photos, AnyTrans for iOS is the best choice. Except for transferring photos, it also can transfer other iOS contents, like Messages, Contacts, Videos, Movies, Notes, ect., and also supports transfer data from one iPhone to another Apple device directly. Why not download AnyTrans for iOS and try it yourself >

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