How to Import Photos From iPhone to Windows 10

This article shows the easiest methods for importing photos from iPhone to PC using cloud storage services, the Windows 10 Photos app, File Explorer, and email and messaging apps. You can also, of course, transfer photos from an iPhone to a Mac as well.

By far, the easiest way to download pictures from iPhone to a computer is to use a cloud service such as Microsoft鈥檚 OneDrive. After the initial setup, this method will allow your iPhone to wirelessly sync all of your iPhone photos and videos to your Windows 10 computer automatically, so you won鈥檛 have to worry about connecting any cables or manually copying files.

After you've installed the OneDrive app on your iPhone, open it and tap Allow Access to All Photos.

OneDrive comes automatically installed on most Windows 10 devices so you don鈥檛 need to download it for your computer.

Log into OneDrive with the same Microsoft account you use on your Windows 10 PC and tap your profile photo in the top-left corner.

You may be automatically logged into OneDrive if you use other Microsoft services or apps on your iPhone such as Microsoft Teams or Word.

Tap Settings.

Tap Camera Upload.

Tap the switch to turn on the Camera Upload feature.

Disable Use Mobile Network if you need to save data and want media uploaded when connected to Wi-Fi. Enable Include Videos if you want videos you record on your iPhone transferred to your PC as well.

Your photos, and videos if selected, should now begin uploading to Microsoft鈥檚 OneDrive servers. They will then download onto your connected Windows 10 device as soon as it鈥檚 turned on and connected to the internet.

Your downloaded media should be available within the OneDrive > Pictures > Camera Roll folder on your PC once the sync is complete.

While OneDrive is convenient due to it being pre-installed with the Windows 10 operating system, many other cloud services, such as Dropbox, also offer camera upload functions from their mobile apps that work in much the same way.

Another common way to import pictures from iPhone to Windows 10 is to use the native Windows 10 Photos app. It can be a bit fiddly at first, though, as it requires you to download and install the iTunes app and register your iPhone within iTunes before your computer can read the contents of your iPhone鈥檚 storage.

Here's how to transfer photos from an iPhone to a computer with the Windows 10 Photos app.

If you haven鈥檛 yet, download and install the free iTunes app on your Windows 10 device, connect your iPhone to your PC via USB with iTunes open, and register your smartphone following the instructions shown on the screen.

You鈥檒l only need to do this iTunes/iPhone setup process once.

Open the Windows 10 Photos app.

Click Import.

Click From a connected device.

If you get an error message in Photos, re-open iTunes and make sure you鈥檙e logged in with your Apple ID.

The Photos app will begin scanning your iPhone for media to transfer to your PC.

The app may take several minutes to find the pictures and videos on your iPhone; once it discovers the first few, it will quickly scan the rest.

Select all of the photos on your iPhone you want to copy to your Windows 10 device.

If you want to delete them from your iPhone after they鈥檙e copied to your PC, check the box next to Delete the original items after import.

When you鈥檙e ready to begin the transfer, click Import.

Once your photos have been transferred from your iPhone to your computer, you鈥檒l be shown a message informing you the process has been completed.

The message will show a link to the photos' location on your computer, which you can use to view them with Windows 10's File Explorer, but the Photos app will also show all of your imported media.

If you don鈥檛 like using the Photos app, you can also download pictures from your iPhone to your computer using the basic Windows 10 File Explorer tool you typically use to browse folders on your device.

As with the Photos app method shown above, you will need to download and install the free iTunes app and connect your iPhone to it before your Windows 10 device can read your smartphone's contents.

Once you鈥檝e installed and set up iTunes, open File Explorer, which you can access via the Documents link in the Start Menu and navigate to This PC > Apple iPhone > Internal Storage > DCIM to access your pictures and videos.

Your iPhone photos may be in multiple folders, but all you need to do now is find the ones you want and copy them to another folder on your Windows 10 PC.

If you鈥檙e not a fan of cloud services or don鈥檛 feel like downloading any additional apps, you can still transfer photos from an iPhone to a computer the old-fashioned way by using email.

All you need to do is compose an email on your iPhone, make sure to attach your photos to it, send the email to yourself, and then check the email on your Windows 10 computer.

You can send emails from and to the same email address. You don鈥檛 need to worry about managing multiple accounts to transfer your photos this way.

Another alternative is to add your photos to a conversation in an iPhone chat app and open it in the Windows 10 version on your computer. Once you open the conversation on your PC, you can download all of the images in it.

Apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger have Windows 10 versions free to download. However, most services also have web versions that you can access from any browser.