Easiest way to Download iPhone Photos to your Computer

If you are like me you are always looking or the quick and easiest way to download your iPhone photos to your computer.  Since I have been working on client photo books, this is a more pressing matter that I HAD to have a quick solution for.

In this blog post we are going to focus on downloading from an iPhone to a Mac computer with an updated operating software. The classic way to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac is to use the photo transfer feature in the Photos app that both Mac and PC offer.

How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to Mac in MacOS Catalina & Later

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac with the USB cable and unlock your iPhone.
2. Open the Photos app on your Mac. You can find it with Spotlight search, in your Dock, or by opening the Applications folder and selecting the Photos app.

  3.  Your iPhone should already be selected in the browser on the left of the Photos page. If it isn’t, then select your iPhone.     4.   Select the photos you wish to import by clicking on them. (It will put a blue checkmark on the photo) 5.  Click the Import button at the top.     6.  You can go to the “Import” tab on the left hand side and watch your photos import.  If you have a lot of photos and videos this may take a      long time.     Now all your photos have been successfully transferred from your phone to you computer and are safety stored in the photos app.  Go to “Library” on the left hand side and you can scroll through them all in dated order.  Don’t you feel organized?  I thought you might!   From here, some people might be needing to take those downloaded photos and put them into a folder.  A folder that you can send to a certain photographer and she can make beautiful book with them….ahem.   These next steps are how you do just that.  

How to Download from Photos App into Individual Folders

Let’s say you want to make a folder of “2022 iPhone photos”.  On your desktop go to “File” up at the top and select “New Folder”.  Title this folder with “YEAR_iphone_photos”.  Now you will have an empty folder ready to be filled on your desktop.

Go back to the Photos App where you just downloaded all your photos from your phone to.  

There they are, all your photos in perfect chronological order under the “library” tab. Find which year / month you would like to work on.  Dates are up at the top.  If you only want to select photos…click “photos” on the right hand side of the screen.     Now go through your photos and the ones you are choosing to move into your new folder click the “Heart” icon under it.  This means it is a favorite.   Once you have “favorited” all the photos for your folder, go to “Showing Only Favorites” on the right hand side of the screen.  Here you will see only the photos you have selected.   You made it so far!  Woohoo!  Almost done.  Now you are ready to transfer your “favorited” photos to your labeled desktop file.   Open both the photos app and your folder so that you can see them both on your screen like this…     Select all the photos from the “Favorites” photo app by right-clicking your mouse and holding until all the photos are selected.  Now drag all photos in the the new folder.  Once they have all been exported into that folder you will be able to see them.     Now you have a folder of all your favorite photos on your desktop.  You can store these like this on an external hard drive for safe keeping.

Download iPhone Photos to your Computer

If you interested in booking a session with Emily Crump Photography for 2022-2023 now is the time to book. Session dates book up quickly! Please email me today at emily@emilycrumpphotography.com while session dates are still available.  

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