How to Backup iPhone Photos to PC/iCloud/iTunes: 5 Ways

Photos could carry your memories and other information. You can read this passage to know how to backup iPhone 15/14/13/12/11 photos in every way.

Dylan

By Dylan / Updated on February 27, 2024

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Scenario: What is the best way to backup iPhone photos?

 

How to backup iPhone photos

I love taking photos on my new iPhone 15 and have saved a lot of photos. My iCloud storage is full, so I want to backup my photos to PC. What is the best way to backup photos from iPhone to Windows computer?

- Question from Apple Community

With the improvement of iPhone shooting capability, you can take lots of beautiful photos on your iPhone. but as time goes by, these photos or videos can eat up your iPhone storage. In this case, you can backup iPhone photos to computer, external drive / USB drive, or iCloud, and delete these photos to free up iPhone space.

In addition, an iPhone is easy to experience some unexpected issues leading to data loss. So if these photos are really important to you, you can create a backup for them. Once your iPhone data is gone, you can easily restore them to your iPhone after the problem is solved.

New iPhone 12

Next, you can follow the next content, which would give you the best ways to do iPhone backup photos.

Section 1. The best way to backup iPhone photos to PC

The best way to backup iPhone photos is saving them to your computer. This would protect your privacy better than saving them to the cloud. FoneTool could help you to quickly backup photos from iPhone to computer. It is a free professional iPhone backup software. You could easily backup photos as many as you want with it.

Highlights:

🌟 Select Photos: In FoneTool, you could preview every photo on iPhone 15/14/13 and filter the unneeded ones.
🌟 Fast Speed: FoneTool is the fastest photo transfer software when you backup and restore iPhone photos.
🌟 Backup to external drive: FoneTool is capable of backing up iPhone to USB flash drive, external hard drive, USB drive, PC, and any place you like.
🌟 Incremental backup: This tool allows you to only backup added photos as you like, so it can save space and time.
🌟Widely Compatible: FoneTool supports iOS 17/16/15, iPhone 15/14/13/12, and other previous iOS versions and devices.

Next, you can download FoneTool to computer for free. Connect your iPhone to PC with USB cable. You need to Trust This Computer on iPhone the first time you connect iPhone to this PC. We will show you how to use this tool to backup iPhone photos.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Run FoneTool. On the Phone Backup > Select Selective Backup. Click Get Started.

custom backup

Step 2. Check the Photos option. You can click the Photos icon to decide which items to be backed up. 

Click Icon

Step 3. Then click Backup Storage Path to specify a location to save the backup files. Click the Start Backup button to begin the task. 

Photos Backup

Wait for the backup process to get finished. When you need to restore, you can connect your iPhone to the computer, and go to My Backups to restore data to the device.

my backups

Notes:
enlightened Selective Backup also supports backup iPhone music, videos, messages, contacts. 
enlightened You can also choose Phone Transfer > iPhone to PC to save your iPhone photos on your computer or external storage device.

Section 2. How to backup iPhone photos from iPhone 15/14/13/12 to iCloud

Apart from backing iPhone photos to computer, you could also backup iPhone photos to iCloud. iPhone users usually transfer photos after upgrading iPhone in this way. If you have problems during the process, refer to this guide: Photos Did Not Transfer to New iPhone.

Most photos in the Photos app would be saved to iCloud. Photos synced with iTunes could not be save to iCloud because you could only sync iPhone photos with iTunes when iCloud Photos is disabled on iPhone, and enable iCloud Photos again on iPhone would erase these photos. Enable iCloud Backup on another iPhone could download every iCloud photo to that device. Also, you could backup iPhone photos to PC with iCloud, but you need to download these pictures from the site of iCloud or using the client of iCloud.

Steps to enable iCloud photos syncing:

1. Go to iPhone Settings > tap [your name]

2. Enter iCloud > Select Photos

3. Switch on iCloud Photos to upload photos from iPhone to iCloud.

Turn On iCloud Photos

Section 3. Backup photos from iPhone to iCloud backup

iCloud would save most of the necessary data when you backup iPhone with iCloud. If iPhone says there is no enough iCloud storage, you should reduce the content by entering iCloud >Manage Storage > Backups > [device name]. You could download iCloud backup to PC if you just need the photos later. You should know that if you have already enabled iCloud photos in method 1, these photos would not be saved to this iCloud backup again.

Steps to make iCloud backup:

1. Go to iPhone Settings > tap [your name]

2. Enter iCloud > Select Backups

3. Enable iCloud Backup

Backup iPhone on iCloud

Section 4. Backup iPhone 15/14/13/12 photos to computer with iTunes

Does iTunes backup include photos? You might have used iTunes to purchase and manage media files but do you know how to save iPhone to iTunes on computer? First, you should know what iTunes backup includes. It works in a similar way as iCloud does, saving most necessary data on iPhone. If your iCloud storage is full, you could use iTunes to save iPhone photos to computer. You should also know that iTunes would not save the photos already uploaded to iCloud.

Steps to make iTunes backup:

1. Download iTunes. Connect iPhone to computer with USB cable.

2. Click the phone-shape icon in the upper-left corner.

3. Click Back Up Now in Summary.

iTunes

Section 5. Export iPhone photos with Windows Photos

Microsoft Photos is an app in Windows 10. You could also use it to directly transfer photos from iPhone to Windows 10, but sometimes it doesn't work when iPhone screen is locked.

Steps to back iPhone photos to Windows:

1. Connect iPhone to computer with USB cable.

2. Click the Start Button and open Photos.

3. Select Import from USB Device.

Windows Photos

Conclusion

This is how to backup iPhone photos to PC, iCloud, or external drive. Your photos would be safe when there is a copy of them.

Using FoneTool is considered the best way to back up your photos because it is fast and professional, helping you do iPhone backup photos.

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