Get photos from your phone onto your computer

1 Get ready

• Find the cable you charge the phone with. If the computer doesn't notice the phone later, try another cable: some cheap cables can only charge, not copy.
• Unlock the phone and keep it unlocked while you copy. A locked phone keeps its photos to itself.
• Decide where the photos will go on the computer. The Pictures folder is a good place.
• Helping someone else? The phone will ask whether to trust the computer. That's a normal question, and the phone's owner should be the one to tap the answer.

2 iPhone to a Windows computer, with a cable

1. On the computer, Apple suggests installing its free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store first. It helps Windows talk to the iPhone.
2. Plug the iPhone into the computer and unlock it.
3. The iPhone asks "Trust This Computer?" Tap Trust (or Allow), then type the phone's passcode.
4. On the computer, press the Start button and open the Photos app.
5. Select Import, then From a connected device (or the iPhone's name).
6. Wait while the photos appear. Tick the ones you want, or choose them all, check where they'll be saved, then confirm.

3 Android phone to a Windows computer, with a cable

1. Unlock the phone and plug it into the computer.
2. On the phone, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the message that says it's charging via USB.
3. Under Use USB for, choose File transfer (on some phones it says Transfer files or Transfer photos).
4. On the computer, open the Photos app and select Import, then From a connected device, the same as for an iPhone.

Or copy them yourself: open File Explorer (the yellow folder on the taskbar), click the phone's name, then go into Internal storage → DCIM → Camera. Drag the photos you want into your Pictures folder.

Phones differ a little, so the words may not match exactly. When you've finished, unplug the cable.

4 On a Mac

• iPhone: plug it in, unlock it and tap Trust. Open the Photos app on the Mac, click the iPhone's name on the left, choose the photos, then click Import Selected (or Import All New Items).
• iPhone, no cable: on the iPhone, choose the photos, tap the share button (a square with an arrow) and pick AirDrop, then your Mac.
• Android phone: the no-cable ways in step 5 are the simplest.

5 No cable? Three other ways

Email them to yourself (best for a few photos)

1. In the phone's photos, choose the photos, tap the share button and pick your email app.
2. Send the email to your own email address.
3. On the computer, open the email and save the photos.

An iPhone may ask what size to send: choose Actual Size if you need the photo sharp. Emails have a size limit (often around 25 MB), so send a few at a time.

iPhone photos kept in iCloud

1. On the computer, go to icloud.com/photos and sign in with the Apple Account the iPhone uses.
2. Choose the photos, click the More button (three dots), then More Download Options.
3. Next to Most Compatible, click Download. They arrive as JPG photos, which open on any computer.

Android photos kept in Google Photos

1. On the computer, go to photos.google.com and sign in with the Google account the phone uses.
2. Tick the photos you want, click More (three dots) at the top, then Download.
3. If you chose several, they come together in one zip file. Double-click it to see the photos.

6 Check they've arrived

• Open the folder on the computer and look at a few photos, including the newest and the oldest.
• Only then think about deleting anything from the phone, and only if you need the space. There's no rush.
• A photo shows a blank picture, or the computer says it can't open it? Read on.

A HEIC photo, in plain words

Since 2017, iPhones have saved photos in a type called HEIC (say "heek"), to save space. A HEIC photo looks just as good but takes up about half the room of an ordinary JPG photo.

The catch: not everything understands it yet. You might see:

• a Windows computer showing a blank picture, or saying it can't open the file;
• a council, bank or job website saying the photo is the wrong file type, because it only accepts JPG, PNG or PDF.

Nothing is wrong with the photo, and nothing is wrong with you. It just needs to be in a more common type.

Most Android phones save ordinary JPG photos. A few, such as some Samsung Galaxy phones, have a High efficiency pictures setting that saves HEIC-style photos too; it's usually switched off.

How to tell if a photo is HEIC

Look at the end of the file's name: IMG_1234.HEIC is a HEIC photo; IMG_1234.JPG is a JPG.

Windows often hides the end of the name. To show it: in File Explorer, click View at the top, then Show, then tick File name extensions. (On older Windows 10, it's a tick box on the View tab.)

Getting a JPG instead

The easiest fix is to get the photo off the iPhone as a JPG in the first place:

• Uploading straight from the iPhone? When you pick a photo in a website's "Choose file" box, the iPhone usually turns it into a JPG for you. Often it just works.
• Copying with a cable: on the iPhone, open Settings → Apps → Photos, scroll to the bottom and make sure Automatic is ticked (not Keep Originals). Then photos are usually changed to JPG as they're copied to a computer. (On older iPhones, Photos is straight in Settings, not under Apps.)
• From icloud.com: choose Most Compatible, as in step 5.
• Emailing from the iPhone usually sends a JPG too.

Want the iPhone to take JPG photos from now on?

On the iPhone, open Settings → Camera → Formats and choose Most Compatible. New photos are then JPGs. The trade-off: they take up roughly twice the space on the phone. Photos you've already taken don't change. To go back, choose High Efficiency.

Opening HEIC photos on a Windows computer

Windows can open HEIC photos once it has two small add-ons from the Microsoft Store:

• HEIF Image Extensions: free. Many computers already have it.
• HEVC Video Extensions: the part that actually reads the picture. Some computers already have it built in; if yours doesn't, Microsoft charges a small one-off amount for it (under £1 when checked in October 2026).

You don't have to buy anything: getting the photos again as JPGs, as above, costs nothing. The add-on is worth it if you'll often have iPhone photos on a Windows computer.

Now the photos are on your computer

These tools are free to try, and your photos never leave your computer:

Sending photos to the council or a bank? The sending-documents guide takes you through it, step by step.

What the words mean

JPG (or JPEG)

The most common type of photo. Almost every computer, phone and website can open it. The name ends in .jpg or .jpeg.

HEIC (or HEIF)

The space-saving photo type iPhones use. HEIF is the family name; HEIC is the version iPhones save.

File name extension

The few letters after the dot at the end of a file's name, such as .jpg or .pdf. They tell the computer what type of file it is.

DCIM

Short for "Digital Camera Images". The folder where phones and cameras keep their photos.

File transfer

A setting that lets a computer see the files on an Android phone, instead of just charging it.

iCloud and Google Photos

Apple's and Google's online storage. If the phone backs up there, the photos can also be downloaded on a computer by signing in on their website.

Zip file

Several files packed into one, to make downloading easier. Double-click it to open it.

Stuck?

That's completely normal: phones and computers word things a little differently, and they change their buttons now and then. A family member or friend can often help in a few minutes, and many local libraries offer free help with phones and computers.

Checked in October 2026 against the makers' own help pages: Apple (copying photos to a Mac or PC), Apple (HEIF photos), Apple (downloading from iCloud), Microsoft (importing photos) and Google (Android to a computer). Pocket Change isn't connected with Apple, Microsoft, Google or Samsung.