iCloud Downloading all photos from iCloud - its impossible / a mess!

[whyrichard]

Hello,

My x is trying to download all of her photos from iCloud. We are turning off the iCloud subscription share. She is on primarily windows with an iPhone. She tells me that it is very difficult, that she would need to download 50 x zipped files and it is only working inconsistently.

How best to download all photos from iCloud? It seems so unreliable.

Thank you,
r.

 

[splifingate]

Easiest (quickest) way I have found is to just copy the whole Users > [user] > Pictures > Photos Library.photoslibrary to external storage. You can "Show Package Contents' and find all your photos in 'originals'

Make sure to enable Photos > Settings > iCloud > iCloud Photos > 'Download Originals to this Mac', and let your Library fully sync, before you copy it over.

I have recently been using Photos Backup Anywhere to make a 1:1 copy of all my photos, and it works extremely well. The resulting folder-file naming structure is a lot more intuitive than the .photoslibrary ./originals structure.

I like to make multiple backups, because I know I'll somehow break things in my fiddling

It's been a few years since I worked with iCloud on a win64 machine, so I can't speak for the trials&tribulations found there.

 

[whyrichard]

unfortunately she is on a windows machine.... any workarounds for a Windows user?

 

[splifingate]

unfortunately she is on a windows machine.... any workarounds for a Windows user?

No workaround. iCloud for Windows is a Proper Citizen:

Download iCloud for Windows - Apple Support

With iCloud for Windows, you’ll have your photos, videos, mail, calendar, files, and other important information on the go and on your Windows PC.

support.apple.com

What I can't remember is just how well it works (or to have it work for her particular use-case-scenario) . . . I had limited storage on my Win machine at the time, and my Photos Library inevitably filled-up/surpassed my storage, so I eventually turned it off 🤷‍♂️

 

[BigBlur]

You can also go to privacy.apple.com and request a copy of the photos to download or transfer to another service.

Transfer a copy of your iCloud Photos collection to another service - Apple Support

You can request to transfer a copy of your iCloud Photos — photos and videos associated with your Apple Account — to another service.

support.apple.com

I'm a little confused though, what do you mean by "iCloud subscription share"? Is this an "iCloud Shared Photo Library" or a "Shared Album"? Either way, she could just select all the photos from her iPhone and save them to her personal library (assuming she has her own iCloud+ subscription and/or enough storage capacity on her iPhone).

 

[splifingate]

She tells me that it is very difficult, that she would need to download 50 x zipped files and it is only working inconsistently

request a copy of the photos to download or transfer to another service

The tedious of such an endeavor is why, I believe, the OP came here seeking alternative help 🤷‍♂️

 

[BigBlur]

The tedious of such an endeavor is why, I believe, the OP came here seeking alternative help 🤷‍♂️

Right, if you download from iCloud.com (as the OP's x was doing), there's a limit to how many you can download at once, hence multiple zip files.

If you go to privacy.apple.com, you can download them all at once (in one big chunk), or send them straight to Google Photos as another potential alternative.