How to sync photos from Mac to iPhone?

[JamesMay82]

I’ve just switched off iCloud due to advance data protection in the UK plus wanting to save on iCloud storage costs.

I’ve tried syncing via mac and I’ve noticed it then doesn’t let me edit any of the photos on my phone but also it doesn’t transfer the full resolution photos and downgrades all my raw photos. I’ve got the settings on my phone set to transfer original as well.

Any ideas?

On google I’ve been told to either set up iCloud Photos again short term or to air drop all the photos from my
Mac..

 

[BigBlur]

When you sync the photos using Finder or iTunes, you're just copying over read-only versions of the photos. There should be a setting in Finder/iTunes whether you want to sync the full-resolution or an optimized resolution. The setting you referred to on your iPhone is for something else - when you transfer your photos from the iPhone to a computer. "Keep Originals" will likely transfer them as HEIC images. Not all computers understand the HEIC format. "Automatic" may transfer them as JPEG images instead. Also, when you sync photos, I believe you're not able to delete them from the iPhone either. Basically, the Mac is the master source and any changes (edits, deletions, additions) need to be done on the Mac and resynced to the iPhone. It is not a two-way sync like iCloud is; it's only Mac to iPhone.

To get the original photos on the iPhone and be editable, you would need to import them from an external storage device or AirDrop them. Or when you turned iCloud Photos off, choose to keep/download the photos on the iPhone. Again, it's still not a two-way sync. If you make edits on the iPhone, you would need to reimport them to the Mac; or if you make edits on the Mac, you would need to reimport them to the iPhone. In both cases, the edit history does not transfer along with it either, so you wouldn't be able to revert back to originals if you accidentally overwrote the wrong photo/file). Similarly, if you delete a photo from one device, you would need to delete it from the other device manually.

Long story short, if you want a two-way sync solution like iCloud offers, you will need to find another solution like using a NAS and their photo software or some other cloud service.

 

[JamesMay82]

When you sync the photos using Finder or iTunes, you're just copying over read-only versions of the photos. There should be a setting in Finder/iTunes whether you want to sync the full-resolution or an optimized resolution. The setting you referred to on your iPhone is for something else - when you transfer your photos from the iPhone to a computer. "Keep Originals" will likely transfer them as HEIC images. Not all computers understand the HEIC format. "Automatic" may transfer them as JPEG images instead. Also, when you sync photos, I believe you're not able to delete them from the iPhone either. Basically, the Mac is the master source and any changes (edits, deletions, additions) need to be done on the Mac and resynced to the iPhone. It is not a two-way sync like iCloud is; it's only Mac to iPhone.

To get the original photos on the iPhone and be editable, you would need to import them from an external storage device or AirDrop them. Or when you turned iCloud Photos off, choose to keep/download the photos on the iPhone. Again, it's still not a two-way sync. If you make edits on the iPhone, you would need to reimport them to the Mac; or if you make edits on the Mac, you would need to reimport them to the iPhone. In both cases, the edit history does not transfer along with it either, so you wouldn't be able to revert back to originals if you accidentally overwrote the wrong photo/file). Similarly, if you delete a photo from one device, you would need to delete it from the other device manually.

Long story short, if you want a two-way sync solution like iCloud offers, you will need to find another solution like using a NAS and their photo software or some other cloud service.

Thanks for the information but also! Ah man!

I'm doing this out for principle for the data protection had iCloud costs and its making me re think the whole thing lol..

So because I've not yet deleted my photos from iCloud, it would be best to turn on iCloud Photos and let it down load to the phone and then switch off iCloud Photos and keep it on the device. then moving forward I can just treat my phone like a digital camera in the way that any new photos or videos can be plugged in and then synced back to the Mac?

 

[BigBlur]

So because I've not yet deleted my photos from iCloud, it would be best to turn on iCloud Photos and let it down load to the phone and then switch off iCloud Photos and keep it on the device. then moving forward I can just treat my phone like a digital camera in the way that any new photos or videos can be plugged in and then synced back to the Mac?

I think so. If it were me, I would...

• Make sure all photos are on the Mac and that iCloud Photos is turned off.
• Turn iCloud Photos back on for the iPhone.
• Give it some time to sync.
• Turn iCloud Photos off and choose to download keep photos on device.
• Going forward, import/offload photos to Mac regularly like a digital camera.

I'm not sure what happens if your phone doesn't have enough free space to store all the originals, so you may want to check your storage first. Or have you been storing the originals previously and not using "optimized storage"? If you won't have enough free space, then delete photos/videos that you don't care to keep on your phone before turning iCloud Photos off.

 

[JamesMay82]

I think so. If it were me, I would...

• Make sure all photos are on the Mac and that iCloud Photos is turned off.
• Turn iCloud Photos back on for the iPhone.
• Give it some time to sync.
• Turn iCloud Photos off and choose to download keep photos on device.
• Going forward, import/offload photos to Mac regularly like a digital camera.

I'm not sure what happens if your phone doesn't have enough free space to store all the originals, so you may want to check your storage first. Or have you been storing the originals previously and not using "optimized storage"? If you won't have enough free space, then delete photos/videos that you don't care to keep on your phone before turning iCloud Photos off.

Thanks yeah I'll go for that method then.. I removed all the videos so I have space for just the photos.

Its a shame they don't let you sync all the full hi res photos etc

do you still use iCloud?