Microsoft Releases 'Photos Companion' iOS App for Quickly Transferring Photos to PC

[MacRumors]

Microsoft today released Photos Companion, an iOS app specially made for Windows 10 users to let them transfer photos from their Apple devices to PCs more easily. First circulated among beta testers in November, Photos Companion links with Windows 10's built-in photos app by way of a QR code, after which multiple photos can be sent over the same Wi-Fi network.

Microsoft hopes the app - the result of a Microsoft Garage project - will appeal primarily to students who don't back up their photos to a cloud service such as the company's own OneDrive, but need a convenient way to get content from their smartphones to Windows machines in an education setting.

We began developing a simple, experimental app for iOS and Android to see if we could unblock educators and help them begin using the Photos app in their classrooms. We knew that students often captured on multiple phones or tablets, but leveraged a single "project" PC to assemble their media and create their final project. We also knew that Wi-Fi access in the classroom was great between devices, but that any solution that required the cloud for transfer could be blocked by overloaded networks.

Our solution was to build an app that would support direct wireless transfer between any phone or mobile device and the Photos app on any Windows 10 PC. This would enable students to transfer media to their own computers ... or to a shared, project PC ... without worrying about network speeds or mobile data charges.

The app is part of Microsoft's wider mobile strategy to improve its iOS offerings, now that Windows 10 Mobile hardware is no longer a focus for the company. Microsoft officially ended support for Windows Phone back in July, and is no longer developing new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile.

Photos Companion is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Microsoft Releases 'Photos Companion' iOS App for Quickly Transferring Photos to PC

 

[jjjjjooooo]

When is Panos Panay going to make a Surface Phone?

The choice to make the Surface Studio display Word documents 8.5 X 11” (Letter paper size) was cool (https://www.anandtech.com/show/11050/the-microsoft-surface-studio-review/4). (I remember complaining about Pages not doing this (on Mac) in 2015.) (I also wanted Apple to release an e-paper “Apple Printer” like the Sony Digital Paper (https://www.anandtech.com/show/9860/sony-digital-paper-system-dpts1-review), but a little bit bigger (http://www.displaywars.com/14,2-inch-4x3-vs-13,3-inch-4x3) to accommodate 8.5 X 11”.)

I would have probably bought a Studio for my mom (she’s used to Windows/uses it at work and doesn’t want to switch) if they had an all SSD option (maybe the 2018 model will).

Plus it’s got Windows Hello (secure face unlock)(https://www.theaustralian.com.au/li...l/news-story/4cdee04cc466e4f673c8642f5cb98d22). (She’s always kept a login password.)

 

[Jesse Waugh]

Why has this never been an easy process? And no - Image Capture is not streamlined for photo transfer from iPhone.

Edit - I see this is about Windows. But Apple

 

[JosephAW]

I am helping a senior citizen move from a Windows 10 laptop to an iPad Pro because the laptop is too heavy and his android phone is a nightmare.
I was wondering what was the best way to transfer photos either way. I thought of using Dropbox cloud app but they will already have a 200GB iCloud account for backups. Didn't want to install iTunes bloat just for photos. Now this appears, might be the best solution without having to install iTunes.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Apple needs to make it easy to move your photos *in their albums* to you computer. Sometimes you want to see them not on a tiny screen.

 

[jjjjjooooo]

When is Panos Panay going to make a Surface Phone?

The choice to make the Surface Studio display Word documents 8.5 X 11” (Letter paper size) was cool (https://www.anandtech.com/show/11050/the-microsoft-surface-studio-review/4). (I remember complaining about Pages not doing this (on Mac) in 2015.) (I also wanted Apple to release an e-paper “Apple Printer” like the Sony Digital Paper (https://www.anandtech.com/show/9860/sony-digital-paper-system-dpts1-review), but a little bit bigger (http://www.displaywars.com/14,2-inch-4x3-vs-13,3-inch-4x3) to accommodate 8.5 X 11”.)

I would have probably bought a Studio for my mom (she’s used to Windows/uses it at work and doesn’t want to switch) if they had an all SSD option (maybe the 2018 model will).

Plus it’s got Windows Hello (secure face unlock)(https://www.theaustralian.com.au/li...l/news-story/4cdee04cc466e4f673c8642f5cb98d22). (She’s always kept a login password.)

“Meet Surface Studio” (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4023441/surface-meet-surface-studio).

I really like the look of that mouse (I wonder if it works well with Mac?).

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

I am helping a senior citizen move from a Windows 10 laptop to an iPad Pro because the laptop is too heavy and his android phone is a nightmare.
I was wondering what was the best way to transfer photos either way. I thought of using Dropbox cloud app but they will already have a 200GB iCloud account for backups. Didn't want to install iTunes bloat just for photos. Now this appears, might be the best solution without having to install iTunes.

Another option is PhotoSync. I've used it across Windows, iOS, and Android.

 

[sethlution]

Apple needs to make it easy to move your photos *in their albums* to you computer. Sometimes you want to see them not on a tiny screen.

Apple already has a perfectly good and free solution in My Photo Stream (not the premium iCloud Photo Library service). Just take a photo on your iPhone and it's there on your PC within a couple second. I believe you need to install iCloud plugin on your PC to get this to work on Windows. With a Mac, it's an automatic process if you use the same iCloud account on both devices.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Why has this never been an easy process? And no - Image Capture is not streamlined for photo transfer from iPhone.

WTF are you on about? This article is about iPhone to Windows which is a pain. This is NOT about iPhone to macOS.

Photos and Image Capture are excellent and DO streamline photo transfer. Again, I have no clue wtf you're referring to. Also, Air Drop is a marvel as well.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Apple already has a perfectly good and free solution in My Photo Stream (not the premium iCloud Photo Library service). Just take a photo on your iPhone and it's there on your PC within a couple second. I believe you need to install iCloud plugin on your PC to get this to work on Windows. With a Mac, it's an automatic process if you use the same iCloud account on both devices.

Perfectly good? No, no it's not.

I got sick of having to engage senior level support, including handing them my login info for them to test in their lab, to get iCloud for Windows to work.

I broke down and bought a Mac Mini just to ensure seamless backup of my photos and videos.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

Perfectly good? No, no it's not.

I got sick of having to engage senior level support, including handing them my login info for them to test in their lab, to get iCloud for Windows to work.

I broke down and bought a Mac Mini just to ensure seamless backup of my photos and videos.

Senior level support? All you have to do is use Google Photos, OneDrive, or DropBox and they'll upload your photos up into the cloud for backup. Or transfer all of your photos from your phone to your computer, then use something like CrashPlan to backup your entire computer. Definitely didn't require getting a Mac Mini.

 

[sethlution]

Perfectly good? No, no it's not.

I got sick of having to engage senior level support, including handing them my login info for them to test in their lab, to get iCloud for Windows to work.

I broke down and bought a Mac Mini just to ensure seamless backup of my photos and videos.

Ok fair enough. It’s been a few years since I’ve used it on windows. It’s perfectly smooth on a Mac though. Guess that’s just how the Apple integration lock works.

 

[4jasontv]

I thought OneDrive for mobile already did this.

 

[tkukoc]

Interesting, just wonder if it actually preserves all tags and dates built into the files.. or if they are changed to the day of transfer? Seems like a lot of programs change the information to date of transfer. Sure the original data is still within the file but you can't look at it without using another secondary program. I'll have to mess with this at some point to see.

 

[Jesse Waugh]

WTF are you on about? This article is about iPhone to Windows which is a pain. This is NOT about iPhone to macOS.

Photos and Image Capture are excellent and DO streamline photo transfer. Again, I have no clue wtf you're referring to. Also, Air Drop is a marvel as well.

Wow, you got really upset by my mistake. Try less profanity. What are you - 15?

 

[QuarterSwede]

Apple already has a perfectly good and free solution in My Photo Stream (not the premium iCloud Photo Library service). Just take a photo on your iPhone and it's there on your PC within a couple second. I believe you need to install iCloud plugin on your PC to get this to work on Windows. With a Mac, it's an automatic process if you use the same iCloud account on both devices.

I’m actually surprised at how well iCloud Photo Library works on Windows. And it has an upload folder so you can move photos from Windows to your Apple devices.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Those of us with 200GB of photos really don't want EVERYTHING syncing with iCloud Photos and thanks to iCloud having no selective sync support, I can't use iCloud on my work computer without ALL my stuff coming in, so no iCloud Photos is NOT a great solution for me (may be for others).

Google Photos is ok but getting the photos OUT is not easy and they're compressed unless you pay for storage.

What I do now, as other posters here mentioned, I use a Mac Mini and plug my phone into it now and then, have my Photos Library on an external spinner and have ARQ backing that up to Backblaze B2.

Been working pretty good so far. I have Amazon Photos backing up on my iPhone because of Amazon Prime (included) and Google Photos backing up as well because it is super easy to share pictures and make shared albums.


Just downloaded this Photos Companion app -- surprised no one is mentioning or talking about whether or not it supports HEIC (which OneDrive and Microsoft have completely ignored).

 

[NeilHD]

Living in hope that one day there will be an easy way to transfer photos out of multiple iCloud accounts onto my Mac Mini.

My Mini is my main photo store. Getting pictures from both my wife and my phones (different iCloud accounts) onto it is just painstaking and horrid.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

Senior level support? All you have to do is use Google Photos, OneDrive, or DropBox and they'll upload your photos up into the cloud for backup. Or transfer all of your photos from your phone to your computer, then use something like CrashPlan to backup your entire computer. Definitely didn't require getting a Mac Mini.

None of those options are iCloud.

Google doesn't sync the photos to the PC. DropBox is cost prohibitive and clunky. OneDrive, I thought they were also capped at 1tb and expensive for that tier And clunky.

Ok fair enough. It’s been a few years since I’ve used it on windows. It’s perfectly smooth on a Mac though. Guess that’s just how the Apple integration lock works.

To be fair, I haven't heard of others having the issues I've had. But I am also the only PC user amongst my friends who uses iCloud.

 

[BigMcGuire]

So, I install the application on my iPhone. It instructs me to go to my Windows 10 device (both my work pc and laptop) and all I see is: Import --> From a folder, From a USB device. No option from WiFi.

OK so app says: "... --> Settings --> Preview --> Help Microsoft test the mobile import over Wi-Fi feature." I don't see that on my laptop or my desktop (both Windows 10).

For sh*ts and giggles I tried USB and got:

.....

OK I had to CLOSE Photos after turning on Preview and now I see Import --> Import mobile over Wi-Fi then I get a QR Code.

I open app, and point it at the QR code and .... it takes me to a list of my 10GB of photos on my iPhone. I can't click Done. I have to MANUALLY SELECT EACH ONE?! REALLY? LOL. Wow.

OK so I select a few to import and :

What a ****'ing joke.


Actually got it to transfer 2 photos before giving me the above error message on my laptop. It takes 6-8 seconds on wifi to transfer one photo.

How are people supposed to actually use this?


From Laptop:

 

[Peepo]

Not one positive comment on here really so I'll add one...

I installed and works perfect for me and very fast. It solves a problem when I am at work... I often have to send pictures to my work computer and have emailed them in the past as a solution (don't want to put icloud, dropbox etc. on my work computer).
[doublepost=1518713611][/doublepost]

So, I install the application on my iPhone. It instructs me to go to my Windows 10 device (both my work pc and laptop) and all I see is: Import --> From a folder, From a USB device. No option from WiFi.

OK so app says: "... --> Settings --> Preview --> Help Microsoft test the mobile import over Wi-Fi feature." I don't see that on my laptop or my desktop (both Windows 10).

For sh*ts and giggles I tried USB and got:



.....

OK I had to CLOSE Photos after turning on Preview and now I see Import --> Import mobile over Wi-Fi then I get a QR Code.

I open app, and point it at the QR code and .... it takes me to a list of my 10GB of photos on my iPhone. I can't click Done. I have to MANUALLY SELECT EACH ONE?! REALLY? LOL. Wow.

OK so I select a few to import and :



What a ****'ing joke.


Actually got it to transfer 2 photos before giving me the above error message on my laptop. It takes 6-8 seconds on wifi to transfer one photo.

How are people supposed to actually use this?


From Laptop:

I have not experienced problems. I transfer photos in seconds. After reading your post I transferred 13 photos including a video and was very fast. Maybe check your wifi and internet connection.

Not sure why all the hate...In comparison I cannot select all photos from Apple's photos app in IOS.

This app provides a similar experience as how airdrop transfers files between IOS or MacOS devices, but instead send to Window 10 Photos app. Since there is no Airdrop for Windows, Microsoft has come up with its own protocol for doing this and uses a QR code to authenticate.

I got the impression that the Microsoft Companion app is designed to quickly transfer a photo to a windows 10 PC. If you are attempting to transfer "all" of your photos then you should look at a different cloud solution or copy direct via USB.

This is great for me because I am required to take photos on job sites and email them using my work computer. This app now makes it easy to transfer these photos to my work computer.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Not sure why all the hate...In comparison I cannot select all photos from Apple's photos app in IOS.

Cuz I couldn't get it to work and I spent some time at it. I mean, I plug my phone into my Mac Mini with Photos, one click gets all the new photos without me having to select each individual one, and good to go.

If it doesn't work for me, it's bound not to work for others.

I'm happy to hear it is working for you - I have family with iPhones and Windows computers so would be nice. So I don't hate it. I am a huge fan of Microsoft - I'm a C# programmer for goodness sake - spend all my day in Visual Studio and on Windows. I use OneDrive for my primary cloud storage provider.

I don't HATE, I just couldn't get it working and that frustrated me. I couldn't even get the USB connection photos import to work . It saw all 3200 photos, then instantly dies.

 

[dino12]

I could never get iCloud for Windows to work. it keeps on saying "Your photo and video library is being prepared" for about 3 months now. I've tried everything, uninstalling and reinstalling, logging out and back in. Does anyone have a solution for this?

 

[Peepo]

Cuz I couldn't get it to work and I spent some time at it. I mean, I plug my phone into my Mac Mini with Photos, one click gets all the new photos without me having to select each individual one, and good to go.

If it doesn't work for me, it's bound not to work for others.

I'm happy to hear it is working for you - I have family with iPhones and Windows computers so would be nice. So I don't hate it. I am a huge fan of Microsoft - I'm a C# programmer for goodness sake - spend all my day in Visual Studio and on Windows. I use OneDrive for my primary cloud storage provider.

I don't HATE, I just couldn't get it working and that frustrated me. I couldn't even get the USB connection photos import to work . It saw all 3200 photos, then instantly dies.

Understandable.

Microsoft products work good when they do, but often will fail mysteriously for many. I work in IT and troubleshoot Windows often and sometimes things do not make any sense why something doesn't work... too many variables.

 

[DynaFXD]

For PC transfers I use Photo Transfer App. Got it a ways back, dunno if it is (still?) free. Doesn't get much easier to transfer photos between iPhone and PC.