How to Transfer iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos

Apple has released a tool for transferring all of your iCloud photos and videos to Google Photos. Here’s how you can transfer your whole library with just a few clicks.

Apple is known for its ‘locked’ ecosystem. The company is heavily criticized for keeping the users locked in its ecosystem by providing services with Apple’s own products. Recently, Apple released a tool for transferring a user’s iCloud library to one of the most used photos app, Google Photos.

The service may be helpful if you’re switching from iOS to Android, or if you just want to sync all of your photos in one place. There are a few things that you need to know before starting the process. First, it will not delete your iCloud library. The service just requests a copy of your photo library to Google Photos. You need additional space in your Google account. Apple website says if your Google account runs out of space, in between the process, not all of your items will be transferred.

For transferring photos and videos to Google Photos, here’s what you need to do:

• Go to Apple’s Privacy website and Sign in with your Apple ID.

• Click on the Transfer a copy of your Photos and Videos option
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on iCloud Photos.
• Click on Continue

• Select Destination and Google Photos.
• Select the kind of data (photos, or videos, or both) you are going to transfer.
• Sign-in into your Google Account
• Click on Accept

The transfer should now be started. Apple says that the transfer should take a maximum of seven days. A few additional things to keep in mind. Supported file formats, as per Apple, are: jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, some RAW files, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .divx, .mov, .m4v, .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .m2t, .m2ts, .mts, and .mkv files.

Apple’s support website also says that the transfer of an album has a maximum limit of 20,000 photos per album. If you transfer an album with more than 20,000 photos, photos will still be transferred but won’t be added to the album in Google Photos. Also, only the most recent version of the photo is transferred rather than the original version, and duplicates appear as just one photo.

iCloud to Google Photos transfer service is currently available to customers in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There’s no word on when the service would be available to customers in other countries.