Ever come back from a trip with a phone stuffed with photos? I’m talking about hundreds, maybe thousands, of moments captured. You snap pictures of everything: the amazing sunsets, your meal, even your sleepy dog on the beach. Soon, your iCloud storage starts screaming for mercy. It feels like your digital life is spilling over.
Here’s the thing: filling up your iCloud is a common problem. We rely so much on cloud storage for our precious memories. But what if I told you that trusting only the cloud is a bit like putting all your eggs in one basket? It’s time to learn how to keep those digital treasures safe. The smartest move? Backing up your iCloud photos to an external drive.
Why You Need an Offline Backup, Even for Cloud Photos
If you already back up your iPhone photos to iCloud, you’re ahead of most people. Having an online backup is great for quick recovery if your phone breaks. But it shouldn’t be your only plan. Cloud-stored photos can vanish easier than you think. For instance, if you delete a synced photo from any of your Apple devices, it also disappears from your iCloud account. Poof, gone.
That’s why a second copy of your photos, stored offline, is always a good idea. Apple doesn’t make this process super simple. But learning how to move photos from iCloud to external drives can save you from total data loss. I’m here to show you the best ways to get those precious pictures stored locally. Some of these methods are much easier than Apple’s official tools.
Apple’s Official Way to Export iCloud Photos
First, let’s look at Apple’s own methods. You have two main choices: downloading photos directly from iCloud.com or requesting a copy of your data through Apple’s privacy page.
Downloading from iCloud.com is fine for a quick backup. But it only lets you grab about 1,000 photos at a time. These transfers can also get stuck due to internet speed issues.
The most dependable option is asking Apple for a full copy of your photos. Just know you might wait up to a week to get a download link.
Here’s how to request your iCloud photo data:
- Go to Apple’s data and privacy website. Sign in with your Apple account.
- Click “Request a copy of your data.”
- Scroll down the list until you find “iCloud Photos,” then click “Continue.”
- On the next page, choose the largest size for your backup files. Apple will split your photos into files of your chosen size. If you pick 1GB, you’ll have more files to download. If you choose 25GB, each file will be larger, but you’ll have fewer downloads overall.
- Once you’ve made your choice, click “Complete request.”
Apple will email you to confirm your data request. You’ll then wait up to a week for the download link to arrive. When it does, you can download all your photos and videos directly to your external drives.
This method is perfect for a one-time backup of everything. But if you want to keep saving new photos to an external drive, you’ll have to manually download them from iCloud whenever you need to. That’s not very practical for ongoing use. Luckily, there are simpler options out there.
Use a Mac App to Save Your iCloud Photos
If you don’t want to wait for your iCloud photo downloads, third-party apps can help. One of my favorites is Parachute Backup, which costs €5.99. This app lets you save photos from iCloud and files from iCloud Drive to your Mac, external drives, or even network storage like a NAS.
Parachute Backup is simple to use. It supports incremental backups. This means you don’t have to manually repeat the backup every time you take new photos. The app detects new pictures and automatically copies them to your chosen external drive. It won’t re-download images you’ve already saved. It also handles full backups if you want to duplicate all your photos to another drive.
To start, open Parachute Backup. You’ll see sections for iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos. Click "Authorize" under iCloud Photos, give the app permission, then click "Run Backup Now." The app will take care of the rest. You can even set it to sync new photos on a schedule, whether instantly or at specific times.
Use an iPhone App to Save Your iCloud Photos
For those who prefer working on their phone, the BackiGo app for iPhone lets you transfer iCloud photos to an external drive.
You can connect a drive to your iPhone using a USB-C port. Or, you can add network storage to the Files app. Then, use BackiGo to save your images to those spots. This app can move iCloud photos to external drives effectively. You can even use it to back up photos and then delete them from your phone to free up space.
BackiGo also defaults to incremental backups. After your first backup, it only saves new photos to the external drive. You can use BackiGo for free to save up to 500 photos. If you need more, there are payment options: €0.99 per month, €7.99 per year, or a one-time payment of €17.99 to unlock all features. Consider it a small investment to keep a backup of those priceless moments. They won’t happen again, after all.