No way to copy all photos and videos from iPhone XS to Windows PC

Question

Level 1

4 points

No way to copy all photos and videos from iPhone XS to Windows PC

Hi guys,

since few months I own iPhone XS (currently on iOS 13.1.3). I don't have a MAC, but I supposed that with an iPhone worth 1400$ it's obvious that I'd be easily able to copy all my Photos & Videos to a Windows PC, but I can't get it done for 7 days already...

So here's what I've tried and didn't succeed:

Obviously, I first tried to simply plug in the iPhone to an USB port and copy-paste the files from DCIM folder. This however is impossible - the transfer is always interrupted after 2-3 minutes (Windows says that the device is no longer available or it's been interrupted). I've tried on 2 different PCs with Windows 10 and no success. It might work if I copy 2-3 files at a time, but it'd then take me ages to copy ~1k photos and videos files I have.
Then, I tried with iTunes. I installed iTunes on the PC, plugged iPhone via USB port and tried to follow the instructions from https://support.apple.com/en-me/HT201313 (section "Sync your photos manually with iTunes"). This however only synchronizes (copies from iPhone to PC) photos and videos which I made after enabling this option - it doesn't synchronize all these ~1k files created before......
The last option, which seemed to make the most sense, was to use iCloud for Photos app synchronization. So yeah, I upgraded my iCloud plan for the paid one (50GBs) and enabled synchronization for Photos app. And again - this only sends NEW photos & videos to iCloud.... it doesn't synchronize already-existing photos and videos....

It seems like an extremely easy operation which I'm trying to do here and I can't get it done in any way, even using Apple iCloud paid service... This is driving me crazy, so maybe you can help me here ;) How can I get it done?

iPhone XS, iOS 13

Posted on Nov 20, 2019 5:47 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 20, 2019 6:06 PM in response to daga9944

There are two ways to store photos on an iPhone. One way is to sync them from your PC to your iPhone using iTunes. This leaves the photos on your computer, and duplicates them on your phone, but those photos are separate from photos that are taken with the phone (that is, where the phone is the source of the photos). As they were copied from your PC they should still be there.

If you go to Settings/{your name}/iCloud and turn on Photos, then leave the phone connected to Wi-Fi for long enough the photos taken withe the phone should all be uploaded to iCloud. You can check that by logging in to https://icloud.com and clicking on Photos. They should all be there once there has been sufficient time for them to sync. You can then download them from iCloud to your computer, or install iCloud for Windows and view then in that app. This will not include photos that were uploaded originally from your PC, because they should still be on your PC.

Reply

Answer 2

daga9944 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2019 8:02 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi Lawrence,

thank you for answering.

I understand everything you wrote about iCloud Photos synchronization, but I don't get why the photos taken by iPhone previously (before enabling Photos' iCloud synchronization) are not uploaded to iCloud? How can I make ALL my photos (not only the new ones taken after enabling iCloud synchronization) be uploaded to iCloud? If old photos are not "automatically" detected and synchronized, maybe there's a way to manually send selected photos to iCloud (I however didn't find such option anywhere)?

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 26, 2019 5:53 AM in response to daga9944

Really, you mean you didn’t read before posting? There are several ways to copy and sync photos to your PC. A few are documented in this article, which has already been posted, but here it is again for your convenience: Keep your photos safely stored and up to date on all of your devices - Apple Support

daga9944 wrote:

Really there's no option to do that...? :/

It seems unrealistic... How can such an expensive phone and considered the best in the world not support such simple, obvious stuff?

Reply

Answer 4

daga9944 Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 2, 2019 2:49 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence, once again : did you read my question at all? See what I answered to your first answer on Nov 20, 2019 8:02 PM. I know all the options to sync file with my Windows PC and I read all these articles. I'm asking here for help with my specific issue - why I can't make old photos synchronize to iCloud. Old = the ones taken BEFORE enabling iCloud Photos synchronization.

For now, the only option I see to copy old files to my Windows PC is to copy them one-by-one via USB cable, sometimes reconnecting iPhone USB cable because of the issue I mention in the original question (first post) in point 1. This is insane.

Reply

Answer 5

daga9944 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 25, 2019 11:54 PM in response to daga9944

Really there's no option to do that...? :/

It seems unrealistic... How can such an expensive phone and considered the best in the world not support such simple, obvious stuff?

Reply

No way to copy all photos and videos from iPhone XS to Windows PC

Similar questions