Import Albums “From my Mac” to my iPhone albums and keep them synced

Question

Level 1

8 points

Import Albums “From my Mac” to my iPhone albums and keep them synced

Hello,

I don't use iCloud Photos. I wanted to import my iPhone photo albums to my Mac but it seems that without iCloud Photos it is not possible without any third party software according to my searches.

But I've found that I can create albums on Photos on my Mac and then sync with my iPhone. So I took time to recreate albums on my Mac. I factory reset my iPhone and then sync with my Mac. All the photos are back, even the albums, great.

BUT, the albums on my iPhone are "hidden" in the "From my Mac" section. Not in "My Albums". And I can't add photos to these albums on my iPhone.

I could select all the photos and add them on a newly created album on my iPhone with the same name but.. I guess it will be out of sync.

Is it possible to keep the albums between my Mac and iPhone synced AND have the possibility to add photos to these albums on my iPhone ? Without iCloud Photos.

I've searched for a solution for the past two days and I don't know what to do anymore. It is supposed to be simple.. isn't it ? :(

Thanks

iPhone X, iOS 13

Posted on Aug 2, 2020 5:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,473 points

Aug 2, 2020 6:40 AM in response to Lenyarito

it is not simple, sorry. If you sync albums from your Mac manually, without iCloud, the synced albums are not really a part of the Photos Library on your iPhone. They have many restrictions. You cannot adjust the photos, unless you copy them into the Photos Library. You cannot delete them. You cannot add new photos to the synced albums. The syncing is only one way, from your Mac to the iPhone, just for viewing the photos on the iPhone. The images are not even synced with the full original resolution, but downsized for viewing. The changes do not sync back. If you want to be able to work with the synced photos and keep the adjustments and albums in sync, you have to use iCloud Photos. iCloud Photos is not free, if you need more than the free 5GB of cloud storage, but it is the only way to have a real syncing, both ways.

Reply

Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,473 points

Aug 2, 2020 9:48 AM in response to Lenyarito

You can simply create a second Photos Library, just to be uses with iCloud. That is, what I have done. I have archived the larger libraries with all my Photos on external volumes. On my Macs are keeping a smaller library with only my favourite photos and videos, and this library is enabled as the system Photo Library and syncing with iCloud Photos. New photos taken on my iPhone will sync back to this library and I export them and save them in my archive libraries.

This linked Help explains the rôle of the System Photo Library:

System Photo Library overview

And this link explains how to create additional Photos Libraries:

Create additional libraries

As a start, you could duplicate your current Photos Library. In the copy of the library, delete all photos, that are not in the albums you want to sync and keep only the important albums.

Then make this copy your System Photo Library and your iCloud Photo Library:

From iCloud Photos

Reply

Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

200,473 points

Aug 2, 2020 9:18 AM in response to Lenyarito

All solutions I can think of, require iCloud in some way. I hope someone else will jump in and can answer your question.

Reply

Answer 4

Lenyarito Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 2, 2020 8:05 AM in response to léonie

Ok I've just found that all albums created outside the iPhone are like read-only.

As my top priority is to keep my albums synced. I guess I have to find a way to manage my photos manually and recreate albums directly on my iPhone.

In this way, if I factory reset my iPhone for example, I can manually transfer one album at a time and recreate them on my iPhone. More timeconsuming than a sync button but it's still okay as I don't have a lot of albums.

Do you know how can I achieve this ? Manually managing my photos like with a USB stick?

Thanks

Reply

Answer 5

Lenyarito Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 2, 2020 9:28 AM in response to léonie

As you seem to be confortable with iCloud, I have a question :

Is it possible to use iCloud photos only for my albums ? So I don't have to upgrade my iCloud storage.

There are like 300 images across my few albums so if yes, they can easily fit in the free 5gb plan.

Reply

Answer 6

Lenyarito Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 2, 2020 11:44 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for you answer. I think I won't use iCloud Photos and stick to the initial plan.

I've done some research and I've found that I can achieve what I want with iExplorer.

However, now I need to export all my photos from the Photos app. Of course, I also want to export my albums as folders.

I've stumbled upon a script you modified (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7891804?answerId=31711805022#31711805022)

The problem is : it only exports albums. Is there a way to export all photos and my albums, with albums represented as folder and the photos in it ? Knowing that, in my case, a photo is only present in a single album.

My export folder would look like :

all photos and videos that aren't in an album
- album 1
-- photos in album 1
- album 2
-- photos in album 2

Thanks again

Reply

Answer 7

Lenyarito Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 2, 2020 6:59 AM in response to léonie

Oh really... What a cheap move from Apple...

Is there any free third party app that can achieve my goal ?

Thanks for your reply

Reply