Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

đź“° Newsroom Update

Voice Memos update brings Layered Recordings to iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Download my iCloud photos to Photos on macbook pro

Is it possible to download my iCloud photos (incl livestream) to Photos on macbook pro without having to upload my entire Macbook pro Photos library? I have been forced to upgrade my iCloud account to 50gb due to a connectivity issue with Iphone 12pro to Macbook Pro, and now the only way to get my photos from my iphone is to use iCloud. However, activating my iCloud in Photos on my macbook pro, tells my that I have to upload my "entire" Photos library which is triple the size of my Iphone icloud photos library. It has been building over the years, as I have been comfortably importing my iphone photos every 2-3 months.


Now it seems that I am not only forced to have a workable portion of my current Iphone photos, but also forced to have EVERYTHING in my icloud to even access my photos.


Is this really the case?


ps. for the connectivity issue, I have all workarounds (MobileDeviceUpdater - reinstalling everything - checking the latest versions of itunes and macos, etc etc ) > spending three days looking for a solution. Somebody mentioned in the forums about a secret "patch" installation...? really, I am hacking my computer now to make this work?


I am beginning to think that upgrading from Iphone X to Iphone 12 pro is the worst decision I have every made. The lidar cam cool, but the troubles this phone is giving is simply just not worth the hazzle!!!


iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 14

Posted on Apr 11, 2021 2:13 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 11, 2021 2:34 AM

You do not need to turn on iCloud Photos in the Mac to download from iCloud

https://www.howtogeek.com/509225/how-to-download-iphone-photos-from-icloud-to-your-mac/


There should have been no reason why iPhone to mac import and sync didn’t work with the 12 unless you have a very old MacOS

(I hate “iCloud photos”)

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 11, 2021 2:34 AM in response to mcbullman21

You do not need to turn on iCloud Photos in the Mac to download from iCloud

https://www.howtogeek.com/509225/how-to-download-iphone-photos-from-icloud-to-your-mac/


There should have been no reason why iPhone to mac import and sync didn’t work with the 12 unless you have a very old MacOS

(I hate “iCloud photos”)

Download my iCloud photos to Photos on macbook pro

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.