Why can't I transfer Photos to iCloud using Takeout option?

I attempted to use the Takeout service to transfer photos to my iCloud account today and didn't see an option for iCloud. I followed instructions from this post: Transfer a copy of your photos and videos to iCloud Photos - Apple Support


Anyone know what happened?

Thank you!


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 13, iOS 17

Posted on Jul 19, 2024 2:32 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 27, 2024 3:45 PM

ap1kenobi wrote:

Forget the steps above, just navigate here and pick your options: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

The option for using iCloud Photos directly only became available sometime on 7/25.

18 replies

Nov 25, 2024 1:49 PM in response to wyattoutwest

Google Workspace accounts, family accounts, and education accounts that are not regular Google accounts are not seeing this option to export to Apple, Flicker, SmugMug etc.


I found a solution.


Share all your Google Photos to a regular Gmail account using Google Photos' "Partner Sharing" feature. Once all photos are shared and saved to the generic Google account you can use the link https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos and follow the regular instructions as mentioned Transfer a copy of your photos and videos to iCloud Photos - Apple Support



  1. Create a new Google account if you don't have one you can already use.
  2. Set up Google Photos partner share - https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos
  3. Send the invite to this new Google account from your old Google Workspace account
  4. select the option to share all photos
  5. Accept the invite from the new Google account and make sure to set it to Save all photos to this account
  6. then wait a bit.
  7. Once all photos are shared and saved to the generic Google account you can use the link https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos



Nov 15, 2024 5:30 AM in response to wyattoutwest

This solution won't work for everyone, but I used my iPhone to transfer.


I opened the Google Photos app and selected my photos month by month and pressed the "Save to device" button. It took around 2 hours for ~10k photos. Some of the videos took a while.


Then I opened the Apple Photos app and it started syncing to iCloud. That took a while, too, but it was actually successful and kept dates and metadata consistent.

Sep 18, 2024 3:52 AM in response to aliasgarn

aliasgarn wrote:

I have a google workspace account, and i don't get that option.

"Exporting your content to a third-party service is not available for , and you have been transferred to the default Takeout page."


I'm also a Google Workspace/Google Apps/"whatever Google want to call it this month" user, and I get the same message when navigating to https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos


Exporting your content to a third-party service is not available for <email address>, and you have been transferred to the default Takeout page.


[Edited by Moderator]


Oct 20, 2024 11:21 PM in response to ap1kenobi

As of 10/21/24 the direct link referenced by ap1kenobi kind of worked for me ...

ap1kenobi wrote:

Try this direct link: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos


A couple steps in I received the following message (just before I selected the destination):

404. That’s an error. The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.


I tried several times and cleared the cache and tried again and it didn't work.


What did work was me going to MS Edge instead of Chrome. The process seemed to work fine in Edge -- It accepted the request and said it could take hours to days to complete so I can't verify success yet.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Why can't I transfer Photos to iCloud using Takeout option?

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