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

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 25, 2024 1:49 PM

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



18 replies

Jul 25, 2024 6:07 PM in response to wyattoutwest

Apple's instructions are incorrectly sending folks to Google Takeout and then telling them to select Google Photos, pick source folders, and a destination service.


This will NOT give you an option for Apple's iCloud Photos as one of the destinations.


This is what worked for me:


  1. Navigate to your Google Profile
  2. Select "Data & Privacy" on the left side panel
  3. Scroll down to "Data from apps and services you use" section
  4. Select "Photos", which will, strangely, open Google Dashboard
  5. Scroll down to the "Recently used Google services" section
  6. Within the tile that says "Photos" select "Transfer data" - this is critical
  7. Continue from step #2 of this guide: https://www.lifewire.com/transfer-google-photos-to-icloud-5219739


Good luck!

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

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