Download all photos from iCloud

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Level 1

20 points

Download all photos from iCloud

I recently downgraded my iCloud storage because I was not happy with the service. But since I had all my photos on my iPhone "optimized" to be uploaded to iCloud, I now will need to download them from the cloud before Apple deletes them in 30 days. My question is thus: how can I download all my pictures from iCloud to my Macbook.

P.S. There are around 29000 images there, so selecting them one by one is not a solution. I want the full-resolution images.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), iOS 11.0.3

Posted on Jan 14, 2018 12:14 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

getangar

Level 5

4,548 points

Jan 14, 2018 12:52 AM in response to glebsky

Well, it should be enough that you use the iCloud Photo Library on your Mac and you disable the optimization and choose to keep the original photo on the Mac. Once all the library is synchronized, all the photos should be on your local disk.

Have a look at my Photo settings (is in German, keep patience 🙂):

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Jan 14, 2018 12:33 PM in response to glebsky

You can also do a manual download at iCloud.com/Photos. Hold down the command key while selecting the photos. Then click Download. Another option is to select a Moment, then click the Share button, and then cancelling the Share. The photos should remain selected.

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Answer 3

glebsky Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 14, 2018 9:07 AM in response to getangar

Unfortunately I can’t do that. When I go to iCloud settings in Photos on my Mac, I get a series of pop-ups that won’t let me synchronize: “You may run out of iCloud storage by uploading this library” etc. It just won’t let me choose “Download Originals to this Mac”.

There is also the “My Photo Stream” option, but since it is intended for “recent photos”, I think it does not download the “optimized” images (the originals of which are only on iCloud).

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Answer 4

glebsky Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 14, 2018 11:02 AM in response to glebsky

I'm sure I'm not the first person to cancel my iCloud subscription. What is Apple's standard procedure on this? How is Apple expecting clients to get a hold of their own photos from iCloud before they delete them?

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Answer 5

Jan 14, 2018 11:59 AM in response to glebsky

I have the same problem - I now have a new hard drive that I am gathering all my photos onto and want to download the 14,200 from the cloud - it seems like the "select all" option has disappeared? How do I download all my photos without having to individually select 14,000 pictures (which seriously can't be what apple intended, that would just be crazy, so I assume that I am just missing something here??)

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Answer 6

glebsky Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 14, 2018 1:15 PM in response to Eric Root

This is obviously not a solution for a person wanting to download thousands or tens of thousands of photos. Please read the question before posting stock-answers.

My browser would probably crash already with a couple of dozens of simultaneous image downloads.

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Answer 7

Eric Root

Level 10

685,341 points

Jan 15, 2018 12:55 PM in response to glebsky

I did read the question. Apple removed the feature that allowed for easy downloading. What I posted is the only way to do it now.

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