By Conner Carey Updated 10/31/2022

You can use iCloud to upload photos to the cloud automatically, access iCloud photos on your PC or Mac, and easily download your iCloud photos. Here's how to set up iCloud for storing photos and upload photos to iCloud. We’ll also go over how to access iCloud photos on an iPhone, a PC, and a Mac. Lastly, we'll cover how to download photos from iCloud.

How to Upload & Download Photos to iCloud on iPhone, Mac & PC

Here's everything you need to know about how to upload or download pictures to and from iCloud on your iPhone, or with a computer. These tips are the easiest way to manage your photos with iCloud. Here’s how to upload photos to iCloud from iPhone, as well as how to download those photos from iCloud. For more great iCloud tutorials, check out our free Tip of the Day.

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iCloud Photo Library: How Much Does It Cost & How Does It Work?

When you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, every photo you take on your iPhone will upload to iCloud. If you’re connected to the internet (via Wi-Fi or cellular), photos and videos will upload automatically. If not, your device will sync to iCloud, and your content will upload once you’re connected. Having your photos in iCloud allows you to access your photos from any computer, PC or Mac, with an internet connection. This means you can easily download your iCloud photos to any PC or Mac.

If you’re wondering how to download photos from iCloud to your iPhone, that’s even easier because all you need to do is log in to iCloud on your iPhone and turn on iCloud Photo Library. Having iCloud Photo Library enabled means that all of your devices (and iCloud) will have synced photos. So if you delete a photo from your iPhone, it will be deleted from iCloud and vice versa.

It’s good to note that your iPhone comes with 5 GB of free iCloud storage. You can pay a dollar a month to get 50 GB of storage. You can also get 200 GB for $2.99 a month or two terabytes for $9.99. You can also share iCloud storage plans with anyone who is part of your Apple family plan if you enable Apple Family Sharing.

How to Upload Photos to iCloud & Download Photos from iCloud with Your iPhone or iPad

Funnily enough, uploading photos to iCloud from an iPhone and downloading photos from iCloud to an iPhone is done in the exact same way: you have to log in to iCloud on your iPhone and turn on iCloud Photo Library. With iCloud Photo Library turned on, your photos will automatically upload to iCloud. Likewise, when you log in to iCloud on your iPhone and turn on iCloud Photo Library, the photos you already had stored in iCloud will sync to your iPhone.

So, in order to both automatically upload photos to iCloud and get your photos from iCloud (download them) to iPhone, this is what you need to do:

Open the Settings app.
If you aren't already logged in to your Apple ID/iCloud account, you’ll need to tap Sign in to your [device].

Enter your Apple ID email and password.
If you are already signed in to your Apple ID/iCloud account, tap your name at the top.

Tap iCloud.
Tap Photos.

Toggle on iCloud Photos.
Your iPhone will then take some time to both upload the photos on your device to iCloud and download the photos from iCloud to your iPhone.

Once it’s done, select whether you want your iPhone to Optimize iPhone Storage or Download and Keep Originals of all your photos on your iPhone.

That’s it! From now on, when you take a photo on your iPhone, it will automatically upload to the cloud and be saved in iCloud. If you want to download those photos to your PC or Mac, keep reading. You can also use iCloud to store your old printed album photos. Scan photos using your iPhone to digitalize your childhood memories.

How to Access iCloud Photos

You can see and access your iCloud photos on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC as long as you have an internet connection. Just log in to iCloud with your Apple ID and password. If you forgot your Apple ID or forgot your Apple ID password, go ahead and do an Apple ID reset or reset your Apple ID password so you can log in to iCloud.

In a browser on a computer, visit icloud.com.
Use your Apple ID and password to sign in.

Click Photos.
That’s it! Here you can see and access all of the photos in your iCloud Photo Library.

If you want to upload photos to iCloud from your Mac or PC, the next tip will show you how. Then we’ll go over how to download photos from iCloud to your Mac or PC computer.

How to Upload Photos to iCloud from Your Mac or PC

First, follow the steps above (How to Access iCloud Photos) to access your iCloud Photo Library and click Photos.
From here, select the cloud with an up arrow in the upper right corner.

Select the photo or photos you want to upload from your computer, then click Open.
Under Library, select Photos.

The photo(s) you just added will be at the bottom of the page—just like how new photos appear at the bottom of your iPhone screen in the Photos app. Speaking of which, once you’ve added the photo to your iCloud Photo Library, you can look at All Photos on your iPhone and see the new photo(s) you added. It’s good to note that iCloud Photo Library will not add duplicate images. Otherwise, that’s all there is to it! All that’s left is how to download photos from iCloud to your Mac or PC computer.

How to Download Photos from iCloud to Mac or PC

First, follow the steps above (How to Access iCloud Photos) to access your iCloud Photo Library.

Select the photo you want to download by clicking on it.
Select additional photos by holding the Shift key while clicking on the photos you want to download.

Once you've selected all your photos, tap the cloud icon with the down arrow in the upper right corner.
Your photos will be automatically downloaded. To find them, open the Finder and click Downloads.

That’s all there is to it! Now you can easily upload, download, and access your iCloud Photos on iPhone, iPad, PC, and Mac computers. Let me know if there’s anything else related to iCloud photo management that you want me to cover.

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