How do you back up iPhone photos without iCloud?

iCloud Photos is the easy default, but it is not the only way to keep a second copy. Some people are out of iCloud space, some want a copy they hold in their hands, and some want photos out of the cloud on purpose. This guide covers four ways, with Apple’s and Google’s own steps. We checked them on 2026-10-09.

Before you start: the iCloud Photos question

If iCloud Photos is on and Optimize iPhone Storage keeps smaller versions on the phone, your iPhone may not hold the full-size originals. Apple says that before you import to a PC, “you must download the original, full resolution versions of your photos to your iPhone”. Check that you have enough free space first.

If you want to stop using iCloud Photos on this iPhone and keep the photos:

1. Download your originals, and make sure the iPhone has room for them.
2. Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud.
3. Under Saved to iCloud, tap Photos.
4. Turn off Sync this iPhone.
5. Choose Download Photos & Videos.

Apple warns that if you choose Remove from iPhone instead, the photos leave the phone, and that optimized photos “are not the original resolution”.

Option 1: a Mac

1. Connect the iPhone to the Mac with a cable.
2. Open the Photos app on the Mac. The Import screen shows the photos on the iPhone. If it does not, click the iPhone’s name in the sidebar.
3. Unlock the iPhone if asked, and tap Trust if the Trust This Computer alert shows.
4. Choose an album to import into.
5. Click Import Selected or Import All New Items.

Option 2: a Windows PC

1. Install the Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store.
2. Connect the iPhone and unlock it.
3. Tap Trust or Allow on the iPhone if it asks.
4. Import with the Microsoft Photos app. Apple points to Microsoft’s own instructions for this step.

Option 3: a USB drive or SD card

Apple’s iOS 27 guide lets the Photos app export straight to an external drive or a memory card. You may need a cable adapter or a card reader.

1. Connect the drive or card to the iPhone.
2. Open Photos and select the photos and videos.
3. Tap the Share button, then Export Unmodified Original.
4. Tap the drive below Locations, then tap Save.

Apple notes two details. Edited photos export as the unmodified original. And photos in the Hidden album “won’t be transferred if the album is locked”. To include them, Apple says to turn off Use Face ID (or Touch ID or Passcode) in Settings, Apps, Photos for the export, then turn it back on.

On iPhone models with USB-C, the Files app can also erase a drive to APFS, ExFAT or MS-DOS (FAT). Touch and hold the drive under Locations in Files and tap Erase. Erasing deletes everything on the drive.

Option 4: Google Photos

1. Install Google Photos and sign in.
2. Tap your profile picture, then Google Photos settings, then Backup.
3. Turn on Backup.

Google says backup runs from newest to oldest and works best with the app open and the phone plugged in. It uses Google Account storage, which Gmail and Drive share. Read does Google Photos scan your photos before you put private photos there.

How private is each copy?

Backup	Who can open it	Encrypted by default
iCloud Photos, standard data protection	You, and Apple can decrypt it for you	Yes, but Apple holds the keys
A Mac or PC library	Anyone who can log in to that computer	Only if the disk is encrypted
A full iPhone backup on a computer	Anyone with the computer	No. Apple says turn on Encrypt local backup
A USB drive or SD card	Anyone who holds it	No
Google Photos	You, through your Google Account	Encrypted in transit. Google says Google Photos items are not encrypted with your screen lock

For iCloud’s two modes, read is iCloud Photos end-to-end encrypted. For what a plugged-in computer can see, read can a computer see hidden photos.

A backup for the private photos only

Most people want two things at once. One is an ordinary backup for everyday photos. The other is a private one for the few hundred they would never want on a shared laptop. York Vault does the second job. It encrypts each item on your phone. Then it backs up every item to your own iCloud on iPhone, or your own Google Drive on Android, at no cost. The backup file is unreadable without your code or your 12-word recovery key, and we cannot open it. See encrypted backup and how the York Vault backup works.

York Vault also makes an encrypted backup file you can keep on a drive or a computer, with its own password. Download York Vault.