How to put pictures from your phone to your computer

These days, there are a lot of different ways to import pictures from a cell phone to a laptop. Some of those methods require just a few touches on a variety of smartphone apps; others are a little more involved. You'll find that the processes are a little different depending on whether you use an Android or iOS smartphone, and whether you're using a Windows or iOS laptop.

If you're using a Windows PC, your phone's USB or charging cable is one of the fastest ways to move a lot of photos quickly to your laptop, and it won't drain your phone's battery in the process. Here's what to do:

1. Turn on your phone and your laptop. Unlock both devices, if they are password protected.
2. Connect the small end of the USB cable to your phone.
3. Connect the standard end of the USB cable to your laptop's USB port (the port could be on the side or back of your laptop.) Windows will automatically detect your phone.

For Android phones:

1. You may see an "Allow Access to Your Data" dialog box. Touch "Allow" to continue the process. (Windows may prompt you to choose what to do when the device is connected in the future.)
2. On your laptop, click "Import Photos and Videos," and Windows will begin looking for new images and videos stored on your phone using the Windows Photo app.
3. After it locates new images on your phone, you can select which pictures you want to transfer to your computer — you can simply "Select All" if you like.
4. Alternately, you can skip the Windows Photo app altogether, and use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder where images are stored on your phone (they're often in a folder named DCIM, Camera, or Photos). You can copy the images and then paste them to a laptop folder.

For iPhones:

1. When you connect your phone's cable to the PC, your phone may prompt you to "Trust This Computer." Tap Trust. Your phone will be listed as a device in Windows Explorer.
2. Double-click the DCIM folder on your phone and then copy and paste images from your phone to a folder on your laptop.

Note: If you have iCloud enabled, you can't download your photos to your PC as they are saved on iCloud and not on your phone. In that case, use the iCloud app to import your photos [sources: Hoffman, Microsoft].

If you a Mac user, there are also plenty of ways to move pictures from your phone to your computer.

For iPhones:

1. Connect your iPhone to one of your Mac's USB ports.
2. If your phone prompts you to "Trust This Computer," press "Trust."
3. Start the Photos app if it doesn't launch automatically.
4. If you don't see the Import option, manually click Import. Or, in the sidebar of the Photos app, you can click your phone's icon.
5. Select the images you want to import. To make things easy, just click "Import All New Photos."

For Android phones:

1. Use a USB cable to connect your phone to the Mac computer.
2. Open the Android File Transfer app. Navigate to the pictures folder on your phone — this will often be the DCIM or Camera folder.
3. Select the images you want, and then copy and paste them to a folder on your Mac computer [source: Apple].

For both Android and iOS-based smartphones, there are gobs of free apps related to photo sharing and image transfer, and any number of them will work. And if you just want to quickly send an image or two, you can skip all of these steps and simply send pictures to your laptop via an email app on your phone.

Originally Published: Jun 23, 2011

You may have snapped thousands of photos on your Android phone over the years. And now you want to copy them to your computer to edit them or just keep them safe. No problem. You can accomplish this in a few different ways.

Each method works the same in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let's go through each one.

Also: How to convert your home's old TV cabling into powerful Ethernet lines 

Plug your phone into your PC

The simplest way to transfer your photos is to copy them directly from your phone. To do this, plug your phone into a USB port on your PC. On your phone, swipe down from the top of the screen until you see an option for your USB connection. It may tell you that it's currently charging your device via USB. Tap that setting and change it to File transfer.

Use USB for File transfer.

Next, open File Explorer on your Windows PC and navigate to your Android device. Drill down through the Internal Storage or Internal Shared Storage folder to the DCIM subfolder and then open the Camera folder. You should see all of the phone's photos here. Open another window in File Explorer to a local folder on your PC. You can then copy and paste or drag and drop the photos from your phone to your computer.

Copy photos from phone to PC.

Also: How to transfer photos from your iPhone to your Windows PC

Use the Windows Photos app

You can also import photos from your mobile phone using the Windows Photos app. Open the app on your PC. Click the Import button and select the option for From a connected device.

Import photos from phone to Windows Photos app.

Select your Android phone and allow the app to generate all the photos from the device. Click the link for Change destination to choose a different folder for importing the photos. Click the drop-down menu for Select and choose the option for All items. Check the box for Delete original items after import to remove the photos from your phone. When ready, click the Import button.

Also: Microsoft's updated Windows 11 Photos app makes it easier to back up your pictures

First, make sure that the photos on your phone are being backed up and synchronized to Google Photos. Open the Photos app. Tap your profile icon and select Photos settings. Choose Back up & sync and confirm that the switch is turned on for Back up & sync. Also, make sure you have enough space in your Google cloud storage to accommodate all your photos. You can also change the Upload size to upload your photos in a compressed format to save space.

Sync photos to Google Photos.

Browse and sign in to the Google Photos website on your computer. You should there see the photos synced from your Android phone. Now let's assume you want to download all the photos to your PC. Select the first photo, hold down the Shift key, and then select the last photo. Click the three-dot icon in the upper right and select Download. Your photos are saved in your default Download folder as a ZIP file.

Download photos from Google Photos.

Here's a helpful option if you already use Microsoft OneDrive in Windows. Install the OneDrive app on your Android phone if you haven't already done so. Open the app and sign in with your Microsoft account. Tap the Photos icon at the bottom. Tap the option for Camera upload and tap the Turn On button. Then flip the switch for Camera upload.

Set up OneDrive on Android phone.

After the photos have been synced, open the OneDrive folder on your computer and you should see all the photos.

Yet another option is to use Microsoft's Phone Link, which lets you view and retrieve photos and other items from an Android phone. Your first step is to link and sync your Android phone with Windows. After your phone is linked, select the option for Photos in the Phone Link app on your Windows PC. You'll then see all the photos from your phone. Right-click on a photo you wish to download and select Save as. The downside with Phone Link is that there's no way to select and download multiple photos to your PC in one shot. So this tool is useful more for downloading just a few photos at a time.

Access photos in Phone Link app.