Protect your precious memories: 4 ways you can back up photos from your iPhone and iPad

Our phones have become more than mere communication devices today. They're also our personal historians, capturing countless precious moments through their powerful cameras and taking us down memory lane every day by recommending old moments and reviving our memories. For iPhone users, the device's exceptional photo capabilities mean we're constantly documenting life's big events and small joys. Unlike the limitations of film cameras and physical photo prints, there are virtually unlimited memories that you can capture and store now. But with this convenience comes a crucial responsibility: ensuring these digital memories are safely preserved. After all, a single accident, device malfunction, theft, or technical glitch could wipe out years of irreplaceable photos in an instant.

Fortunately, there are several different ways to back up and safeguard the photos stored on your iPhone and iPad. From cloud-based solutions that offer seamless syncing across devices to physical storage options that provide tangible peace of mind and from backup-everything solutions to choose-what-you-want-to-backup methods, the choices can seem overwhelming.

Moreover, backing up your photos isn’t just about preventing loss; it’s also about peace of mind. Knowing that your images are securely stored elsewhere allows you to free up space on your iPhone and not worry about running out of storage. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore four ways to back up photos from your iPhone and iPad.

iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos — which is different from iCloud Backup — is Apple's cloud-based photo storage and syncing service. It automatically uploads and stores your entire photo library in the cloud and makes your images and videos accessible across all your Apple devices. Its seamless integration with the Photos app on your iOS device allows you to view, edit, and share your media from any iPhone, iPad, Mac, or web browser. By keeping your photos in the cloud, iCloud Photos helps free up storage space on your devices while ensuring your memories are safely backed up. It also offers features like shared albums and intelligent organization, making it easier to manage and enjoy your growing photo collection.

To enable iCloud Photos on your iPhone and iPad, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top of the screen to open the Apple ID settings. If you don’t see your name, you must sign in with your iCloud account or create a new one.
3. Tap on ‘iCloud’ in the Apple ID settings screen.

4. In the ‘Apps using iCloud’ section, tap on Photos.
5. Turn on the ‘Sync this iPhone’ option under iCloud Photos.
6. If you’re running low on space on your iPhone or iPad, you can optionally turn on the ‘Optimize iPhone Storage’ option.

Once the backup process is complete, you can access your photo library on the web by going to https://www.icloud.com/photos

iCloud storage starts with a free 5 GB tier, with paid plans starting at $0.99/month for 50 GB and $2.99/month for 200 GB to $9.99/month for 2 TB storage. Unfortunately, iCloud Photos is an “all or nothing” kind of solution to back up your photos. As it is integrated seamlessly with the Photos app, it backs up all your photos, videos, and images from the Camera Roll. There’s no way to manually choose what to back up to the cloud. If you have a large collection of photos on your iOS device, you’ll need to upgrade your iCloud storage tier to the higher paid plans.

While iCloud Photos is the perfect solution for backing up photos and videos from your iPhone and iPad, the pricing may make it out of reach for many users.

Pros: Seamless integration with photos app, works across Apple devices and the web.

Cons: All-or-nothing solution; large media collection may require higher paid plans

Google Photos

Google Photos is a cloud-based photo storage and sharing service offered by Google. It is similar to iCloud Photos, offering automatic backup and syncing of photos and videos across devices, accessible through mobile apps and web browsers. In addition to the core functionality of backup and syncing, the Google Photos service uses AI to organize and categorize images, making them easily searchable by people, places, or objects. Google Photos provides features like shared albums, facial recognition, and automated creation of collages and animations. The Google Photos iOS app also offers some advanced editing features, such as the ability to remove unwanted objects from your photos.

To enable Google Photos on your iPhone and iPad, follow these steps:

1. Download the Google Photos app from the App Store and launch the app.
2. Sign in with your Google/Gmail account or create a new one.
3. Tap your Profile photo at the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap on ‘Google Photos Settings’ and then tap Backup.
5. Enable the ‘Backup’ toggle switch to start backing up your photos and videos from your iPhone and iPad to the Google Photos cloud.

Once the backup process is complete, you can access your photo library on the web by going to https://photos.google.com

Unlike iCloud Photos, Google Photos offers 15 GB of storage in their free tier, which is shared across Google services. Users may buy additional storage starting at $1.99/month for 100 GB and $2.99/month for 200 GB. These plans also include other benefits across Google services.

If you’re already in the Google ecosystem or have an Android device, Google Photos is arguably the better choice for you to back up your photos from iPhone and iPad, primarily because iCloud Photos does not work on Android devices at all.

Pros: Offers 15GB of free storage, works across iOS, Android, and the web, has AI features.

Cons: All-or-nothing solution, Lacks the $0.99 for 50GB storage option, photos are compressed and not stored in original quality by default

How to back up iPhone photos and videos without using iCloud Photos or Google Photos

Both the options we’ve seen above, iCloud Photos and Google Photos, are “all-or-nothing” solutions, i.e. they upload and backup your entire library of photos and videos without giving you a choice. That also means that you must upgrade your account to pay for higher storage tier plans and get tied into a recurring subscription. What if there was a better way? What if there was a reliable and secure way to back up photos and videos from iPhone and iPad without using iCloud Photos or Google Photos? Well, wonder no more because that’s exactly what we’re talking about here.

If you don’t want to be stuck to a recurring subscription or be dependent on all-or-nothing services by Apple or Google, Documents by Readdle is what you need. Unlike the first two solutions described above, with Documents, you get to choose exactly which photos and videos to back up. Not only that, but you also get to choose how to back them up and where to back them up.

Documents by Readdle

The Documents app by Readdle is a multitool for iOS and Mac devices that offers an incredible lineup of features for working with files. From versatile file management, advanced document viewing, and PDF editing capabilities, to a music and video player that supports practically every file format, a VPN for secure browsing, and file conversion tools, Documents has it all and so much more. It serves as a central hub for storing, organizing, and accessing various file types on your iPhone and iPad, including PDFs, images, and office documents. The app offers features like cloud storage integration, file-sharing capabilities, and a built-in web browser. Users can edit PDFs, annotate documents, and even transfer files between their iPhone/iPad and computer. 

Get Documents for Free from the App Store

Let’s say you’ve captured a video of your child’s first-ever solo performance on stage in glorious 4K HDR on your new iPhone. Including this video in your iCloud Photos or Google Photos, backup would require you to shell out many dollars every month. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just back up this or other memorable moments onto a thumb drive or hard drive and safeguard it for later? That’s exactly what Documents allows you to do, with ease!

Back up photos and videos from iPhone and iPad to any computer (Mac or PC)

With Documents, you can transfer any number of photos or videos from your iPhone and iPad to any Mac or PC computer you want, wirelessly or over USB. Here’s how:

1. Get Documents from the App Store and launch the app.
2. Tap on the orange + button at the bottom right.
3. Choose the ‘Connect to Computer’ option and follow the instructions.

4. Once the connection is established, you can browse your entire photo library from the web browser on your computer and choose which photos and videos you want to back up on your Mac or PC.
5. Now, carefully store and archive this backed-up media collection on any external drive or thumb drive for later retrieval.

Read this support article to learn more about transferring files between Documents on iPhones and iPads and any Mac or PC computer.

Back up photos and videos from iPhone and iPad to any cloud storage service

If backing up to external drives is not your thing, you can also manually backup and transfer photos and videos from your iPhone and iPad to any cloud storage service. Unlike iCloud Photos and Google Photos backup, this manual backup using the Documents app allows you to choose which photos and videos you want to back up. Here’s how:

1. Get Documents from the App Store and launch the app.
2. Tap the orange + button at the bottom right.
3. Tap ‘New Folder’ and give the folder a meaningful name that describes the collection of photos and videos you’re backing up. Then tap the folder to navigate inside.
4. Tap the orange + button again, then tap ‘Import from Photos’.

5. Choose the photos and videos you want to back up, then tap the ‘Add’ button at the top right.
6. Tap the three dots at the top right, then tap ‘Select’ and then ‘Select All’.
7. At the bottom, tap on ‘Move’ and then select ‘Documents in iCloud’

This is the easiest way to manually back up photos and videos from iPhone and iPad to your iCloud account, but it’s not the only one. If you prefer using other cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, One Drive, etc., you can read this support article to know how.

Documents is an indispensable app for iPhone and iPad users, offering a wealth of features crucial for anyone who frequently works with files on iOS devices. While many of its capabilities are available for free, the Documents Plus subscription unlocks a range of advanced tools to supercharge your productivity.

Experience peace of mind by safeguarding your memories with Documents. Download this free app from the App Store today and start effortlessly backing up your photos and videos on your iPhone or iPad.