How To Back Up Photos To iCloud On iPhone, iPad, And Mac

Last Updated on May 3, 2023

How often do you take pictures or record video clips on your iPhone? If you don’t have iCloud backup enabled, you might want to consider turning it on.

This way, you won’t lose your precious memories even if your phone gets lost or stolen.

iCloud is Apple’s cloud storage service. It allows you to store files and access them from anywhere using your iOS device. The service also lets you share files between devices.

iCloud has become a standard feature on iPhones since its introduction in 2011.

In addition to backing up your data, you can also sync contacts, calendars, reminders, notes, bookmarks, and Safari browsing history across multiple devices. You can use the same iCloud account for all of these services.

We take a look at how to back up your photos to iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

1

How To Back Up Photos To iCloud With Your iPhone Or iPad

Backing up your photos to iCloud is fairly easy. Let’s take a look at the different steps.

You will need an iPhone or iPad which runs iOS 10.3 or newer to go through these steps.

Step

1

Settings

First, open the Settings app.

Step

2

Select Your Apple ID

You should then see your name at the top of the menu. Tap on this and select your Apple ID page.

Step

3

Tap iCloud

Next, tap iCloud. This will open the iCloud application.

Step

4

Tap On Photos

You will see a section called Apps Using iCloud. Tap on Photos there.

Step

5

Photos Page

On the Photos page, you need to tap the selection next to iCloud Photos. This will change the button color from gray to green.

Step

6

That’s It

That’s it. Your phone will now automatically back up your full-resolution photos to your iCloud account.

2

How To Download Photos From iCloud To Your iPhone Or iPad

If you are looking to download photos from iCloud onto your iPhone or iPad, then this is quite easy as well.

Step

1

Download Button

You just tap on the Download button in the Photos app. This will download your photos to your mobile device.

3

How To Back Up Photos to iCloud With An Apple Mac

For you to be able to back up photos to iCloud on your Mac, your device will need to run macOS Catalina 10.15 or later.

Step

1

System Preferences

On your Mac, you just go into System Preferences. System Preferences can be found when you click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the toolbar.

Step

2

 Apple ID

Then, click on your Apple ID that you can find in the top right corner of the System Preferences window.

Step

3

iCloud

Now, click on iCloud on the left. This will open your iCloud app. In the app, you can then tick the box next to Photos.

And that’s it. You have now backed up your photos on your Mac to your iCloud photo library.

How Many Photos Can You Back Up To Your iCloud Photo Library?

This depends on how much storage space you have, and which one of the available storage plans you have chosen with your iCloud service.

You will be able to store all your original photos as a full-resolution version on iCloud. This cloud storage on one cloud account allows you to access your photos from all your Apple devices.

However, if you only want to back up certain types of photos, you can choose to do so by selecting specific categories. For example, you could decide to only back up your vacation photos.

You can also choose to back up only selected albums or events.

Conclusion

Backups are important if you want to ensure that your original photos stay safe. There are many ways to do this, but the best way is to use iCloud backup.

It allows you to easily back up your photos, contacts, calendars, reminders, and more. And the best, it’s free, so why not give it a try?