How to Download Photos from iCloud to iPhone

“I have a lot of things on my iCloud Drive and I want to make more space in it. Can someone tell me how to download photos from iCloud to iPhone for that?”

If you also have a similar query and would like to download photos from iCloud to iPhone, then you have come to the right place. Ideally, there are different ways to store our photos on iCloud. Though, there are times when we just wish to offload them from iCloud and make more space in it for other things. Or, you simply want to download and view high-quality photos of wonderful moments. To help you do the same, I have come up with this detailed guide. Without much ado, let’s learn how to move photos from iCloud to iPhone in different ways.

Method 1: How to Get Photos from iCloud to iPhone Using iCloud Backup?

Ideally, there are two ways to store our photos on iCloud – via backup or photo library. If you can't find certain photos in iCloud, then these photos might be missing from iCloud. If you are using an old device or have not enabled the iCloud Photo Library, then your photos would be included in its backup. You can easily restore an existing iCloud backup to the same or any other device.

Prerequisites

• • You should have maintained an existing backup of your iPhone on iCloud. You can do that by visiting its iCloud Settings > Backup > Back Up Now option.
• • To restore your iCloud backup, you must know the credentials of the account where the backup is stored.

Once you have met these requirements, you can follow these steps to learn how to transfer photos from iCloud to iPhone.

Step 1: Reset your iPhone

Currently, the option to restore an existing iCloud backup is only given while setting up a new device. Therefore, if you are already using your device, then go to its Settings > General > Reset and tap on the “Erase all Content and Settings” button.

You have to enter the passcode of your device and confirm your choice to factory reset your iPhone. Please note that this action would delete all the saved data and settings from your iOS device.

Step 2: Restore photos from iCloud backup

Now, once your device starts, you need to perform its initial setup, and connect it to a stable network. While setting up your phone, choose to restore it from an existing iCloud backup. Afterward, you have to just log-in to the same iCloud account where your photos are stored and select a relevant backup file to restore.

Kindly maintain a stable internet connection and wait for a while it would take some time to download photos from iCloud to iPhone.

Step 3: Delete the iCloud backup

Lastly, you can just get rid of the iCloud backup file as it could be accumulating unwanted space on your iCloud storage. For this, just go to your device’s iCloud Settings > iCloud Storage or Manage Storage option. Now, tap on the “Backup” option to select a relevant backup file, and delete it subsequently. You can also turn off iCloud photos.

Method 2: How to Get Photos from iCloud to iPhone with iCloud Photo Library

Most of the new iOS devices have a dedicated Photo Library feature. Using it, you can just sync your iPhone photos to your iCloud Library. This makes it easier for us to sync photos from multiple devices to a single iCloud account and making them available everywhere. Unlike iCloud backup, the process is a bit simpler and there are different ways to use the Photo Library feature. To learn how to download photos from iCloud to iPhone via Photo Library, the following steps can be taken:

Step 1: Enable Photo Library on your iPhone

Before you proceed, just make sure that you already have your photos stored in your iCloud Photo Library. Now, to download photos from iCloud to iPhone, just visit your iPhone Settings > Photos & Camera. From the provided options, you just have to enable the “iCloud Photos Library” feature.

Since this would sync iCloud Photo Library with your phone, iCloud photos will now be downloaded on your device. Similarly, the photos present on your device would be uploaded to iCloud. Additionally, you can also select if you wish to optimize the size of your photos or maintain their original quality from here.

Step 2: Disable and Delete Photo Library (optional)

Once you have successfully downloaded all the photos from iCloud to your iPhone, you can disable the Photo Library option. Firstly, go to the Photos & Camera Settings and turn off the iCloud Photo Library sync. After that, you can go to your iPhone Settings > iCloud > Manage Storage > iCloud Photo Library. Now, tap on the “Disable and Delete” button and confirm your choice to remove the Photo Library feature from here.

This will let you get more space on your iCloud storage since the saved photos would be present on your iPhone storage now.

Bonus Tip: Restore iTunes Backup to Any Phone Easily [With No Data Loss]

By now, you can learn how to move photos from iCloud to iPhone easily. Apart from that, users also wish to restore an existing iTunes backup to their device without resetting it. For this, you can just take the assistance of MobileTrans-Restore. The application can load an existing iTunes backup and restore it to the connected Android or iOS device. The existing data on your phone won’t be lost and you will not encounter any other compatibility issues.

Check our video tutorial below:

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The toolkit can also be used to backup your iPhone to the system and later restore it to the same or any other device.

I hope that after reading this informative guide, you would be able to know how to get photos from iCloud to iPhone. I have listed two different techniques to do this using iCloud Backup and Photo Library. If you want to manage your iPhone data easily, then you can also take the assistance of MobileTrans – Backup/Restore tools. Go ahead and try these methods and share this guide with others to teach them how to download photos from iCloud to iPhone in a jiffy.

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Axel Nash

staff Editor