Back up iPhone photos to a Windows PC automatically, no cable

An iPhone and a Windows PC can work together, but it takes a little set-up. Here are the three usual ways, and one thing to know about HEIC photos first.

About HEIC photos

iPhones save photos as HEIC files, which are smaller than JPEG at the same quality. Windows can show them after you install the free HEIF Image Extensions from the Microsoft Store. Keep the HEIC originals in your backup: converting them to JPEG loses a little quality every time.

With a cable and the Photos app

1. Connect the iPhone to the PC with a cable and unlock it. Tap Trust if the iPhone asks.
2. Open the Photos app on Windows and choose Import, then your iPhone.
3. Pick the photos and import them.

It is free and needs no account. It is also manual: someone has to plug in each iPhone and remember which photos are new.

With iCloud for Windows

If you use iCloud Photos, install iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store and switch on Photos. New photos download to your PC. This is automatic, but it needs enough iCloud storage for all your photos, and it only works for the people who share that iCloud library. Android phones in the family cannot add to it.

Automatically over home Wi-Fi

An app on the iPhone can send photos straight to an app on your PC while both are on the home Wi-Fi, with no cable and no cloud storage.

One honest limit: iOS decides when apps may work in the background, so an iPhone backs up less often in the background than an Android phone. Opening the app for a moment usually starts a full backup. A good app says this plainly instead of promising constant background backup.

If you have Optimize iPhone Storage switched on, the full-size originals are in iCloud, not on the phone. The app then has to download each original before sending it, which takes longer the first time.

Where PhotoAlbumsMesh fits

PhotoAlbumsMesh backs up every iPhone and Android phone in the family to one Windows, Mac or Linux computer over home Wi-Fi, keeps HEIC photos as HEIC, and sorts them by person and phone, then by year and month. It is honest about iPhone background limits: the app shows when each phone last backed up.

PhotoAlbumsMesh is not released yet. Join early access.