Apple has always prided itself on not collecting user data, or if it does, it does it in the minimum amount necessary. And so that users could be convinced of this, at some point even offered them the opportunity to download the entire array of information about themselves that the company had accumulated. At first, this instrument was in demand, but when the people realized that there was nothing special there, its popularity faded. However, now Cupertino decided to go further and offered to transfer photos from iCloud to Google Photos, although not everyone.
This week, Apple added a tool for transferring photos and videos from iCloud to Google Photos to the site for uploading users’ personal data. Users did not even dare to wait for its appearance because they hardly believed that it would be easy to extract the entire array of data and then transfer it somewhere in Cupertino. After all, Google Photos is a competitor’s service about to become paid once the free 15GB is depleted. But lately, Apple has been behaving in general, even too liberal.
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How to Transfer Photos from iCloud to Google Photos?
- Follow this link and go through the authorization;
- Select “Request a transfer of a copy of your data”;
Data copy request and transfer are different parameters. Do not confuse
- In the window that opens, select the “Google Photos” service;
Select Google Photos as your destination
- Check the box for photos and videos and click “Continue”;
You can choose to transfer only photos or only videos
- Sign in to your Google account to confirm the transfer;
- Check the amount of data being transferred and confirm the transfer.
Conveniently, the transfer is carried out in a fully automatic mode. You don’t have to confirm or otherwise take photos manually. It’s just that a new album will appear in Google Photos with the pictures that you transfer from iCloud. There will be pictures in .jpg, .png, .webp, .gif, raw, .mpg, .mod, .mmv, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .divx, .mov, .m4v formats. Smart Albums, Shared Albums, Photo Stream content, and Live Photos, on the other hand, will not be transferred.
Important: Get a Copy of Data is not the same as Migrate a Copy of Data. But, most likely, if you live in Russia or the CIS countries, you will only have the first item. This is due to restrictions on using the transfer tool that Apple has set at this stage. Now only residents of the United States, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom will be able to use it. For the rest, this opportunity will open a little later.
What quality to choose in Google Photos?
Even though Google Photos now offers unlimited storage, in the summer of 2021, Google will disable this privilege and conduct an audit of the space occupied by each user in the cloud. If it exceeds 15 GB, you will have to subscribe to a paid subscription to the Google One service. The base plan offers 100 GB for 139 rubles per month. But even this is not important, but the fact that Google Photos has two types of photo storage: high quality and original.
- Original quality means that the photo will be stored in the cloud in the form in which it was received by the photographer, without modification or compression. Such images take 3-5, and sometimes more, megabytes.
- High quality means the image has been slightly processed to optimize its size. In this case, it will weigh about 10 times less (200-250 KB), but it will also lose a little in quality.
It is very important not to burst when transferring to select the original quality, so as not to be left with a spoiled media library.
How to change quality in Google Photos
- Launch Google Photos and click on your profile icon;
- In the window that opens, select “Settings: Photo”;
Choose only the original quality so as not to be left with low-quality pictures later
- Open “Startup and Synchronization” – “Quality”;
- Select “Original Quality” from the drop-down menu.
A little life hack in the end: you can save 10 rubles a month on a subscription to Google One if you register it not in the application itself but on the service website. In this case, Google does not pay Apple a commission and gives you a small discount.