How to transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air
Whether you prefer to transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly or with a USB cable connection, you can find the solution you need in this guide.
Aileena Ivy Updated on Dec 23, 2024 9:24 AM
Users often transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air or Mac for reasons such as freeing up space on iPhone, photo backup, or pursuing better image processing capabilities. There are many ways available for transferring photos from an iPhone to a MacBook Air. One option is to use USB cable to connect your iPhone to MacBook and then import photos. Alternatively, you can send photos and videos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly via Airdrop and iCloud.
There are many available wireless and wired methods for you to transfer images from iPhone to MacBook Air M1 / M2.
This article will walk you through how to transfer photos from iPhone to your MacBook Air. We suggest you master several methods to avoid failure of importing photos to MacBook Air by a certain method.
If you want to transfer a large number of pictures from your iPhone to MacBook Air with original quality at one time, you can choose iPhone Data Transfer, which gives you the flexibility to transfer any photos between iPhone and MacBook Air in both directions.
Table of Contents
How to import photos from iPhone to MacBook Air via wired connection
How to transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly
How to fix photos transfer failure from iPhone to MacBook Air
How to import photos from iPhone to MacBook Air via wired connection
If you are looking for a more stable photo transfer method, it's a reliable option to transfer photos from your iPhone to MacBook Air using a right USB cable.
Note:
- MacBook Air uses a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port. If you use the iPhone-specific Lightning port cable or a normal USB-A data cable, you need to use a Lightning to USB-C data cable or a USB-C adapter.
If you're going the opposite way with a Mac computer, from Mac to iPhone, How to transfer photos from Mac to iPhone is what you need.
Photos app - Simple and Straightforward
Photos app helps users easily manage, browse, edit, and share photos on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac computers. It comes pre-installed on your iPhone and MacBook Air, providing a convenient option for importing photos from an iPhone to MacBook Air.
1. Connect your iPhone to your MacBook Air using a suitable data cable.
2. Unlock your iPhone and enter the passcode to trust the connected device.
3. Run Photos app on MacBook Air and locate your iPhone under "Devices" in the left sidebar.
4. Pick the photos you want to send in the Import window. If you want to import photos to a specific album, click on the "Import To" / "Album" drop-down menu at the top and then select or create an album.
5. Click on "Import Selected" at the top right to start the photo transfer. Or click "Import All New Items" to transfer all photos from your iPhone Photo Library to MacBook Air.
6. The transferred photos can be viewed in the Imports or Library tabs in the left-hand sidebar.
iPhone Data Transfer – Best Overall Solution
Maybe you want to get complete photo library off the iPhone to MacBook Air in one go, then iPhone Data Transfer is your best transfer helper. Besides completing batch photo transfer with high-speed, it can also keep the original resolution of all your photos. With this practical software, you can transfer all photos to MacBook Air from your iPhone with one click, or selectively transfer specific photos taken by iPhone Camera, screenshots, or pictures downloaded from various apps to MacBook.
It is suitable for two-way transfer and management of files between iOS devices and computers, including photos, videos, music, broadcast, etc., enabling you move your photos and videos from iPhone to MacBook Air or from MacBook Air to iPhone.
1. Download and launch iPhone Data Transfer on your MacBook Air. Then unlock your iPhone and connect it to your MacBook Air.
2. Click "Photos" button in the sidebar and pick your preferred photos. All the photos on your iPhone will be categorized into different albums for you to select them purposefully. You can check your favorite photos one by one or use "Check All" option to select all photos.
3. Select the destination folder to send your photos to. Click the "computer" icon at the top of the window and select the folder to save the photos in the pop-up window, then click "Open" button at the bottom right to add photos from iPhone to your MacBook Air.
4. Alternatively, you can transfer all pictures with one click. If you tend to transfer your entire photo library to MacBook Air at once, you can select "Device to PC" from the One-click Operation at the bottom of the Home interface, check "Photos" option, and then click "Start" to initiate the transfer task.
If you have another Windows PC, you can follow our other guide on How to transfer photos from iPhone to PC without iTunes.
Image Capture - Suitable for Small Number of Photos
As a small and lightweight program built into the MacBook Air, Image Capture makes it easy to browse and manage images and videos from your digital devices. Here's how to transfer your photos from iPhone to your MacBook Air laptop for safekeeping using Image Capture:
1. Plug your iPhone into your MacBook Air using a Lightning-to-USB cable.
2. Go to Finder > Applications to find and run Image Capture.
3. Select your iPhone in the "DEVICES" section and pick the iPhone photos you want to transfer to MacBook Air in the thumbnails displayed.
4. At "Import to" in the bottom left corner, you can choose to save photos to any folder on MacBook Air.
5. Click "Download" / "Download All" in the lower right to download the photos to the folder you selected.
Note:
- Some MacBook may show "Import" / "Import All" instead of "Download" / "Download All."
- If you prefer to delete transferred photos from your iPhone, click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the toolbar and check the "Delete after import" box.
How to transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly
To avoid transfer failure due to data cable problem, actually, cloud services and other Apple-developed wireless transfer tools can meet your needs for wirelessly transferring photos from your iPhone to your MacBook Air.
iCloud Photos - Suitable for Batch Photos
With cloud computing and distributed storage technology, iCloud Photos allows you to sync various types of data, including photos and videos, between devices using the same Apple ID. If you enable iCloud Photos on your iPhone and MacBook Air, your iPhone will automatically upload photos to iCloud, and then you can sync photos from iPhone to a MacBook Air.
Although iCloud provides offers secure and encrypted services for data backup and syncing, you need to subscribe to an additional space plan when you run out of the 5GB of free space.
1. Open iCloud Photos feature on iPhone. Head to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, and switch "iCloud Photos" / "Sync this iPhone" to On.
2. Launch Photos app on your MacBook, then navigate to Photos > Preferences / Settings in the top left menu.
3. Choose "iCloud" tab in the pop-up window and check "iCloud Photos."
Wait for photos to sync to your MacBook Air, then you can view the photos uploaded to iCloud from the iPhone in Library. You can save these photos separately in a new folder, or turn off the iCloud Photos when you're done syncing to avoid automatically syncing changes made to photos from other devices using the same Apple ID.
Read more: How to recover photos on iPhone without backup
AirDrop - Direct and Efficient
As a wireless transfer technology developed by Apple, AirDrop can be used to share files, photos, audio and video, etc. between macOS, iOS or iPadOS devices. But before you send photos and videos from iPhone to MacBook Air M1 / M2, you need to meet some conditions:
- Your iPhone and MacBook Air both have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
- Select "Contacts Only" or "Everyone" / "Everyone for 10 minutes" as the receive setting.
- The two devices are no more than 9 meters (30 feet) apart.
1. Enable AirDrop on iPhone. Swipe the screen to the bottom left or up to access the Control Center, tap the AirDrop and select "Contacts Only" or "Everyone."
2. Enable AirDrop on MacBook Air. Navigate to Control Center icon in the taskbar at the top right of the screen, make sure AirDrop is open and "Contacts Only" or "Everyone" is selected.
3. Open the Photos app on your iPhone and select your preferred items. If you want to transfer more than one picture, you can select multiple pics by tapping "Select" in the upper right corner.
4. Tap the "Share" icon in the lower left corner, then tap the "Airdrop" icon and select your MacBook Air device.
5. If necessary, you'll need to click "Accept" on the MacBook air to get the airdropped image.
Cloud-based Services - Safe and Reliable
Another way to upload photos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly is to utilize Cloud-based services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon Drive, etc. Here takes Dropbox as an example to show you how to upload photos from an iPhone to a MacBook Air without USB connection.
1. Download the Dropbox app on both your iPhone and MacBook Air and sign in with the same account.
2. Open Dropbox on your iPhone, tap on the "+" icon at the bottom of the screen and select "Upload Photos."
3. Choose the photos you want to upload from your iPhone's camera roll and tap "Upload."
4. Run Dropbox on your MacBook Air and locate the folder where you uploaded your photos.
5. Select the photos and click on the "Download" button to download the selected photos to your MacBook Air.
Further reading: How to transfer music to iPhone without iTunes
How to fix photos transfer failure from iPhone to MacBook Air
Depending on the method you use to transfer your pictures from iPhone to MacBook Air, the reasons for the transfer failure may vary. We list the most common problems to offer you ways to solve them.
1. USB connection problem: Choose a cable with good contact and the two ports of the data cable you use should be compatible with iPhone and MacBook Air respectively.
2. Available space issues: If you are using a cloud service, check that you have enough free space to support successful photo transfers.
3. Internet connection problem: Some methods, especially wireless transfer methods, require you to have a stable network connection to avoid transmission interruption caused by network fluctuations
4. Device trust issues: Make sure that a trust relationship has been established between iPhone and MacBook Air so that MacBook Air can detect your iPhone.
Conclusion
Transferring photos from iPhone to MacBook Air can be done easily by the different methods mentioned above, but it is important to choose the method that best suits your needs and remember to always backup your photos to keep your data safe.
- Appgeeker iPhone Data Transfer lets you seamlessly transfer photos and videos between iOS device and MacBook Air.
- If you're using a data cable to import photos, then Photos app and Image Capture, these two built-in MacBook Air applications, will be a very simple method.
- To transfer photos from iPhone to MacBook Air wirelessly, use iCloud photos, Airdrop or other Cloud-based Services.
