Sync photos between your Windows computer and iPhone, iPad or iPod
You can sync photos on your Windows computer to your iPhone, iPad or iPod. You can sync all or a selection of photos from your Photos library on your Windows computer. For example, you can sync a selection of favourite albums or photos of people.
You can also sync photos from another folder that you organise to hold photos on your Windows computer. For example, you can import photos from a camera into a folder. You can organise your photos in multiple folders within a folder and sync the folders to your Apple device.
Synced photos appear in the Photos app on your Apple device.
Important: If you already use iCloud Photos on your Windows computer and Apple devices, your photos are updated automatically. You can’t use the syncing method described here unless you turn off iCloud Photos in Photos settings on your device. See Set up Photos in iCloud for Windows.
Sync photos to your Apple device
Connect your Apple device to your Windows computer.
You can connect your device using a USB or USB-C cable.
In the Apple Devices app on your Windows computer, select the device in the sidebar.
If you connect your device to your Windows computer using a USB or USB-C cable and don’t see the device in the sidebar, see If your iPhone, iPad or iPod doesn’t appear in the sidebar.
Select Photos in the sidebar.
Note: When iCloud Photos is turned on, no photo syncing options appear when you click Photos in the sidebar.
Select the “Sync Photos to your device from” tickbox, then choose an option from the menu.
Select “All folders” or “Selected folders”. If you select the “Selected folders” button, select the tickboxes of the albums you want to sync in the Albums list.
Select the “Include videos” tickbox to include videos when syncing from a folder or Photos library.
When you’re ready to sync, click Apply.
You can choose to sync your Windows computer and your device automatically whenever you connect them. See Turn automatic syncing on or off.
Before disconnecting your device from your Windows computer, click the Eject button in the sidebar.
Remove automatically synced photos from your Apple device
To remove a an album or folder of photos from just your device while keeping it on your Windows computer, follow these steps:
Connect your Apple device to your Windows computer.
You can connect your device using a USB or USB-C cable.
In the Apple Devices app on your Windows computer, select your device in the sidebar, then select Photos in the sidebar.
In the folders list, deselect the tickbox of the albums or folders you want removed.
Sync your Windows computer with the device.
WARNING: If you delete an automatically synced item from your Windows computer, the deleted item is removed from your device the next time you sync.
Before disconnecting your device from your Windows computer, click the Eject button in the sidebar.