If your iCloud Photos aren’t loading on your PC
Find out where to find your iCloud Photos on your Windows PC, how to check the status of an upload or download, and more.
View photos and videos uploaded to iCloud Photos from your PC
If you see a “We detected that you are using an older version of Windows” message
Find out what you need to use iCloud Photos on PC
Windows 10 or later
Your Apple Account
View photos and videos uploaded to iCloud Photos from your PC
After you upload the photos from your PC to iCloud Photos, you can view and manage your photos and videos in the Photos app on icloud.com and your Apple devices.
Download iCloud photos and videos to your Windows PC
In iCloud for Windows 11.1 and later
Set up iCloud Photos on your PC. Optimised versions of all photos and videos automatically download to your PC.
Open the photo or video to download the full versions of your photos and videos.
In iCloud for Windows 10 and earlier
Set up iCloud Photos on your PC. New photos and videos automatically download to C:\Users\your name\My Pictures\iCloud Photos\Downloads.
To download photos and videos by year, click iCloud in the Windows Notification Area, then click Download Photos.
Check the upload or download status
You can add iCloud for Windows to your status bar to see the progress of your iCloud uploads and downloads.
Click the iCloud icon in the Windows Notification Area on your PC.
If you can’t see iCloud, click Show hidden icons in the Notification Area.
View edited versions of photos on your PC
In the latest version of iCloud for Windows, edits and deletions download automatically.
In iCloud for Windows 10 and earlier, iCloud Photos on your Windows PC downloads your photos once. If you make edits to photos after they've been downloaded to your PC, the edited version won't be downloaded again. If you want to save the edited version to your PC, you can download individual photos and videos from icloud.com or download them by year.
Click the iCloud icon in the Windows Notification Area on your PC.
Click Download Photos.
Choose the photos and videos that you want to download and click Download.
If you edit a photo on your PC that you've already uploaded to iCloud Photos, you can change the filename of the photo and upload it to iCloud Photos again.
Copy photos to an iCloud folder
Open a File Explorer window.
In the Navigation pane (sidebar), click on iCloud Photos. If you’re using an earlier version of iCloud for Windows, go to Favourites > iCloud Photos.
In another window, open the folder where the photos you want to add to iCloud Photos are currently stored.
Select the photos you want to add.
Drag them into the iCloud Photos folder. In earlier versions of iCloud for Windows, drag them into Favourites > iCloud Photos > Uploads.
If you have duplicate photos
In iCloud for Windows 7.x, you see both a video and a key still image for each Live Photo downloaded from iCloud Photos. Upgrade to the latest version of iCloud for Windows to see a JPEG or MOV file for each Live Photo currently stored in iCloud Photos instead of both a video and a still image.
You may also see extra copies of photos when they’ve been edited in the iOS or macOS Photos app before you download them to your PC. Find out more about edited photos in iCloud Photos.
Delete photos and videos in iCloud Photos
In iCloud for Windows 11.1 and later, photos and videos you delete from your Apple device or icloud.com will be deleted from your PC unless you have chosen to pin them. And when you delete a photo or video on your PC, one of the following happens:
iCloud for Windows 14 or later: iCloud removes the files from your PC and from iCloud Photos. If you delete a file from Microsoft Photos, iCloud also removes it from iCloud Photos.
Earlier versions of iCloud for Windows: The files and thumbnails are removed from your PC but are still stored in iCloud Photos. If you edit a photo or video on another device, the thumbnail will reappear on your PC.
Find out more about how to delete or recover photos and videos in iCloud for Windows
Find out how iCloud Photos handles RAW photos
iCloud Photos keeps all of your RAW photos with embedded JPEGs stored in their original formats. You can view thumbnail versions on your Mac, or download and edit them on your Mac or PC.
If you see a “We detected that you are using an older version of Windows” message
If you're running an older version of Windows 10, you may see a message that states “We detected that you are using an older version of Windows. iCloud Photos capability will be slightly limited on this version of Windows.” To get full iCloud Photos capabilities:
Upgrade to Windows 10 build 18363 or later.
Download and install the HEVC decoder and HEIF plugin from the Microsoft Store.
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