How to retrieve pictures from icloud on iphone

iCloud is a cloud-based service that allows you to share files across your devices. Sometimes, you need to upload photos to iCloud to save your iPhone photos to the cloud storage. While at other times, you may need to get photos from iCloud photos to your iPhone to get the pictures back to your device.

If you are using the same Apple ID and password as the one used in the iCloud on your iPhone, it's quite easy to download photos from iCloud to your device. If not, it's more difficult but still possible to get iCloud photos to iPhone. Keep reading to get more details.

How to Get Photos from iCloud to iPhone via Settings

The easiest way to download photos from iCloud to iPhone is to enable iCloud Photos on your iOS device and then select to download full-size copies of photos from iCloud to iPhone. This way, however, will transfer all photos and videos from iCloud to your iPhone at once and you have no chance to selectively download pictures to your device. Thus, if you prefer to move specific photos from iCloud to iPhone, go to method 2 instead.

Make sure you are using the same Apple ID and password on your iPhone and iCloud, and there is enough space on your device to save the iCloud photos. Afterward, follow the steps below to download photos from iCloud to iPhone.

To get photos from iCloud to iPhone:

Step 1. On your iPhone, go to "Settings" > [your name].

Step 2. Tap "iCloud" and choose "Photos".

Step 3. Enable "iCloud Photos" (or "iCloud Photo Library") and select "Download and Keep Originals".

By doing so, the iCloud photos will be downloaded to your iPhone automatically over Wi-Fi.

How to Download Photos from iCloud to iPhone via iCloud.com

Downloading iCloud photos to iPhone via iCloud.com allows you to move photos selectively. Besides, with the help of iCloud.com, you can also transfer photos from iCloud to PC or Mac. 

To download photos from iCloud to iPhone via iCloud.com:

Step 1. Open Safari and visit iCloud.com.

Step 2. Sign in with your account and tap "Photos".

Step 3. Select the photos and videos you want to download and tap the "More" button.

Step 4. Tap "Download" and then click "Download" to confirm.

Step 5. If the photos and videos are saved as a ZIP file on your iPhone, learn how to open a ZIP file on your device.

How to Download Photos from Shared Albums to iPhone

Shared Albums are also part of iCloud. If the photos and videos you want to get are stored in Shared Albums, you can go to download the pictures from the Photos app directly.

To get photos from iCloud Shared Albums to iPhone:

Step 1. Open the "Photos" app and tap "Albums".

Step 2. Find the Shared Albums section and tap the album you want to download.

Step 3. Click the photo or video you want to transfer and tap the "Share" button.

Step 4. Choose "Save Image" or "Save Video" to save the photo or video from iCloud to your iPhone.

Bonus Tip: How to Transfer Photos to iPhone Directly Without iCloud

iCloud is commonly used to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone, PC to iPhone, Mac to iPhone, iPad to iPhone, or vice versa. However, iCloud only provides 5GB of space for free and needs a Wi-Fi connection to work. If these requirements are not met, you may encounter the issue "iCloud Photos not syncing".

Thus, it's necessary for you to learn how to transfer photos or other files between these devices directly without iCloud. With the iPhone transfer software tool - EaseUS MobiMover installed on your PC or Mac, you will be able to:

• Access and view iDevice content from the computer
• Transfer files between an iPhone/iPad/iPod and the computer
• Send files from one iPhone/iPad/iPod to another

Thus, whether you want to transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone or put music to iPhone from computer, it will help. When iCloud is not working on your device or you want to send files without using iCloud, apply this tool instead.

Let me show you how to transfer photos from PC to iPhone using this tool:

Step 1. Connect your iPhone to your PC running Windows 7 or later. Launch EaseUS MobiMover and select "PC to Phone" on the main interface. Then, choose "Select Files" to continue. 

Step 2. With MobiMover, you can choose to transfer photos from PC to your iPhone as well as many other data types. Then, click the "Open" button to load the files. 

Step 3. MobiMover will show the files you've selected on the screen. If you've missed an item, you can click "Add Contents" to import more files. Next, click the "Transfer" button to start the transfer process. 

The Bottom Line

It's quite easy to get photos from iCloud to iPhone. But to use iCloud successfully, you need to make sure there is enough free space on your device, and there is a stable and reliable Wi-Fi connection. If iCloud isn't working, try an iPhone data transfer tool like EaseUS MobiMover to transfer photos from a computer or iPhone/iPad to your iPhone directly using a USB cable.

FAQs

1. How do I retrieve my photos from iCloud?

You can recover photos and videos on iCloud.com by going to iCloud.com, choosing Photos, then choosing Recently Deleted album in the sidebar. Next, select the photos or videos you wish to recover and click Recover to get them back.

2. How do I transfer photos from iCloud to a new iPhone?

If you have activated your new iPhone, you can use the three methods introduced in this guide to transfer photos from iCloud to your iPhone. While if you haven't done that yet, an additional option is to restore the whole iCloud backup to your new iPhone. But before that, you will need to ensure that you've recently created an iCloud backup and that the backup includes the photos you want.

3. How to access iCloud photos on iPhone?

It is easy to access iCloud photos on your iPhone. You can open Safari on your iPhone and go to icloud.com. Sign in with your iCloud account, and then choose Photos. Then, you can see all photos stored on iCloud.