Direct Answer: There are three reliable ways to move your iCloud data out of Apple’s ecosystem. Apple’s official “Request to transfer a copy of your data” service at privacy.apple.com moves iCloud Photos directly to Google Photos in 3-7 days. The same site’s “Request a copy of your data” tool exports your photos and other iCloud data as ZIP files for an external hard drive. And iCloud Drive files can be moved to Google Drive using the desktop apps and a drag-and-drop. All three methods are official, free, and verified — no third-party software needed.

Key Takeaways

The cleanest iCloud Photos → Google Photos transfer is Apple’s own server-to-server service. It takes 3-7 days but uses none of your home internet bandwidth.
For a permanent local backup on an external drive, use Apple’s “Request a copy of your data” — Apple emails you ZIP files of your entire photo library that you can drop straight onto an SSD.
Don’t delete from iCloud until you’ve verified Google Photos has the photos you expect. Always keep at least one source live until the destination has been spot-checked.

How to Move Your iCloud Photos to Google and an External Hard Drive — A Plain-English Guide

Whether you’re switching from iPhone to a Pixel, getting nervous about putting all your eggs in Apple’s basket, or just want a proper local backup of fifteen years of family photos that doesn’t depend on a single subscription, the question comes up: how do I get my stuff out of iCloud?

The good news is that Apple now offers official, free tools that do exactly this. The slightly less good news is that they’re tucked away on a website most iPhone users don’t know exists, and the process takes a few days to complete. This guide walks through three methods — what each one is for, exactly which buttons to click, and what to expect at the end.

Pre-flight checklist (5 minutes before you start)

Make sure you know your Apple ID password. You’ll need to confirm it.
Make sure you know your Google account password. Same.
If you’re using two-factor authentication on either account (you should be), have your second-factor device handy.
Check how much iCloud storage you’re actually using: Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud on iPhone, or System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud on Mac. This tells you what you’re dealing with.
If you’re planning to back up to an external drive, format it as exFAT (compatible with both Mac and Windows) and have at least 50% more free space than your iCloud usage.

Method A — Direct Transfer: iCloud Photos → Google Photos

This is Apple’s official server-to-server transfer service. Use this if you want photos and videos to appear in Google Photos with the original quality preserved, no manual downloading required, and you’re willing to wait up to a week.

Step 1 of 4

Open privacy.apple.com on a computer or tablet

In any web browser (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox), go to privacy.apple.com. Sign in with the Apple ID and password you use for iCloud Photos. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, approve the sign-in on your trusted device.

Step 2 of 4

Find “Request to transfer a copy of your data”

On the privacy dashboard you’ll see a few options. Choose Request to transfer a copy of your data. (Don’t confuse this with “Request a copy of your data” — that’s Method B, for hard-drive backups.)

Step 3 of 4

Select iCloud Photos as the source and Google Photos as the destination

Apple will ask which data to transfer. Choose iCloud Photos. The destination options will appear — select Google Photos. You’ll be redirected to sign into the Google account where you want the photos to land. Make sure it’s the right Google account before confirming.

Step 4 of 4

Confirm and wait 3-7 days

Apple emails you a confirmation that the request has been received, and a second email when the transfer is complete. The transfer happens directly between Apple’s servers and Google’s servers, so it does not use your home internet. You can use your iPhone normally during the transfer — your iCloud Photos library stays untouched.

What to know before using Method A:

Only the most recent edits of photos transfer. If you’ve heavily retouched photos, the originals are not transferred — only the current edited version.
Live Photos transfer as separate JPEG and MOV files (the still and the video clip become two separate items in Google Photos).
Albums transfer “when possible” — some make it, some don’t. Shared albums generally don’t transfer.
Videos transfer separately and don’t appear within albums in Google Photos.
The original photos stay in iCloud throughout. Method A is a copy, not a move.

Method B — The Hard Drive Method: Local Download

This is the method to use if you want the actual files — full quality, full resolution — sitting on a physical hard drive that doesn’t depend on any cloud service. Two ways to do it, depending on whether you’re moving everything (B1) or just selected photos (B2).

Method B1 — Bulk Export via Apple’s “Request a copy of your data”

This is the heavy-lifter. Apple emails you ZIP files containing your entire photo library (and other iCloud data if you want it) and you save them to your hard drive.

Step 1 of 5

Same starting point as Method A — go to privacy.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID.

Step 2 of 5

Choose “Request a copy of your data”

This is the option below the transfer one. Choose it. Apple presents a list of every type of data you have in iCloud — Photos, iCloud Drive, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Mail, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Health data, App data, and others.

Step 3 of 5

Tick “Photos” (and anything else you want)

If you only want a backup of your photos, tick just Photos. If you want a complete iCloud backup for archive purposes, tick everything. The Photos option includes both photos and videos.

Step 4 of 5

Choose your file size (1GB, 2GB, 5GB, 10GB, or 25GB chunks)

Apple splits the export into ZIP files of your chosen size. For an external SSD, the 25GB chunks are easiest — fewer files to manage. For older USB sticks or unstable internet, the 5GB chunks are safer because each file is quicker to download. Then click Complete Request.

Step 5 of 5

Wait for the email and download to your hard drive

Apple takes up to 7 days to prepare the export. When it’s ready, you’ll get an email with a secure download link that’s valid for 14 days. Click the link, sign in to verify, and download each ZIP file directly onto your external hard drive. Once all the files are saved, your iCloud library is permanently archived locally.

Method B2 — Select-and-download via iCloud.com

Faster than B1 if you only want specific photos rather than the whole library. Less practical for huge libraries because of a 1,000-photo-per-batch limit on iCloud.com.

Step 1 of 4

Open iCloud.com → Photos

Go to icloud.com, sign in, and click the Photos tile. Your iCloud Photos library opens in the browser exactly as it appears on iPhone.

Step 2 of 4

Select the photos you want to download

Click the first photo, then either Shift-click the last to select a range, or press Cmd + A (Mac) or Ctrl + A (Windows) to select all visible photos. Note: iCloud.com limits each batch to 1,000 photos. For larger libraries, work through them year by year.

Step 3 of 4

Click the download icon and choose “Unmodified Original”

The download button is the cloud-with-down-arrow icon at the top right. Click the small dropdown arrow next to it to reveal two options: “Most Compatible” (smaller JPEG copies) and “Unmodified Original” (the full-quality original files). Always choose Unmodified Original for backup purposes.

Step 4 of 4

Save to your hard drive

The browser downloads a single ZIP file containing the selected photos. Save this directly to your external hard drive. Repeat for the next batch of 1,000 if needed.

Method C — Moving iCloud Drive files to Google Drive

For PDFs, Word documents, Pages files, scanned receipts, and any other actual files in iCloud Drive (rather than photos), this is the cleanest method. It uses two free desktop apps and a simple drag-and-drop.

Step 1 of 5

Install iCloud for Windows (or use Finder on a Mac)

On Windows: download iCloud for Windows from the Microsoft Store. Sign in with your Apple ID, and tick the iCloud Drive checkbox. On Mac: iCloud Drive is built into Finder. Open Finder → iCloud Drive in the sidebar. If it’s not there, enable it in System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud Drive.

Step 2 of 5

Install Google Drive for Desktop

Download Google Drive for Desktop from google.com/drive/download. Sign in with your Google account. The app creates a new “Google Drive” folder on your computer that mirrors your Google Drive contents.

Step 3 of 5

Wait for both folders to fully sync

Both apps need to finish their initial sync before you do anything else. iCloud Drive in particular can take a while to download all your files locally — leave it overnight if your library is big. The icons in the app’s menu bar (top-right on Mac, bottom-right on Windows) show sync progress.

Step 4 of 5

Open both folders side by side and drag files across

Open two File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) windows. Navigate one to iCloud Drive, the other to Google Drive. Select the files you want to move and drag them from one window to the other. Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac) while dragging to copy rather than move — this is the safer choice for a backup.

Step 5 of 5

Verify on a Pixel or any phone

On your Android phone, open the Files app or the Google Drive app. The transferred files appear within minutes — confirmation that the sync has worked end-to-end.

Order of operations if you’re doing all three methods

If you’re doing the full belt-and-braces job — Google Photos copy + hard drive backup + Google Drive — the smart sequence is:

Day 1: Start Method A (the iCloud → Google Photos transfer). It runs in the background for the next few days.
Day 1: Start Method B1 (the data export request). Same — Apple processes this in the background.
Day 1-2: Do Method C (iCloud Drive → Google Drive) while you wait. Takes a couple of hours.
Day 5-7: Method B1 download arrives by email. Save the ZIP files to your external hard drive.
Day 5-7: Method A transfer completes. Open Google Photos and verify your library appears.
Day 8 onwards: Spot-check the destinations. Compare a few photos across iCloud, Google Photos, and the hard drive ZIPs to make sure everything you expected is in all three places.
Only after verification: If you want to free up iCloud storage, delete from iCloud. Never delete the source until both destinations are verified.

Common gotchas

HEIC files in Google Photos. iPhones save photos in HEIC format. Google Photos handles them fine but if you ever download from Google Photos to share with a Windows user, they may not open without an HEIC viewer. The data export ZIPs from Method B1 give you HEICs in their original format.
Live Photos. They split into separate files in Google Photos. The “live” effect is preserved in the JPEG (Google Photos can replay the motion) but it’s stored differently.
Burst photos. A burst of 10 shots in iPhone is stored as a single “stack” item. Google Photos sees them as 10 separate photos. Not a loss of data — just a presentation difference.
Shared albums and shared library. These don’t transfer cleanly. Plan to manually re-share if needed at the destination.
The 14-day download window. When Apple emails you the data export download link, you have 14 days to use it. Set a reminder. If you miss the window, you have to start the request again.

If any of this feels like a faff — we can help

We get it. None of this is genuinely difficult, but if you’ve got fifteen years of photos, an Apple ID with a forgotten recovery email, two-factor authentication on a phone you don’t have anymore, and you don’t want to lose anything — sometimes it’s worth having someone sit with you and make sure it goes right.

Mend My iPhone offers a callout service across East Yorkshire that includes data migration help. We’ll come to your home or workplace, walk through Methods A, B, and C with you, set up the external hard drive properly, and verify everything has copied across before you decommission iCloud. Particularly useful if:

You’re switching from iPhone to a Pixel or Samsung and want a clean break
You’re worried about losing photos in the move
You’ve got an Apple ID with passwords you’ve half-forgotten
You’d rather have a specialist do it while you have a cup of tea

The visit takes 1-2 hours depending on library size, and it’s exactly the kind of “I need someone to come and sort my tech” callout service we built the home visit option for.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest way to move my iCloud photos to Google?

Apple’s own official “Request to transfer a copy of your data” service at privacy.apple.com transfers iCloud Photos directly to Google Photos. The transfer happens server-to-server and takes 3-7 days. You don’t need any extra apps or downloads.

Will I lose any photos when transferring from iCloud to Google?

No, the transfer is a copy — the originals stay in iCloud. Apple’s transfer service moves photos and videos but only transfers the most recent edits, splits Live Photos into separate files, and doesn’t always preserve every album. We recommend keeping iCloud Photos enabled until you’ve verified Google Photos has everything you expect.

How long does the iCloud to Google Photos transfer take?

Apple states the process takes 3-7 days. You’ll receive one email when the request is acknowledged and a second when the transfer is complete. The actual data transfer happens between Apple’s and Google’s servers — it does not use your home internet bandwidth.

How do I get my iCloud photos onto an external hard drive?

Use Apple’s “Request a copy of your data” service at privacy.apple.com. Choose Photos as the data type and select your preferred chunk size (1GB, 2GB, 5GB, 10GB, or 25GB). Apple emails you a download link when the export is ready. Save the ZIP files to your external hard drive.

Can I move iCloud Drive files to Google Drive?

Yes. Install iCloud for Windows (or use Finder on a Mac) and Google Drive for Desktop. Both will appear as folders on your computer. Drag and drop files from the iCloud Drive folder to the Google Drive folder. Files sync to Google’s cloud automatically.

Will the transfer keep my photo dates and locations?

Yes. EXIF data — including the date the photo was taken, the location (if Location Services was enabled), the camera model, and other metadata — transfers with the photo to Google Photos. The original capture date is preserved, not the transfer date.

What happens to my albums when transferring iCloud Photos to Google?

Apple states albums transfer “when possible” but the result is not perfect. Some albums make it across, some don’t, and shared albums typically don’t transfer. Plan to spend an hour reorganising albums in Google Photos after the transfer if albums are important to you.

Can Mend My iPhone help me with the data transfer?

Yes. We offer a callout service across East Yorkshire to walk customers through the iCloud to Google transfer step-by-step, set up the local hard drive backup, and verify everything has copied across before iCloud is decommissioned. Particularly useful for customers who want to switch to Android or simply want a proper belt-and-braces backup of their photos.

Sources

This guide is based on the official Apple Support documentation at support.apple.com/en-us/118257 and Google’s corresponding help article at support.google.com/photos/answer/10502587. The methods described are Apple’s own and Google’s own official tools — no third-party software is required or recommended.

Book a callout if you’d rather have help

WhatsApp the device, the issue, and your postcode. We’ll come to your home or workplace, walk through the migration with you, and verify the result. Across East Yorkshire — Market Weighton, Beverley, Pocklington, Brough, South Cave, Howden and the surrounding villages.

How to Move Your iCloud Photos to Google