
Tap ‘OK’ then scroll down and hit ‘next step’. The resulting pop-up lets you deselect specific albums to exclude from the export. Alternatively, tap the button labeled ‘all photo albums’. Checking the box next to Google Photos will include your entire image library in the export. If you’d just like to save your images, tap ‘deselect all’ then scroll down to the entry for Google Photos. You need to select the content from your Google account that you’d like to download.

The images inside won’t be added to your iPhone’s camera roll unless you manually save each one, but it’s still a useful method of backing up your Google Photos library using your iPhone. The resulting archive can be extracted using your iPhone’s Files app, then backed up to iCloud. You can export and save your Google Photos library using Google Takeout.

How to save Google Photos to iCloud using your iPhone This is also a good idea in case you lose connectivity for any reason, and have to make your selection again. You can’t use the Google Photos app while images are downloading to your iPhone, so it might be worth saving your snaps in smaller batches. If you’ve chosen to download a significant number of images, it will take some time for the saving process to complete. This shows that the image in question has been selected. The thumbnail will be indented with a blue-grey border and a blue checkmark will appear in its top-left corner. When looking at the grid of thumbnails in the Google Photos app, press and hold on the first image you’d like to save. Saving several snaps from Google Photos to your iPhone at the same time is a slightly different process – but just as simple. How to save multiple photos to your iPhone If you don’t see a ‘download’ option in the toolbar, it’s almost certainly because the image is already saved to your iPhone’s camera roll. To help save data and prevent duplicates, the download option won’t appear for shots that you’ve already got.

With the option turned on, Google will check your iPhone’s camera roll to see which snaps are already saved to your device. You don’t need to enable the backup and sync setting to save single shots from Google Photos to your iPhone, but it can be helpful. Head to your iPhone’s default Photos app and you should see the photo you just downloaded waiting in the ‘recents’ folder. A progress bar will briefly appear, followed by a pop-up that confirms that the snap has been successfully saved to your iPhone’s camera roll.
