Backing up our information is a need that awoke from the moment we saved data on a storage disk. This evolved into the powerful possibility we have today, of synchronizing our data with the cloud. In this way, you will have the security of not losing your documents, photos or videos in the event of any eventuality with your mobile or your computer. We have a very clear example of this in the Apple service with iCloud Photos. You might think that this tool is only available for Mac, however, here we are going to tell you how to download and use iCloud Photos on your Windows PC.
This will be useful if you are an Apple user on your mobile device, but not on your laptop or desktop computer.
What is iCloud Photos?
Cloud storage services became the great solution for data backup and synchronization across various devices. Taking advantage of the fact that Internet connections were already reaching high speeds, it was not a challenge to implement this type of alternative. Thus, large companies did not wait and Google brought Drive to the table, Microsoft arrived with OneDrive and Apple was no exception bringing iCloud to its environment.
In this way, iCloud is presented as the native cloud storage service of the Apple ecosystem. Among its options, it has the so-called iCloud Photos, an application and section within the service dedicated to the backup and synchronization of photos in the cloud. This will allow you to have the photos from your smartphone on your PC and vice versa, as well as being able to access them from the web.
As we mentioned before, it is common to think that this is only available for Mac, but the company is aware of the share of users who do not use Apple on all their devices. That is why, just as we have seen versions of iTunes for Windows, there is also one for iCloud Photos.
In that sense, we are going to detail the entire procedure to download and use iCloud Photos on your Windows PC.
Steps to download and use iCloud Photos on Windows
Turn on and download iCloud Photos
To start working with iCloud Photos and sync our photos and videos, we will need to activate it first on the devices we use. In this sense, if you have, for example, an iPhone and the Windows PC where you want to synchronize, then we have to activate it on the mobile.
This step is pretty simple, so head over to the Settings section of your iPhone and then tap on the area that shows your name.. Immediately, enter iCloud, then Photos and there you will find the activation of iCloud Photos. Doing this is essential so that your photos and videos begin to sync with the cloud and also with your PC.
Then, enter this link which will take you to the Microsoft Store where the iCloud for Windows download is available.
Once you have the app on your computer, launch it and you'll need to sign in with your Apple ID. Now, click on the “Options” button and check the boxes for “iCloud Photos” and “Shared Albums”. Finally, click on the “Ok” button, then on “Apply” and you will have your iCloud Photos installation ready on your Windows PC.
Using iCloud Photos on your Windows PC
View synced photos
The first thing we are going to review in this case is how to see your synced photos in iCloud Photos. To do this, you just have to open Windows Explorer and in the navigation panel, on the left side of the interface, the "iCloud Photos" folder.
In case you do not have it, you will only have to go to the "Images" folder and there will be the folder in question where your synchronized photos are located.
Download files
On the other hand, you should know that all the photos and videos on your mobile will be synchronized with the PC, so that when you enter the iCloud Photos folder, they will be there. To download any of the files you just have to double click on the thumbnail.
Keep files
Additionally, it is worth noting that if we delete something on the smartphone, it will also be deleted on the PC. In this sense, if there is a file that you want to keep on your computer, all you have to do is right-click it and select the “Keep always” option.
Upload photos and videos
Another very useful function is to upload photos and videos that we have on the computer to the iCloud cloud. Doing this is very simple, since the only step we must carry out is to copy the files in question and then paste them into the iCloud Photos folder. They will immediately begin to synchronize and after a few minutes, depending on your internet connection, they will appear on your smartphone.