How to Use iTunes to Sync Photos between iPhones and PC

How to use iTunes to sync photos to my iPhone 16

I have found some old photos on computer and want to save them to my iPhone. I have installed iTunes, so I think I want to use it to transfer photos. Anybody could tell me how to do that?

- Question from Apple Community

Nowadays, lots of people would like to take photos with their iPhones on account of the amazing chip and lens. As time goes by, your iPhone can have lots of vivid pictures taking up too much storage space.

So lots of users want to use iTunes to sync iPhone photos to computer/ iPad to free up space. Besides, if these photos are really important to you, transferring them to a safe place like your computer is necessary to avoid data loss.

How to use iTunes to sync photos to PC/iPhone 

iTunes is an official tool to transfer data to your device. You can import your iPhone photos to your iTunes library, and sync/download them to another iPhone/iPad or computer. In this part, we will guide you on how to use it.

Part 1. Sync photos from PC to iPhone via iTunes

If you want to transfer photos from iTunes to iPhone or iPad, you need to turn off iCloud photos beforehand. It means that iCloud photos and iTunes photos cannot coexist. If you turn on iCloud photos later, photos synced from iTunes will be removed. 

iTunes will create a folder in the Photos app, and these photos from computer cannot be edited or deleted. When you sync photos with iTunes again, the previous pictures will be replaced, so syncing an empty folder or turn on iCloud photos can remove the photos from iPhone.

Step 1. Download the latest iTunes to computer. If you have installed iTunes, make sure it’s the latest version, or iTunes cannot sync photos.

Step 2. Open iTunes, connect iPhone to computer with a USB cable, and wait for the device icon appears in the upper-left corner. Click the device icon.

Step 3. Select Photos in the sidebar, check sync photos, select the folder on computer and then click Apply.

Part 2. Transfer Photos from PC to iPhone/iPad via iTunes backup

iTunes could sync photos from iPhone to computer, but it might be not the way you want to get photos off iPhone.

First, your photos will not be always saved by iTunes. If the photos on iPhone have been uploaded to iCloud, or they are synced from iTunes, iTunes would not sync these photos. You can know more about that from this guide what does a full iPhone backup include.

Second, the photos are not allowed to be viewed. iTunes only creates full backup of iPhone and your photos are just part of it. Everything in the backup cannot be directly viewed. If you really want to see whether your photos albums have been saved, you can use iPhone backup browser to check it for free. When you need to transfer the photos backup to iPhone, the only way is restoring the iPhone and then iTunes will rewrite the whole device.

Step 1. Connect iPhone to the latest iTunes with a USB cable and click the device icon.

Step 2. Click Summary on the left and then click Back Up Now.

Usually backing up iPhone will take more than 10 minutes. To transfer everything back to iPhone, connect iPhone to iTunes and click Restore Backup on the screen.

How to transfer photos between iPhone and PC without deleting/backup

As you can see, iTunes is not so flexible for some conditions. Sometimes, you may just don't want to back up all iPhone data. And syncing might delete or duplicate some photos on your device.

Don't worry, if you want to sync iPhone photos without deleting/backup, you can turn to AOMEI FoneBackup, it is a professional iPhone photos transfer tool. It is far more convenient than iTunes to manage iPhone photos. With this tool, you can easily transfer photos, videos, and other data to your iPhones/iPads and computer.

🌟Highlights:
 Fast and fluent transfer allows you to move data between your devices at a much faster speed than other tools. 1000 Photos can be sent in several minutes.
 You can preview and select photos as you like to the target location.
 As an easy-to-use software, anyone can use the intuitive interface to easily share data between devices.
 Its great compatibility can work well with all iOS devices, including iPhone 4 to iPhone 16, iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro and iPod Touch. 

Step 2. Run AOMEI FoneBackup > Go to Phone Transfer > Click the iPhone to PC (To transfer photos from computer to iPhone/iPad, please choose "PC to iPhone") .

Step 3. Click the "+" icon to select files.

Step 4. Check the Photos option. On the right side of the interface, you can select the specific items. Then click "OK".

Step 5. Specify the storage path from the Transfer Settings option, and click Start Transfer.

Wait for the process to get finished. Then you can go to the path you set to see if your photos are successfully sent. If you want to sync photos from iPhone to iPhone/iPad, plug in the other device, and choose the "PC to iPhone" option on the main interface to move the data.

Conclusion

So this is how to use iTunes to sync photos between iPhones and PC. Hope this guide can really help you. But as you can see, iTunes does not work well in every condition and it is sort of inconvenient. Then you can turn to AOMEI FoneBackup, the professional iOS transfer tool to help you make it. 

Except for data transfer, you can also use it to back up your iPhone to PC or another iOS device even if they are logging with different Apple IDs.