How to transfer iPhone and iPad photos to a Mac without iCloud
Published 27 September 2026 · by the team behind MySimpleBackup
You don’t need iCloud, or a monthly subscription, to keep your iPhone and iPad photos on your Mac. A cable does the job, and it’s often faster. Here are the best ways to do it.
The easiest way: MySimpleBackup
MySimpleBackup copies your iPhone or iPad straight to your Mac over a cable, with your albums as folders. There’s no iCloud and no account, and your photos never leave your Mac.
- Connect your iPhone or iPad with a cable and open MySimpleBackup. Your Camera Roll and albums appear in the sidebar, with thumbnails.
- Keep everything ticked, or choose the albums (or individual photos) you want.
- Pick a backup folder and click Backup Selected.
Your photos arrive as ordinary files, organised the way they are on your phone: a folder per album, plus a Camera Roll folder. Originals, Live Photos and edits are kept, every file carries the date it was taken, and next time only new photos are copied. It’s free for your first 100 photos, then £10 / $10 once. Works with iPhone and iPad on iOS / iPadOS 18 and 26, on Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 14 or later.
Other ways to do it
The Photos app
Connect the phone, open Photos, select the phone under Devices and click Import All New Items. Your photos go into the Photos library rather than folders you can browse, and your phone’s albums don’t come across.
AirDrop
Select photos in the Photos app on the iPhone, tap Share → AirDrop and choose your Mac. Handy for a few photos, but not for a whole library.
At a glance
| Method | Where photos go | Albums | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| MySimpleBackup | Folders you choose | A folder per album | Your whole library, organised, kept up to date |
| Photos app | Photos library | Not imported from the phone | Browsing and editing on the Mac |
| AirDrop | Downloads folder | Not kept | A few photos |
Tip: to keep your photos in their original formats, set Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC to Keep Originals on the iPhone. If you’ve used iCloud Photos with Optimise iPhone Storage, choose Download and Keep Originals first so the full-size files are on the phone.