How to move photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC

Why is it so hard to move photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC?

For starters, Apple wants everything to go through iTunes, which is not the most trouble-free software. But there's no getting around it: Your first step will have to be installing the latest version of Apple’s iTunes so that the Windows PC can read the iPhone’s content.

Next, see if you have iCloud Photos turned on in the phone’s iCloud settings. iCloud Photos transfers your photos from the iPhone to Apple’s iCloud server as you shoot. According to Microsoft, "If iCloud is enabled on your iOS device, you won’t be able to download your photos or videos. Your images exist on iCloud but not on your device. If you want to open or import these photos or videos to your PC, do so using the iCloud desktop app."

If you have your photos syncing to iCloud, download and install iCloud for Windows to be able to see and download those photos to the PC. iCloud will then appear in the application list from your Start menu.

Open iCloud, log in with your Apple ID and then choose iCloud Photos from the list, and you’ll get a Windows Explorer window showing links to download or upload photos.

Once the selected photos are finished downloading, they'll appear in your Pictures folder inside a directory called iCloud Photos.

If you don’t have iCloud Photos enabled on the iPhone, you should be able to use File Explorer or Windows AutoPlay to see the photos when the iPhone is connected to the PC.

Remember, the first time you connect your iPhone to a computer, look for a notification on the phone’s screen asking whether you trust the PC. Touch yes to proceed.