Transfer your photos, videos, albums and metadata like descriptions and more from Google Photos to iCloud Photos with just a few clicks without downloading anything.
After deciding whether to transfer your whole library or specific albums only, the entire thing is automatic. Location information and other metadata are transferred as well, and the original files stay in your Google Photos unless manually deleted.
Apple released a similar tool for moving iCloud Photos to Google Photos in 2021. Both are part of the Data Transfer Project, an industry initiative for effortless data transfers directly from one service to another without the need to download and re-upload everything. For more info, read the official Data Transfer Initiative blog.
How to transfer your Google Photos library to iCloud Photos
You can transfer entire Google Photos collections directly to iCloud Photos or just the parts you want. All you need to do is visit Google’s Takeout service and select “Photos” under “Recently used Google services” or “Other Google services,” then scroll to “Photos” and choose “Transfer data.”
By default, the feature will transfer all your Google Photos albums. To only copy specific albums, choose the “All photo albums included” option and deselect the albums you don’t want to be transferred, then hit OK. You must sign in to your Google Account to authorize Takeout to transfer data from your Google library.
Now click the arrow below “Move to” and choose “Apple – iCloud Photos” from the menu. If you don’t see the option yet, check back later as the feature is rolling out in stages. You must sign in to your Apple Account and authorize Google Takeout to start the transfer directly from Google to iCloud.
The whole process might take between several hours and a few days to complete, depending on the size of your library. If Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is turned on in your Apple account, turn it off to enable imports to iCloud.
About Google Photos → iCloud Photos transfers
Google’s support page clarifies that your media items aren’t deleted from Google Photos after transferring. Instead, they’re copied into the destination service.
Apple also published a support page about transferring photos and videos from Google Photos to iCloud Photos, in which it lists special Google Photos file types that aren’t transferred such as Motion Photos, Live Photos, Memories and RAW images.
Anything that cannot be transferred to iCloud Photos is saved in your iCloud Drive instead, the page clarifies. “Photos and videos are transferred in the same resolution that’s made available by Google for export,” it reads.