PhotoiPhone to PC guides
Plain, step-by-step answers to the questions people ask most about moving photos and videos from an iPhone to a Windows PC. Every guide covers the free built-in options as well as PhotoFroggy.
- Transfer iPhone videos to a PCFour ways to move iPhone videos to a Windows 10 or 11 PC, how to keep full quality, and what to do when big videos fail to copy.
- Transfer iPhone photos to WindowsCopy iPhone photos to a Windows 11 or 10 PC with a USB cable, and what happens to Live Photos, edited photos and HEIC files on the way.
- Free up iPhone storageSee what is filling your iPhone, move the biggest videos and photos to a Windows PC, delete them safely and get the space back without buying iCloud.
- iPhone not showing up on PCYour iPhone is plugged in but Windows or File Explorer does not see it, or DCIM is empty. Trust, cables, drivers and Apple Devices fixes, in order.
- Photos app won't import from iPhoneFix the Windows Photos app failing to import from iPhone: error 0x80070141, “Something went wrong”, stalled imports and the Keep Originals setting.
- Open HEIC and HEVC on WindowsWhy iPhone HEIC photos and HEVC videos won't open on Windows, the Microsoft extensions that fix it, free options like VLC, and settings for JPEG.
- Photos stuck in iCloudWith Optimize iPhone Storage on, many originals live only in iCloud, so a USB transfer can't copy them. How to tell, and 3 ways to get the originals.
- Delete safely after backing upDelete photos and videos from your iPhone after copying them to a PC without losing anything: verify copies, mind iCloud Photos, empty Recently Deleted.
- Export iPhone messages to PCSave iMessage and SMS conversations from an iPhone to a Windows PC as readable, printable pages, with names, dates and Japanese text intact. Free options and their limits.
- Export iPhone albums to foldersCopy iPhone photo albums to a Windows PC so each album becomes its own folder, with photos kept in the order they were taken. Free options and a faster way.
- Copy iPhone music to PCGet songs off an iPhone onto a Windows PC: re-download purchases for free, what Apple Music copy protection means, and copying synced songs into Artist and Album folders.
- Copy Files app documents to PCCopy PDFs, downloads, Word and Excel files from the iPhone Files app ("On My iPhone") to a Windows PC, with their folders. What works for iCloud Drive and what doesn't.
- Recover deleted iPhone photosWhere deleted iPhone photos, videos and messages can still be found, how to get them back on a Windows PC, and why "recovery software" cannot undelete them once they are truly gone.