Google Photos

How to move Google Photos to another service without losing anything

There are two official routes out of Google Photos: download everything with Takeout, or copy directly to another service. Each has gaps worth knowing before you start.

Updated 5 October 2026 · 5 min read

Years of photos are usually the biggest thing in a Google account, and the hardest to move. People want to leave Google Photos for different reasons: the 15 GB is full, they prefer another ecosystem, or they simply want a second copy outside Google. Whatever the reason, the goal is the same: every photo and video, at the quality you have, with its date, in a place you can open. This guide compares the official routes and what each leaves behind.

Two official routes

Neither route deletes anything from Google Photos. You decide later, once you have checked the copy.

Route 1: download everything with Takeout

Takeout gives you all your photos and videos as one or more .zip or .tgz files. In takeout.google.com, untick everything except Google Photos, then follow the usual screens; the full walkthrough, with the 7-day link expiry and the 5-download limit, is in Google Takeout step by step.

For a handful of pictures you don't need Takeout: on photos.google.com, select a photo or video, then click “More” → “Download”. For whole libraries, Google's own help page points you to Takeout.

Route 2: copy directly to another service

Google has an official tool called “Copy your photos & videos to a service outside of Google”. It copies the files straight to the other service, so you don't have to download and upload them yourself.

1. Open your Google Account dashboard. Under “Recently used Google services” or “Other Google services”, scroll to Photos and click “Transfer data”.
2. Choose what to copy. Under “All photo albums included” you can untick albums you don't want.
3. Click “Continue” and authorise Google Takeout.
4. Under “Move to”, open the arrow, choose the destination and click “Continue”.
5. Sign in to the destination service, authorise Google Takeout and click “Agree and continue”.

Things to know: the originals stay in Google Photos, and if you run the transfer again you may get duplicates. The tool is not available for child accounts, work or school accounts, or accounts with Advanced Protection. Google's help page does not give a complete list of destinations; check the “Move to” menu for what is offered to you.

To iCloud Photos

Apple documents its own version of this transfer (support page published in September 2024):

1. Before starting, turn on iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive, and make sure you have enough iCloud storage.
2. Go to takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos and follow the instructions to start the export.
3. Choose “Apple - iCloud Photos” as the destination and sign in with your Apple Account.
4. Tap “Allow”.

Apple says it takes “between several hours and a few days”. Photos arrive in an album called “Import from Google” with the transfer date; RAW files go to iCloud Drive. It is not available for child accounts or Managed Apple Accounts, and you cannot turn on Advanced Data Protection during the import.

What the direct transfer leaves out

According to Google, these are not copied:

• the Locked Folder;
• unsupported file types;
• unsaved memories and creations;
• the video part of Motion Photos and Live Photos;
• metadata you edited by hand;
• anything in the trash.

Descriptions are copied. If any of the excluded items matter to you (the Locked Folder especially), deal with them separately before you consider the move finished.

Originals, quality and dates

An export gives you what Google stored. If your backups were in Storage saver, Google keeps photos above 16 MP resized to 16 MP and videos above 1080p reduced to 1080p, so that is what you will get. The full-resolution originals exist only where they came from, for example your phone or camera.

With Takeout, Google puts metadata that isn't in the original file, such as comments added in Google Photos, in “a secondary JSON file” next to the image. Keep those files with the photos. And if your computer shows every photo with today's date, don't panic: Google explains that the operating system can give the file a new timestamp, while the original one stays in the metadata embedded in the photo.

Before deleting anything from Google, open a sample from different years and compare the number of items. A copy you have not checked is a hope, not a backup.

Uploading to a new home

If the destination is not offered by Transfer data, the path is Takeout first, then upload. LifetimeCloud is one such case: there is no direct import from Google Photos. On a computer, unpack the Takeout archives and upload with “Upload folder”, or drag the folders into the window, subfolders included; folder upload is not available from a phone browser. The content of each file is encrypted on your device before it leaves.

Moving the past is half the job; new photos keep arriving. For setting up ongoing backups from your phone, see automatic phone photo backup, and keep at least two copies of what you cannot replace (the 3-2-1 rule).