Transferring photos from one Apple ID to another.

[baxlobs]

Hi,

I need to transfer the photos from my late wife's iPhone/iCloud to my Apple ID before I close down her Apple ID and wipe her phone and iPad. Is there any easy way to do this?

I can transfer them, very slowly, using Airdrop but this would take forever. Is there any way of moving them in bulk?

I do know her Apple ID and password.

TIA

 

[RhetTbull]

Do you have a Mac or a PC? If so, you could use the free iCloud Photos Downloader tool to download them all from iCloud to the computer. If you have a Mac you can then copy those photos into your Photos library. If a PC, you'd have to upload them to iCloud using the website (log in to your iCloud and upload them).

 

[baxlobs]

I have a Mac, could I use this tool using my late wife's Apple ID to download to my Mac? If so that would be great.

 

[VineRider]

Condolences on your loss....If you have access to her iPhone, you might also try creating a shared album that you share with your Apple ID. Then, add all her photos to the shared album.

Once they propagate to the shared album, access the shared album on your phone and select all photos and save them to your phone.

 

[RhetTbull]

I have a Mac, could I use this tool using my late wife's Apple ID to download to my Mac? If so that would be great.

Yes, I think that should work. Another option is to create a new user on the Mac. Then log in to that new account, login to her AppleID and set Photos to "download originals to this Mac". Once it's synced, you can copy the Photos library to your account (easiest might be to copy to an external drive or to the "Shared" user folder. Then you could use PowerPhotos (a commercial app) to copy the photos from her library into yours, effectively merging them. This would preserve any metadata in her library like albums, keywords, etc.

It would also work to use iCloud Photos Downloaded to just download the images and then import to Photos. This requires slightly more technical proficiency.

So sorry to hear about your loss. Please don't hesitate to ask follow-up questions if you get stuck. I understand how important it is to get these photos copied over.

 

[RhetTbull]

One other option is to login in to iCloud.com and request a download of all the iCloud data.

 

[baxlobs]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I will need to take some time to work through your suggestions.