How to Transfer Photos from Laptop to iPhone: 5 Easy Ways

This guide will show you how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone. Whether you want to transfer photos via USB cable or wirelessly, you'll find a way to do it here.

Lena

By Lena / Updated on December 19, 2023

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Can you transfer photos from laptop to iPhone?

When iPhone is connected to the laptop, we can view photos in File Explorer. If needed, we can copy and paste the photos to laptop. However, it doesn't work in the opposite direction. If you have tried, then you will find that you cannot drag and drop photos to iPhone.

Transfer Photos from Laptop to iPhone

Many users asked: How do I transfer photos from laptop to iPhone? Although File Explorer does not allow you to transfer photos, there are other ways to help you achieve the goal. Some tools can help you transfer photos via USB cable, others can help you transfer photos wirelessly. You can choose one depending on your needs. Let’s start to see how to send photos from laptop to iPhone!

All methods below can help you transfer photos from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Acer laptops to iPhone.

Part 1. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone with USB (2 Ways)

With a stable USB connection, data transfer between laptop and iPhone can be done quickly. Let’s see how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone with USB.

Way 1. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone via easy tool

iTunes can't transfer only some of the pictures you want and the tool is unstable, so more and more users abandon iTunes. Then you will surely want to know how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone without iTunes. To quickly transfer photos via USB cable, you can rely on FoneTool, one professional iOS data management tool.

FoneTool supports data transfer between laptop and iPhone, here are some of its advantages:

● Easy-to-use. You can simply drag and drop photos from laptop to iPhone.
● Fast transfer speed. It takes only 3 seconds to transfer 100 photos.
● Multiple formats supported. HEIC, JPG, JPEG, PNG, ProRAW, etc.
● No compression. It transfers photos in full resolution from laptop to iPhone.
● No data loss. Unlike iTunes, it will not erase any existing photos on iPhone.

FoneTool supports all iPhone models including the latest iPhone 14 series and works well on Dell/HP/Lenovo/Acer laptop. You can click the download button to get FoneToo and follow the steps to learn how to import photos from laptop to iPhone.

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1. Open FoneTool > Connect your iPhone to laptop.

2. Choose Phone Transfer > Go to PC to iPhone and click Start Transfer.

PC to iPhone

3. Click Photos icon > You can drag and drop photos to the box or you can click click anywhere in the box to browse the laptop and choose photos.

Choose Photos

4. Finally, click Start Transfer.

Start Transfer

★Tips:
As you can see from the picture, FoneTool also supports transferring videos, music, and contacts between laptop and iPhone.
With iPhone to PC, you can transfer photo albums from iPhone to PC.
If necessary, you can click Toolbox and let HEIC Converter help you convert HEIC to JPG/JPEG/PNG.

Way 2. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone with iTunes

Since iTunes is the official tool for iPhone data management so you may want to know how to transfer images from laptop to iPhone with iTunes. Well, iTunes indeed can help you transfer photos to iPhone, however, the whole process is kind of complicated and you may lose the existing photos.

Something you should know:

The transferred photos will be stored in a separate folder. When you want to add photos next time, it will delete the previously synced photos.
iTunes cannot help you transfer photos from laptop to iPhone when iCloud Photos is enabled on iPhone. You choose to turn off iCloud photos or let FoneTool help you transfer photos.

Follow the detailed steps to learn how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone using iTunes.

1. Put the photos you want to transfer into a folder. Launch iTunes and plug in your iPhone.

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to establish the connection between your iPhone and iTunes.

3. Click the Device tab.

4 Click Photos under Settings > Select Sync Photos > Choose the folder that contains the photos > Tick Selected folders.

5. Click Apply to start.

Sync Photos with iTunes

Part 2. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone wirelessly (3 Ways)

If you don’t have a USB cable, you can try the following methods to on how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone wirelessly. All of them can help you transfer photos from laptop to iPhone camera roll.

Way 1. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone  with Snapdrop

Although AirDrop is not available on Windows PC, you can use AirDrop-like apps to help you transfer photos from laptop to iPhone wirelessly, such as Snapdrop, Xender and SHAREit. They support data transfer between any device, which means you can also AirDrop photos from iPhone to PC.

Here we take Snapdrop as an example to show you how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone wirelessly. It allows you to transfer data using the web browser so you don’t need to download any app.

1. Connect your laptop and iPhone to the same Wi-Fi network.

2. Open a browser and go to SnapDrop.net on laptop and iPhone. It will assign a nickname to each device.

Snapdrop

3. On your laptop, tap the name of your iPhone and you will be given options to choose the files you want to transfer > Select the photos you need.

4. On your iPhone, tap Save to accept the photos.

💡 Related articles:

AirDrop for Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 PC Free Download 

[2023 Guide] How to Use AirDrop on Windows 11 

Way 2. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone via cloud services

Another way about how to transfer pictures from laptop to iPhone without cable is to use cloud storage services. Files in cloud storage services can be accessed on any device. You can first upload photos to cloud on computer and then download photos on iPhone. Depending on your situation, you can choose to use iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

If you do not want to install any app on iPhone, then iCloud Drive is a good choice. You can access iCloud Drive in Files app to complete the process of how to get photos from laptop to iPhone.

  • On your laptop: Open a browser and go to iCloud.com > Enter your Apple ID and passcode to log in to your account > Choose iCloud Drive > Click the upload button to choose the photos you want to transfer to iPhone.
  • On your iPhone: Go to Files app > Tap Browse option at the bottom of the screen > Select iCloud Drive > Find the photos and download them to iPhone.

Transfer Photos via iCloud Drive

Each iCloud user has 5 GB of free storage space. If your iCloud storage is full, you can turn to Google Drive or Dropbox, which offers 15GB of free storage space.

Way 3. Transfer photos from laptop to iPhone via Email

If you just want to transfer one or two photos, then you can add your photos as an attachment and send them to yourself. Please note that there is a limitation on the size of the attachment.

Check out below to learn how to copy photos from laptop to iPhone:

  • On your laptop: compose your mail and add the photos as attachments > send the email to yourself.
  • On your iPhone: go to Mail app > log in with the same email account > check the Inbox and download the photos.

Transfer Photos via Email

Video Tutorial: How to Transfer Photos from Laptop to iPhone 14

Final words

That’s all about how to transfer photos from laptop to iPhone. The 5 tools can help you transfer photos in different situations. If you need to transfer a large number of photos, FoneTool is a better choice. With a stable USB collection, the transfer can be done quickly.