How to backup your photos on iPhone without iCloud

I always have iCloud Photo Library enabled on my Mac, iPhone and iPad to have an automatic backup of all my photos and videos across all my devices. So that there is enough storage space, I pay monthly for the largest storage plan at Apple, with which you can use 2 terabytes of data in the iCloud.

If you then also activated the option "Save originals in the iCloud" in the Photos app, then there is actually always a current backup of the photos and videos in the iCloud and you don't have to worry about further backups.

Backup iPhone photos to Mac

If you only have a small iCloud subscription or don't even have iCloud activated at all, then the question is how you can create a backup of the photo library at all.

One way that requires a Mac, however, is the following: The iPhone is connected to the Mac with a cable. Now select the iPhone from the sidebar of the Finder. On the old macOS versions, you still use iTunes for this and do not use the Finder.

In the following window you can then start the synchronization of the data via the Sync button and so everything from the iPhone ends up on the Mac - including the photos and videos. All iPhone data – including photos and films – can also be saved on the Mac via the “Backups” item so that you can restore them later.

3 Solutions: Backup iPhone Photos without Mac

If you don't have a Mac and don't have an iCloud photo library activated, you'll have to use another cloud solution to back up the photos. This is where the services of Google, Dropbox and Amazon come in handy.

Dropbox photo sync in the app

If you install the Dropbox app on the iPhone or iPad , it usually asks directly whether you want to send the photos from the device directly to Dropbox. If you activate this function, all photos will automatically end up in the Dropbox.

If you deactivated the function – like I did – directly during setup, but now want to activate it afterwards, open the Dropbox app, then switch to Photos at the bottom and click on “Activate” at the top of the “Camera uploads – upload photos automatically”. “.

Use Google Photos Sync

With its Google Photos app, Google also offers an option for backing up photos from the iPhone or iPad directly to the cloud. The function is activated in this way, which is also explained here in the support document :

1. Open the Google Photos app
2. Sign in with the Google account
3. Tap the profile picture or initials in the top right corner
4. Open Google Photos settings
5. Enable Backup & Sync
6. When asked by iOS whether the app may have access to the photos, you must of course click "Yes".

Amazon Photos with unlimited photo storage for Prime customers

One solution that many people still don't know about is Amazon Photos . This app on iPhone gives you unlimited photo storage if you're already a Prime customer. For videos, 5 GB of storage space is included in the Prime subscription. If you need more, you can get several more GB for a small, monthly price.

I haven't tried the Amazon solution myself, but it should be very easy to set up.

Conclusion: iCloud is expensive, but best integrated

Compared to the cloud solutions from Dropbox, Amazon and Google, iCloud is not the cheapest option, but it has three advantages:

1. You can be relatively sure that Apple does not evaluate the data from the photos and videos for any marketing purposes, as is probably the case with Google and Amazon.
2. The integration of iCloud is already built into the iPhone, iPad and Mac and is therefore very convenient.
3. It is not known exactly whether the Apple ProRAW format (if you use it) is supported by the providers. In the worst case, these files are not synchronized or uploaded as JPG, which of course is not desired. With the iCloud, all this is considered and works.

Personally, I am a friend of Apple's iCloud solution and would also recommend this service to anyone who wants the best compatibility and is less concerned with money.