How to Backup Photos to iCloud

Part 1: About Backing Up Photos to iCloud

So, does iCloud backup photos? Of course yes. Apple has even provided two special services just for photo storage. The first one is called Photo Stream and the second one is the iCloud Photo Library. Before we move forward with the backup process, we need to understand the main differences between these services as well. This way, you’ll have a clear idea of when and how you should these services.

Photo Stream

• This service has the capability to store almost 1000 pictures which are taken recently.
• Have no utilization of iCloud space.
• Compatible with all devices including iPad, iPhone, iPod, PC, and Mac.
• It only saves the web version of the files in lower quality.
• There is no sync and upload option available for videos.
• Users can enable the feature and sync the albums and pictures from PC or Mac via iTunes.

iCloud Photo Library

• The photo library can save your pictures and videos as long as there is space left in the cloud.
• Provide easy access to all iOS devices and also have a website to use various features.
• It saves pictures in high quality on devices and server both. It also has support for various formats.
• The library can sync videos and upload the photos.
• Don’t have the feature to sync the pictures and albums from PC or Mac via iTunes.
• When you delete a file from the library, it also gets deleted from the device.

As we have basic information about the iCloud photo backup options, let’s see how we can create a backup with iCloud.

Part 2: How to Backup Photo to iCloud Automatically

Here, we have gathered the automatic ways on how to backup photos from iPhone to iCloud. Read and review which way is more appropriate for you.

Way 1: How to Backup Photos with iCloud Photo Stream

For this, you have to enable the Photo Stream feature on your iPhone. To backup iPhone photos to iCloud photo stream automatically, follow the steps below:

1. 1. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad and click on your Apple account. There you will see the iCloud option.

          

2. 2. Step 2: In the iCloud settings, you will see the Photos option. Click on it and you will see the My Photo Stream option on the screen. Toggle the bar and enable the feature.

          

This will automatically sync all the albums and photos of your device with iCloud.

Way 2: How to Backup Photos with iCloud Photo Library

To use the Photo Library, you have to follow a similar criterion. At first, you have to enable the feature in settings. This is how to backup all photos to iCloud using Photo Library:

1. 1. Launch the Settings app and open iCloud settings. Click on the Photos option to access the photos app settings.

2. 2. On the top, you will see the iCloud Photo Library option. Enable the feature and your photos and videos will be automatically synced with the library.

          

Now, you can access the files within the library and all the changes that you made to the files in the library will also be made on the device.

Part 3: How to Backup iPhone Photos to iCloud Manually

There is also a manual option to create iCloud backup of the photos stored on your device. It is the default iCloud backup. This is how to backup your photos to iCloud manually:

1. 1. Open Settings app and access your iCloud account. Scroll down to the menu and you will see the Backup option.

2. 2. Click on the enable the iCloud Backup option and then tap on the Back Up Now button.

          
3. Wait as iCloud perform a backup of your entire device data including photos. You can select the data that you want to backup on iCloud and leave the rest of them.

Part 4: Tips: How to Restore Photos from iCloud

Once you know how to backup photos using iCloud, it is important that you know how to restore photos from iCloud backup as well.

1. Apple’s Method to Restore Photos from iCloud Backup

Apple allows you to restore iPhone photos from iCloud backup, but the problem is you have to reset your iPhone and erase everything first for iCloud restore. Go to Settings > General > Reset, choose Erase All Settings and Contents. After this, you can set up iPhone as new. In Apps & Data screen, select “Restore from iCloud Backup” option to restore photos from iCloud.

     

This method does not allow you to restore photos only from iCloud backup. And it won’t support selective restore. Is there a way to restore only photos without resetting? Yes, there is.

2. Selective Restore Photos from iCloud Backup without Reset

To achieve this, you need to resort to a third-party software iOS Data Recovery. With this tool, you can access iCloud backup and restore photos from iCloud backup without resetting. The best feature is that you can access the old backup files with this tool allowing you to get back old files which you thought were lost forever.

• Step 1 Open this software and choose “Recover from iCloud Backup File”, it will guide you to sign in to your iCloud.

  

• Step 2 After signing into iCloud account, this software will display all backup files related with this account. You can select a backup and click Next.

  

• Step 3 This software allows you to select files that you want to download and restore from iCloud.

  

• Step 4 The next step is to download selected files from iCloud backup. Wait for a while and this software will list all details.

  
• Step 5 Select the photos from iCloud and click Recover button, you can restore to devices or restore to computer disk drive.

That is the smart way to restore photos from iCloud backup without resetting.

The Bottom Line

Conclusion

Now, we all know how to backup pictures to iCloud. You can use iCloud in situations when you don’t have a laptop or computer. When you ever lost the important photos you can restore from iCloud backup either by resetting iPhone or using iOS Data Recovery to restore photos from iCloud without resetting.