How To Use Google Photos Instead of Using The iCloud on an iPhone
Google Photos on an iPhone.
Most people will choose to use only a single ecosystem to store all of their online files. For those who have chosen to make use of the Google Photos rather than iCloud on their iPhone might be wondering how to automatically set their phone to upload their pictures to Google Photos.
Whether you're expanding your use of Google's platform or you're a total newbie, here's a guide on how to replace iCloud with Google Photos on your iPhone.
What Is Google Photos?
Google Photos is the storage solution of Google's photo. On the platform, you can store your photos in your Google account safely in the cloud. These pictures can sync across all of your devices through the Google Photos app.
Offering up to 15GB of free storage, Google allows you to store your photos in either the original quality or a compressed high-quality alternative. While it doesn't sound like too much, you can store a fair few photos over multiple years before needing to upgrade and pay for more storage.
Google brings some amazing features to the table as well. With the likes of face and pet recognition, easy sharing, advanced, editing, and Google Lens, you're guaranteed an awesome and feature-packed experience on the platform.
How To Set Up Your Google Photos App On iPhone
1. First things first, you'll have to install the Google Photos app on your iPhone. You can check the App store to download Google Photos for free.
2. Once downloaded, the app will enquire of you for access to your photos. While you can choose which photos you give it access to with the iOS privacy features, it's for your best interest to allow access to all of your photos to enjoy the best from the app.
3. You'll need to either sign in with a Google account or you can create a new one. If need be to create one, you can do so easily from within the app. If you've already signed in to your Google Account on your iPhone before, you wont need to sign in to enter your login information again.
4. You've now set up the Google Photos app to be functional on your device! You can now be able to use the app as a replacement for your Photos app if you wish, as well as using it to back up your pictures to your Google account.
Moving Photos From iCloud to Google Photos
Once you are able to set up Google Photos, you're likely going to want to migrate your photos over from the iCloud. This will mean you want to keep all of your photos in the same place, and it will allow you keep access to photos you've already backed up when you switch off iCloud Photos.
There are few ways to do this. If the photos are still on your iPhone, you can just easily back them up directly through the Google Photos app. If you have lost them and they are more on any of your devices, you'll need to use the Google Photos tool that is on your computer or on your Apple's privacy website.
How To Turn Off iCloud Photos
Now that you have set up your Google Photos, you may now want to turn off iCloud Photos to stop your photos from being backed up to the iCloud as well(optional though). If you'd still like a backup of your photos in iCloud as well as Google Photos, then you don't have to follow this step.
This process is easy to carry out and will help to stop all your future photos from being backed up by iCloud. It can also help save some space in your iCloud account, which is really handy for device backups.
Note: By doing this, all your saved photos in the icloud will be deleted, so make sure you've already migrated them to Google Photos.
1. Head to Settings on your iPhone. Tap on your name at the top of the app, to access your iCloud Settings. Once you get to this menu, tap on iCloud.
2. You'll now see a list of toggles for the different apps thar are using iCloud. At the top side of the list, you'll see Photos. This will open a new menu rather than a toggle, so just tap on it.
The iCloud Toggles
1. In this menu, you'll discover the toggles for iCloud Photos. You'll want to disable iCloud Photos and also My Photo Stream.
2. You can leave the Shared Albums turned on if you wish, to maintain access to any of your albums shared with you through iCloud.
You've now successfully turned off iCloud Photos. Your pictures will no longer be backed up to the iCloud anymore, so you're ready to fully rely only on your Google Photos.
