Guide2026-06-09

How to Export Your iCloud Photo Library to Google Photos on Mac

A complete guide to migrating your entire iCloud Photo Library to Google Photos on Mac — without losing a single photo or paying for two cloud subscriptions.

If you're tired of paying for iCloud storage and want to move everything to Google Photos, you're not alone. Millions of iPhone users make this switch every year — but Apple doesn't make it easy. There's no direct "export to Google Photos" button anywhere in sight.

This guide walks you through exactly how to do it on a Mac, step by step, without losing any photos or metadata.

Why People Switch from iCloud to Google Photos

The most common reasons:

Cost — iCloud 200GB costs A$4.49/month, while Google Photos offers 15GB free and 100GB for A$3.09/month

Cross-platform access — Google Photos works seamlessly on Android, Windows, and the web

Better search — Google's AI-powered search is genuinely better at finding photos by subject, location, or date

Already using Google — if you're on Gmail and Google Drive, it makes sense to consolidate

Whatever your reason, the process is the same.

What You'll Need

A Mac with the Photos app

Your iCloud library fully downloaded to your Mac

A Google account with enough storage

Migrate Moments (optional but recommended for large libraries)

Step 1: Download Your Full iCloud Library to Your Mac

Before you can export anything, your photos need to be physically on your Mac — not just referenced from iCloud.

Open Photos on your Mac

Go to Photos → Settings → iCloud

Select Download Originals to this Mac

Wait for everything to download — this can take hours or days for large libraries

You'll see a progress bar at the bottom of the Photos window. Don't close your Mac or put it to sleep while this runs.

> Tip: Make sure you have enough free disk space first. Your full library could be anywhere from a few gigabytes to hundreds of gigabytes.

Step 2: Triage Your Library First (Recommended)

Before migrating everything, it's worth asking: do you actually want to bring all of it?

Most people have thousands of blurry shots, duplicate photos, and screenshots they'll never look at again. Migrating everything means paying for storage for photos you don't care about.

Migrate Moments for iOS is a free app that makes this easy. It shows you your photos one at a time and lets you swipe right to keep, left to delete, or up to add to an album. It works through themed daily missions — just 20 photos at a time — so it never feels overwhelming.

Once you've triaged on your iPhone and deleted the junk, you'll have a cleaner library to migrate.

Step 3: Export from Photos on Mac

Open Photos on your Mac

Select File → Export → Export Unmodified Originals

Choose a destination folder (an external SSD is ideal for large libraries)

Make sure Export IPTC as XMP is checked to preserve metadata

Click Export

Alternative: Migrate Moments for Mac handles this process automatically, preserving all metadata, albums, and folder structure.

Step 4: Upload to Google Photos

Once your photos are exported to a folder on your Mac:

Download Google Photos Backup & Sync from photos.google.com/apps

Point it at your exported folder

Let it run — it uploads everything automatically, handles duplicates, and resumes if interrupted

For smaller libraries you can also drag and drop directly at photos.google.com.

Step 5: Verify Everything Transferred

Before you delete anything from iCloud:

Check the photo count in Google Photos matches what you exported

Spot-check a few photos to make sure they look right

Confirm videos transferred — they sometimes get missed

Take your time here. Once you clear iCloud storage, recovery requires restoring from backup.

Step 6: Remove Photos from iCloud

Once you're confident everything is safely in Google Photos:

Go to Photos → Settings → iCloud

Turn off iCloud Photos — this removes photos from iCloud but keeps them on your Mac

Wait at least a week before deleting anything locally

> Warning: Don't rush this step. Confirm you can access all your photos in Google Photos before removing anything.

How Long Does the Whole Process Take?

| Library Size | Export Time | Upload Time |

|---|---|---|

| Under 10GB | 30 minutes | 1–2 hours |

| 10–50GB | 1–3 hours | 4–8 hours |

| 50–200GB | 3–8 hours | 1–3 days |

| 200GB+ | 8+ hours | 3–7 days |

The Bottom Line

Moving from iCloud to Google Photos takes time and patience, but it's straightforward. The key is: download originals, export them, upload to Google Photos, verify everything, then remove from iCloud.

If your library is large or disorganised, triaging with Migrate Moments for iOS before the migration means you only move photos worth keeping — saving you storage costs on both sides.