[Detailed Guide] How to Migrate Apple Photos to Lightroom

This guide will walk you through the steps of migrating Apple photos to Lightroom, so you can continue to edit and organize with ease. Say goodbye to the limitations of Apple Photos and unlock the full potential of Lightroom.

Clara by Clara Updated June 4, 2024
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I am using iPhone and a Windows PC. I have about 5 GB photos and videos stored on my Apple Photos. I want to edit some of my iPhone pictures on Lightroom on PC. How to migrate Apple photos to Lightroom easily?

- Question from Reddit

Why Do You Want to Migrate Apple Photos to Lightroom?

The iPhone's camera function is recognized as one of the best in technology. We can use it to take photos and record daily life, or use it as a professional photo camera. When you want to edit your iPhone's photos, you can perform some simple things on Apple Photos directly.

apple photos

However, if you're looking for more specialized and modern features in photo editing, moving to Adobe Lightroom would be a better choice. Here are the advantages of performing Lightroom import from Apple photos:

✎...
Advanced Editing Capabilities: Lightroom has more robust editing tools, including advanced resolution, alignment, and color adjustments to meet the needs of professional photographers.
Support for RAW processing: If you take a lot of photos in RAW format, Lightroom will be better able to handle and support Raw files.
Harmless Editing: Lightroom ensures that you can always restore the original image and can edit or cancel the editing process at any time.
Smooth Transition to Other Adobe Products: If you're using other Adobe products, such as Photoshop, you can send images from Lightroom to Photoshop for more advanced editing and synthesis, and smoothly return to Lightroom easily.

How to Transfer iPhone Photos to Lightroom on PC

To migrate Apple photos to Lightroom, the first step you need to do is to transfer your photos from the iPhone to your computer. Many users report that iCloud only provides 5 GB of free storage space, more space requires extra costs; and iTunes is very slow to sync large and a number of photos/videos, both them requires a stable network connection or enough cellular data.

Is there a better alternative? In the following article, we will introduce the best way to transfer photos from iPhone to PC.

[Easy & Fast] Import Pictures from iPhone to Lightroom via FoneTool

FoneTool is one professional iPhone data management tool for Windows PC. It allows you to transfer photos saved in different albums on Apple Photos. With a USB cable, you can transfer hundreds of photos from iPhone to PC within seconds. And it no need to use cellar data or internet connection.

laugh Why do you choose FoneTool?

yes Easy to use. It is designed with a use-friendly interface, you can hold how to use it when you fist meet it.

yes Completely transfer. If you want to move all photos on your Apple Photos, You can one-click transfer all your iPhone photos to the computer.

yes Preview and selective transfer. It supports you to preview and selectively transfer pictures that you like to a computer.

yes Keep original quality. It will transfer iPhone data without compressing its quality.

yes No data size and number limitation. You can quickly transfer pictures with different size and there is no number limitation.

Free download FoneTool and follow the steps to transfer all your photos to PC to add them to Lightroom.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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Step 1. Launch FoneTool on your PC > Plug in your iPhoneto the computer.

Step 2. After FoneTool recognizes your device > Go to Phone Transfer > Tap iPhone to PC> Click Get Started.

get start

★Tips:
You can also transfer photos from PC to iPhone by choosing PC to iPhone.

Step 3. Tap Photos icon > Then you can preview all your photo albums > Select the photos you want to transfer. You can also check Select All to move all images > Tap OK.

photos

Step 4. Click Start Transfer > When the pop-up window appears, set the storage path > Click Start Transfer.

transfer

By the way, this method also suitable for moving from lightroom to apple photos.

How to Open Apple Photos on Lightroom on PC

After you transfer iPhone photos to the computer, you can install the appropriate version of Lightroom, the following part will show you how to add pictures to Lightroom on your computer.

Step 1. click twice on the Lightroom app icon to run the app.

Step 2. Click on the + (plus) sign > Tap Browse to add photos that you transfer from iPhone to PC.

plus icon

Step 3. Choose the photos you want to open on the app > And then you can edit them at will in the Lightroom app on the Windows PC.

Starting with iOS 11, photos taken on iPhones are saved in the HEIC format by default. This format allows users to take full advantage of the high-quality 4K cameras on their devices, along with features like live photos and burst mode. If you find the Lightroom can’t open HEIC photos on your Windows PC, don’t worry, you can use FoneTool to import HEIC to Lightroom on Windows.

It provides a powerful feature to convert HEIC pictures to PNG/JPG/JPEG, etc. You can go to the Home page of FoneTool > Click on Toolbox > Choose HEIC Converter and follow the on-screen guide to convert your HEIC picture with ease.

heic converter

Bonus Tip: Backup iPhone Photos and Videos to Windows

Too many photos and videos will take up plenty of space in your iPhone. If you don't want to delete your photos, you can try to back up your iPhone photos to the other hard drives, and then delete the photos from your phone. Also, when you backup iPhone photos to PC, this also avoids data loss.

FoneTool is a all-in-one iOS data management tool. Besides iPhone data transfer and HEIC converter, you can also use it to selective or full backup your iPhone data.

Step 1. Launch FoneTool > Go to Phone Backup > Choose Selective Backup> Tap Get Started.

selective backup

Step 2. Click the Photos icon to preview and select the needed files > Click OK.

select photos

Step 3. Then decide a Backup Storage Path to save your photos > Click Start Backup button to backup iPhone photos to PC.

start backup

When the backup is finished, you can go to My Backups to check your backup files. You can view, locate, restore, and delete your backup files.

my backups

Conclusion

That’s all about how to migrate Apple photos to Lightroom. First, you can transfer the Apple Photos to your computer, and then use the Lightroom to add the photos you want. We recommend you to use FoneTool this professional photo transmission software, which provides simple operation methods and superfast transmission speed.

If you have an encounter that can't open HEIC files on Windows, or if a Lightroom can't open HEIC photos, you can also use FoneTool's photo conversion feature.

FoneTool - All-in-one iPhone Data Manager

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  • iOS 18 Compatible
  • iPhone 15 Supported

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  • Full/Selective Backup iPhone
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