Why can't I transfer Photos to iCloud using Takeout option?

Apple's instructions are incorrectly sending folks to Google Takeout and then telling them to select Google Photos, pick source folders, and a destination service.

This will NOT give you an option for Apple's iCloud Photos as one of the destinations.

This is what worked for me:

1. Navigate to your Google Profile
2. Select "Data & Privacy" on the left side panel
3. Scroll down to "Data from apps and services you use" section
4. Select "Photos", which will, strangely, open Google Dashboard
5. Scroll down to the "Recently used Google services" section
6. Within the tile that says "Photos" select "Transfer data" - this is critical
7. Continue from step #2 of this guide: https://www.lifewire.com/transfer-google-photos-to-icloud-5219739

Good luck!

ap1kenobi wrote:

Forget the steps above, just navigate here and pick your options: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

The option for using iCloud Photos directly only became available sometime on 7/25.

Forget the steps above, just navigate here and pick your options: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

I have a google workspace account, and i don't get that option.

"Exporting your content to a third-party service is not available for , and you have been transferred to the default Takeout page."

[Edited by Moderator]

Google Workspace accounts, family accounts, and education accounts that are not regular Google accounts are not seeing this option to export to Apple, Flicker, SmugMug etc.

I found a solution.

Share all your Google Photos to a regular Gmail account using Google Photos' "Partner Sharing" feature. Once all photos are shared and saved to the generic Google account you can use the link https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos and follow the regular instructions as mentioned Transfer a copy of your photos and videos to iCloud Photos - Apple Support

1. Create a new Google account if you don't have one you can already use.
2. Set up Google Photos partner share - https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos
3. Send the invite to this new Google account from your old Google Workspace account
4. select the option to share all photos
5. Accept the invite from the new Google account and make sure to set it to Save all photos to this account
6. then wait a bit.
7. Once all photos are shared and saved to the generic Google account you can use the link https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

aliasgarn wrote:

I have a google workspace account, and i don't get that option.

"Exporting your content to a third-party service is not available for , and you have been transferred to the default Takeout page."

I'm also a Google Workspace/Google Apps/"whatever Google want to call it this month" user, and I get the same message when navigating to https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

Exporting your content to a third-party service is not available for <email address>, and you have been transferred to the default Takeout page.

[Edited by Moderator]

As of 10/21/24 the direct link referenced by ap1kenobi kind of worked for me ...

ap1kenobi wrote:

Try this direct link: https://takeout.google.com/takeout/transfer/custom/photos

A couple steps in I received the following message (just before I selected the destination):

404. That’s an error. The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

I tried several times and cleared the cache and tried again and it didn't work.

What did work was me going to MS Edge instead of Chrome. The process seemed to work fine in Edge -- It accepted the request and said it could take hours to days to complete so I can't verify success yet.

This solution won't work for everyone, but I used my iPhone to transfer.

I opened the Google Photos app and selected my photos month by month and pressed the "Save to device" button. It took around 2 hours for ~10k photos. Some of the videos took a while.

Then I opened the Apple Photos app and it started syncing to iCloud. That took a while, too, but it was actually successful and kept dates and metadata consistent.

See Matti Haveri's instructions in this thread:

The only destinations that show up on Goo… - Apple Community

This response led me to the solution - thank you! See Google Takeout, no option for Apple - iCl… - Apple Community

The direct method is soo much better if you have 1000’s of photos and videos. See my response here: Why can't I transfer Photos to iCloud usi… - Apple Community

Yes there is. Look for the Deselect and click on it and then scroll down and look for Google Photos.

https://www.lifewire.com/transfer-google-photos-to-icloud-5219739

No this does not work. the above options make more sense (but still don't work!!)

The option to transfer to cloud never shows.

Ludicrous waste of time and optimism once again from google!!

Take it up with Google. It's their service.

Thank you so much, top voted comment worked!