Can I back up my photos to an external drive?

Currently, All my photos are on iCloud storage for a monthly fee. Can I also back up photos on external storage? If so, can I just back up my photos on my device?

iPhone SE, iOS 16

Posted on Jul 23, 2023 05:23 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 24, 2023 12:58 AM

One problem with using iCloud Photos is, that your regular iCloud backup of your iPhone will no longer include the photos (What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support). So you definitely need to make a separate backup.

Do you have a computer as well? With a computer you can backup your iCloud data as described here: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support


If you have no computer, you could save your photos on your device by sharing them to Files.


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 24, 2023 12:58 AM in response to PLFink

One problem with using iCloud Photos is, that your regular iCloud backup of your iPhone will no longer include the photos (What does iCloud back up? - Apple Support). So you definitely need to make a separate backup.

Do you have a computer as well? With a computer you can backup your iCloud data as described here: Archive or make copies of the information you store in iCloud - Apple Support


If you have no computer, you could save your photos on your device by sharing them to Files.


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Can I back up my photos to an external drive?

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