Getting photos to iphone library after google takeout, while optimising storage?

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Level 1

4 points

Getting photos to iphone library after google takeout, while optimising storage?

So basically, my girlfriend moved from Android to apple. She had all her photos on google drive so we moved them over using google takeout which has added them to her icloud account in a new album.

She would like these to be available in her photos library on the handset without having to login to icloud and share old photos this way.

My question is, how does she do this without downloading all the originals and using all the phone storage? Mine for example has 13,000+ photos and videos yet it’s optimising the storage so it’s not really affecting my handset storage.

Can she achieve the same and have her photos available in the photos app?

Thanks!

iPhone 13, iOS 18

Posted on Aug 2, 2025 10:59 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 2, 2025 12:10 PM in response to 5tu92

All her pictures are at iCloud.com in her own private account? Then just turn on iCloud Photos and choose Optimize.

Settings>[ID]>iCloud>Photos

It can take a while to load all the pictures into the phone's Photos Library. It's faster if the phone is plugged in, turned on, and locked.

I'm not sure I understand "added them to her icloud account in a new album." An album doesn't normally hold all the pictures-- the purpose of an album is to allow you to separate the pictures into categories, with many pictures fitting several categories. So be careful if I misunderstood some of what you said.

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Answer 2

5tu92 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 2, 2025 12:14 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thank you for the reply and assistance.

From what I can see she has the exact settings you have suggested in your screenshot however in her iphone library she has 40ish photos that shes taken since getting a new phone and in icloud there is thousands.

Sorry I didn’t make it clear, she has all her pictures and videos from previous device now in icloud under a category “moved from google drive” or something similar.

I thought the settings above would sync them all and be available in library.

I should add this move was done a few days ago now.

thanks

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Answer 3

Aug 2, 2025 12:33 PM in response to 5tu92

Are you absolutely sure that the phone is signed in to the same account as you're seeing at iCloud.com?

There's a little ID icon at the upper right in Photos. If you tap on that, does it say "Synced just now?"

How many pictures?

When you go to iCloud.com, do you see her 40 iPhone pictures?

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