How to transfer photos from your Android device to your Windows computer?


You may have taken thousands of photos on your Android smartphone over the years. You may be preparing to erase your old device to trade it in for a new Samsung Galaxy. Or you just prefer to watch your photos on a big screen instead of the small slab in the palm of your hand. No problem for that. You can transfer your photos to your PC in several different ways.


  • You can plug your device into your PC via a USB cable and access your phone’s photos.


  • You can use the Windows Photos app to import photos from your phone.


  • By default, your photos are automatically saved to Google Photos, from where you can download them to your PC.


  • If you use OneDrive, you can automatically upload new photos from your phone to the OneDrive Pictures folder.


  • You can also use Microsoft’s Phone Link app to transfer your photos.

Each method works the same in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let’s go through each of them.

Connect your mobile to the PC

The easiest way to transfer your photos is to copy them directly from your smartphone.


  1. First, plug your mobile into a USB port on your PC.


  2. On your smartphone, swipe down from the top of the screen until you see an option for your USB connection. The phone may tell you that it is charging your device through the USB port.


  3. Tap this setting and change it to Files transfert.


Use USB for file transfer. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET


  1. Then open theFile Explorer on your Windows PC and navigate to your Android device.


  2. Browse the folder Internal storage Or Shared storage space to subfolder DCIMthen open the folder Camera. You should see all the smartphone photos in this location.


  3. Open another window in theFile Explorer to a local folder on your PC. You can then copy and paste or drag and drop the photos from your phone to your computer.




Copy photos to PC. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Use the Windows Photos app

You can also import photos from your Android mobile using the Windows Photos app.


  1. Open the app on your PC. Click on the button Import and select the From connected device option.





    2. Import photos with the Windows Photos app. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET

  2. Select your Android phone and let the app generate all photos from the device.


  3. Click on the link Change destination to choose a different folder for importing photos.


  4. Click on the drop-down menu to Select and choose the option to All the elements.


  5. Check the box Delete original items after importing to delete the photos from your mobile if that’s okay with you.


  6. When you’re ready, click the Import button.




Transfer to computer. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Use the Google Photos app

First, make sure your smartphone photos are already backed up and synced with Google Photos.


  1. Open the app Google Photos.


  2. Tap your profile icon and select Photo settings.


  3. Choose Backup and synchronization and make sure the switch is on for Backup and Sync.


  4. Make sure you have enough space in your Google Cloud storage to accommodate all of your photos. You can also change the upload size to upload your photos in a compressed format to save space.









    5. Sync photos with Google Photos. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET

  5. Go to the Google Photos website from your computer. You should see the photos synced from your Android phone there.


  6. Now suppose you want to download all the photos to your PC. Select the first photo, hold down the Shift key, then select the last photo.


  7. Click the three-dot icon at the top right and select Download. Your photos are saved in your default download folder as a ZIP file.








    8. Download photos from Google Photos. Capture Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Use Microsoft OneDrive

Here’s a useful solution if you’re already using Microsoft OneDrive in Windows. Install the OneDrive app on your Android phone if you haven’t already.


  1. Open the app and sign in with your Microsoft account.


  2. Tap the icon Pictures at the end of the page.

  3. Tap the option to save images taken by the camera and press the button Enable.







    4. Set OneDrive on the Android device. Screenshot Lance Whitney/ZDNET.

  4. Once the photos have been synced, open the OneDrive folder on your computer and you should see all the photos.


Use Microsoft Phone Link

Another method is to use Microsoft’s Phone Link (or Link to Windows): this app displays and retrieves photos and other items from an Android smartphone.


  1. The first step is to link and sync your Android phone with Windows.


  2. Once your phone is linked, select the option Pictures in the Phone Link app on your Windows PC. You will then see all the photos on your phone.


  3. Right-click on a photo you want to upload and select Save as.


The downside of Phone Link is that there’s no way to select and download multiple photos to your PC at once. This tool is therefore more useful for uploading a few photos at a time.





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