Mildly Journaling

A Practical Guide to Managing iPhone Photos/Videos

Managing family photos can feel like a never-ending battle. If you’re anything like me, your iPhone is bursting with thousands of pictures and videos — vacations, birthdays, random shots of the pet or the kid doing something vaguely interesting. But when it comes to storing them, the default option, iCloud, isn’t always the best fit. Maybe you’re wary of subscription fees, or you just don’t trust your memories to live entirely in the cloud.

This post walks through all the photo storage options I explored and why I ultimately decided on syncing my iPhone photos to a local drive. If you’re okay with a bit of manual work and want a solution that’s cost-effective and reliable, this might be the right choice for you too.

Option 1: Cloud Storage Services

Cloud services like iCloud, Google Photos, and Amazon Photos are the most obvious and maybe most convenient options: automatic uploads, easy sharing, and access from anywhere. In particular, iCloud has great integrations with iPhones that our family use (so does Google Photos to Android phones).

  • iCloud: Free 5GB, best integration with iPhones and Apple devices
  • Google Photos: Free 15 GB (shared with Gmail/Drive), great AI features, supports Live Photos.
  • Microsoft OneDrive: Free 5 GB; integrates well with Windows and Office apps.
  • Amazon Photos: Free unlimited photo storage for Prime members; supports Live Photos.
  • Dropbox: Simple but expensive ($9.99/month for 2 TB); splits Live Photos into separate files.
  • pCloud: Lifetime plans available but lacks the seamless integration of others.

Why I Passed on Cloud Services

This option can be deceptively expensive. Storage need is one of the things that only grows: when’s the last time you really organize and even delete photos or videos? Especially for family, even a off-focus photo of the kid is too precious to throw away. Under such context, once a family starts using a storage solution, it is just a destined road towards its most expensive plan.

Option 2: Building My Own Cloud

The DIY route sounded tempting at first. With tools like Nextcloud or Immich, I could create a private cloud server hosted on my own hardware. This would give me full control over my data while mimicking the convenience of commercial cloud services.

Why I Passed on DIY Cloud

As much as I liked the idea of owning my own cloud, the setup process was daunting. Between configuring hardware (like a network attached storage) and maintaining software updates, it felt like trading one headache for another. Plus, while these solutions can preserve Live Photos (the iPhone feature that combines still images with short videos), getting it right requires technical know-how.

Option 3: Semi-Manual Transfer to Local Storage

This is where things started to click for me: transferring photos from my iPhone to a local drive or computer manually. It’s not as flashy as cloud sync or as technical as building your own solution, but it gets the job done without recurring costs or privacy concerns. Modern iPhones (i.e. ones with USB-C ports) even supports to transfer to External USB drives directly!

Here are the two main approaches:

Direct Transfer to External USB Drives

  1. Plug in an external drive.
  2. Open the Photos app and select “Export Unmodified Originals” to preserve Live Photos.
  3. Save directly to the drive using the Files app.

Transfer via Computer

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer (macOS Finder or Windows File Explorer works fine).
  2. Use tools like CopyTrans Photo (Windows) or Finder (macOS) to drag-and-drop photos onto an external hard drive.
  3. For better organization and metadata preservation (including Live Photos), apps like PhotoSync or Simple Transfer streamline the process.

Of course there are many 3rd-party sync software (e.g. PhotoSync, Simple Transfer) that offers more feature like automatically sync or sync to a network attached storage, but I find direct wired transfer - no pun intended - is still the best balancing of speed, privacy and effort.

Why Local Sync Works for Me

After trying multiple solutions, syncing photos and videos manually to a local drive struck the perfect balance between effort and control. Here’s why:

  1. Cost: No subscriptions or recurring fees—just a one-time purchase of an external hard drive.
  2. Privacy: My photos stay offline unless I choose otherwise.
  3. Simplicity: The process is straightforward enough that even non-tech-savvy family members can follow it.
  4. Live Photo Preservation: By using “Export Unmodified Originals,” both the still image and video components of Live Photos remain intact.

Final Thoughts

In an era where everything is moving to the cloud, it feels oddly satisfying to keep something tangible—like an external hard drive full of family memories. Sure, transferring photos manually takes a little effort now and then, but there’s something reassuring about knowing exactly where my data lives.

If you’re okay with rolling up your sleeves occasionally and want a solution that’s affordable and private, syncing photos locally might be your best bet too. It’s not glamorous, but sometimes simple just works.