You can now directly transfer photos and videos from Google Photos to iCloud Photos

As part of the Data Transfer Initiative (DTI), Google announced today that Google Photos users can now directly transfer their photos and videos to Apple iCloud Photos. This complements the existing transfers that were made possible from iCloud Photos to Google Photos. The following file types are supported for transfer from Google Photos to iCloud Photos.

Photos: .jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, .avif and most RAW files. ( formats such as Motion Photos or Live Photos, or Memories are not supported for transfer)

Videos: .mp4, .mov, .m4v, .mpg, mkv, .mod, .mmv, avi, .divx, .tod, .wmv, .asf, .3gp, .3g2, .m2t, .m2ts, and .mts files.

It is important to note that only consumer Google Accounts are supported for this transfer initiative. The following accounts will not work for data transfer.

Accounts for children under the applicable age in their country
Accounts through work, school, or other organizations
Accounts with Advanced Protection turned on

After you initiate the transfer of photos and videos to iCloud Photos, the data will not be deleted from Google Photos. Also, the entire transfer process might take between several hours and a few days, depending on the size of the data being transferred.

Here's how you can initiate transfer of photos and videos from Google Photos to iCloud Photos:

Go to Google Takeout

Follow the instructions to start an export from Google Photos.

Choose "Apple - iCloud Photos" as the destination to transfer and sign in with your Apple ID.

Tap Allow to share permission with Google to add photos and videos to iCloud.

Chris Riley, Executive Director of Data Transfer Initiative (DTI), wrote the following regarding the new Google Photos to iCloud Photos transfer support.

The offering from Apple and Google will be rolling out over the next week and is the newest tool powered by the open source Data Transfer Project (DTP) technology stack, joining existing direct portability tools available to billions of people today offered by DTI and its founding partners Apple, Google, and Meta.

Source: DTI