How do I transfer photos from iPhone 12 to iPhone 16 with a different Apple ID ?

"How do I transfer photos from iPhone 12 to iPhone 16 with a different Apple ID ?: I want to transfer my photos - as in not sending them using airdrop or whatever like actual transfer from my old iphone 12 to my new iphone 16, however my iphone 12 uses a different apple ID from my new one since I have to use a separate account now as the previous one was my dads. How do I do this?"

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Transferring Photos to a New Apple Account:

Use a Computer --not a Mobile Device: Have a computer at-hand that can access the Internet? If so, perform this using the computer, as it would be more user-friendly doing so. You'd export these to a folder, and then upload them on a Web browser. then, download them to the other Account's device (if applicable). It may take some time, if there are hundreds or thousands to go by.

1. Log In: to https://www.icloud.com/photos on the computer
2. Create the folder on the Desktop
3. Download: these photos to the folder
4. Log In and Upload: to https://www.icloud.com/photos on the other Apple Account

• Go to iCloud.com and sign in with your old Apple Account and download the photos to your new device. If you had not previously used iCloud Photos, your Dad may be able to turn it on so your photos are uploaded to iCloud. This may require additional iCloud space depending on how many photos you are talking about.

Download iCloud photos and videos - Apple Support

There is not a way to pull photos from another device, without them being explicitly sent to you using AirDrop or saving the photos from your dad's phone to an external storage device and then importing them into your phone.

Your dad’s account can create a shared photos album with Apple Photos app. He can invite you (and other family members) to the album. You can be given download privileges and you should be set. You can then pick and choose the images to download.

Download iCloud photos and videos - Apple Support

Use the Photos app with Shared Albums

On your iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Photos app, then scroll down to Shared Albums.
2. Select an album. 
3. Tap the photo or video, then tap the Share button.
4. Choose Save Image or Save Video.

lobsterghost1 wrote:

Yes, he can do as you suggested. I didn't offer this though as I would hope you'd agree he should remove his dad's account from the phone and set it up using his own Apple Account.

Absolutely the device needs to be set up with the new Apple Account following a reset. That would not prevent them from going to iCloud.com and sign in to his previous Apple Account on the website with Safari to download the photos. The prerequisite is that iCloud Photos would have to have been used and a verification code may be required to sign into the website from a new device. Since the Apple Account was previously shared it does not appear account security was a priority, but each person now should be using a unique password.

Of course as Jeff Donald said, Dad can also share the photos using iCloud and they can download them from the shared folder.

[EDIT: This would be applicable if you were using iCloud Photos on the old phone, and the photos on it were already stored in iCloud Photos under your father's Apple ID.]

Apple has a service for transferring a copy of the photos and videos in your iCloud account to Google Photos.

Transfer a copy of your iCloud Photos collection to another service - Apple Support

Transfer a copy of your photos and videos to iCloud Photos – Apple Support

I suppose that if you had a Google [Photos] account, you could

• Transfer photos from your old Apple Account (your Dad's account) to your Google Photos account, then
• Transfer photos from your Google Photos account to your iCloud account

The question is how much resolution, metadata, etc. you might lose in the process.

It's a pity that there seems to be no article describing how to transfer a copy of iCloud Photos from one Apple ID to another (which you would think would be a more direct transfer, and one that wouldn't lose resolution or metadata).

Your new iPhone should have been fully wiped back to factory settings before you started to use it. Then you would sign into the new phone using your Apple ID and move your data over to the phone from your backup.

This link explains what needs to be done before you, the new user should use the phone --> What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support Have your dad do this, then set up the phone for yourself with your Apple Account.

Not doing this means you and your dad will be able to read each others text messages, delete each others photos, get each others voicemail messages and a host of other issues. Apple Accounts should NOT be shared by different users.

Be careful using Shared Albums for photo and video transfer. Photos placed into a Shared Album are subject to a maximum pixel count per side, which will result in loss of resolution for most photos taken with modern phone cameras. (Videos are also subject to limits including length and resolution.)

The shares albums will also remove the locations. Photos in a shared album are just nice for looking at, but otherwise pretty useless.

To transfer photos and videos in the full resolution with all metadata preserved you could use the shared iCloud Photos Library. But that will require a subscription for enough iCloud storage to hold the shared photos. Set up iCloud Shared Photo Library on your iPhone or iPad

Yes, he can do as you suggested. I didn't offer this though as I would hope you'd agree he should remove his dad's account from the phone and set it up using his own Apple Account.

léonie wrote: … Photos in a shared album are just nice for looking at, but otherwise pretty useless.

Sometimes here I find great bits of wisdom succinctly expressed!