How to Transfer Files from iPhone to PC

⏱ 30 seconds 🔌 No cable 👤 No signup 💻 Windows / Mac / Linux

1. On your iPhone, install DropLink from the App Store (under 25 MB).
2. Open the app and tap Files on the home screen.
3. Pick the file(s) you want to send. You can pick a single photo, a batch of photos, a PDF, a video, anything.
4. The app shows you a short link like https://idroplink.com/g/AbC123de and a QR code. Tap the link area to copy it.
5. On your PC, open any browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox) and paste the link into the address bar.
6. The browser shows the file list. Click Download. The file lands on your PC.
7. When done, tap Stop sharing in the iPhone app. The link is invalidated.

Bonus: if your iPhone and PC are on the same WiFi, DropLink automatically routes the transfer over the local network at your router's full speed (50+ MB/s on a modern Wi-Fi 5/6 access point). You don't have to configure anything — it just happens. The transfer goes peer-to-peer, never touches our servers.

Why it's first on the list: no cable, no iCloud account, no email signup, no app install on the PC. Works for one or many recipients (you can paste the link in a chat with multiple people and they all download in parallel).

⏱ 5-15 minutes (initial setup) 🔌 No cable 👤 Apple ID required 💻 Mac (native) / Windows (iCloud app)

1. On iPhone: Settings → [your name] → iCloud → enable Photos and iCloud Drive.
2. On Mac: System Settings → [your name] → iCloud, sign in with the same Apple ID, enable Photos and iCloud Drive.
3. On Windows: download the iCloud for Windows app from the Microsoft Store, sign in.
4. Wait for files to sync. Photos appear in the Photos app on Mac, or in %USERPROFILE%\iCloud Photos on Windows. Documents in iCloud Drive folder.

Good for: always-on sync of your iPhone photo library to your computer. Set it up once, photos magically appear.

Bad for: one-off file transfers. Setup is heavy. Sync can take minutes to hours for large libraries. Free tier is 5 GB total — typical iPhone photo libraries fill this fast, then you're paying for iCloud+ ($0.99/month for 50 GB and up).

⏱ 2-5 minutes 🔌 USB-C or Lightning cable 👤 No signup 💻 Windows / Mac

1. Connect iPhone to PC via USB cable.
2. iPhone prompts: Trust This Computer? — tap Trust and enter your passcode.
3. On Windows: open File Explorer, your iPhone appears under "This PC" → click into Internal Storage → DCIM for photos and videos. Drag-and-copy what you want.
4. On Mac: open Photos app (for photos) or Image Capture (for raw file access).

Good for: bulk-copying photos and videos when you have the cable handy.

Bad for: non-media files (documents, app exports, files in third-party apps' sandboxes — these typically don't show up in DCIM). Cable required. The Trust prompt has to be approved on the iPhone each new computer.

⏱ 30 seconds 🔌 No cable 👤 No signup 💻 Mac only — not Windows

1. Make sure both your iPhone and Mac are signed into the same Apple ID, or set AirDrop to "Everyone for 10 minutes" on both.
2. Both devices need WiFi and Bluetooth on, and need to be within about 30 feet of each other.
3. On iPhone: select files → Share → AirDrop → pick your Mac.
4. On Mac: accept the incoming AirDrop. Files land in Downloads by default.

Good for: iPhone-to-Mac transfers when both are nearby. Fast and simple inside the Apple ecosystem.

Bad for: Windows PCs (AirDrop doesn't exist there). Across networks (AirDrop is short-range). Sometimes the device discovery is flaky and you have to fiddle with AirDrop visibility settings.

⏱ 1-3 minutes 🔌 No cable 👤 Email or chat account 💻 Any

1. On iPhone: pick the file → Share → Email (or WeChat/Slack/Telegram/Discord/Messenger).
2. Send to yourself or to a chat with your other device.
3. On PC: open the email/chat, download the attachment.

Good for: single small files (under 25 MB for most email providers, larger for chat). Fast for a quick PDF or photo.

Bad for: large files (most email providers cap at 25 MB; chat apps compress photos and videos heavily). Multiple files become tedious. Files go through a third-party provider.

⏱ Minutes (upload wait) 🔌 No cable 👤 Often requires email/account 💻 Any

1. On iPhone, open WeTransfer (or your cloud of choice — Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive).
2. Pick files, wait for upload to complete (can take minutes for large files on a typical home upload).
3. Get a share link or share via email.
4. On PC, open the link, download.

Good for: asynchronous transfer — sender uploads, recipient picks up whenever. Cloud storage gives you a 7-day window with WeTransfer free.

Bad for: 2 GB cap on WeTransfer free tier. Files stored on a third-party server. You wait for the upload before you can send the link. (See our DropLink vs WeTransfer comparison for a full breakdown.)