
Apple would like people to use its devices and platforms exclusively, but it does at least acknowledge the sheer number of Windows users around the world. Using an iPhone or iPad and a Windows machine isn't at all uncommon, and as such iTunes and the core iCloud services are available on Windows 10.
One specific service is iCloud Photos. It's a relatively easy way to share your iPhone or iPad photos with your Windows 10 PC once you've got it set up. Here's what you need to know.
1. Download, install and set up iCloud for Windows

Before you do anything you need to have iCloud for Windows installed and set up. The good news is it's an easy enough process. The even better news is we've got a complete guide to walk you through it, step-by-step. Find it at the link below.
2. Enabling on your iPhone or iPad

It goes without saying, but before you can share anything to your Windows 10 PC you need to make sure you've enabled everything on your iOS device. If you need a helping hand with that, check out the guide linked below courtesy of our pals over at iMore.
3. Enable sync on Windows 10

If you didn't take care of it already in the first step, the next thing you need to do is to enable iCloud Photos in iCloud for Windows.
- Open the Start Menu and navigate to the "iCloud" folder.
- In there you need to open the "iCloud" application.
- In the box that pops up, check the box next to "Photos."
That's all you need to do to turn it on.
4. Choose what to sync
In the box you enable Photos in during the previous step, you'll also see a button labelled "Options" next to Photos. This is where you choose what it is you wish to sync to your PC.
Click on Options and you'll be presented with what you see in the image above. Here's what you can do:
- Photostream: This is a pretty simple way to share your iPhone and iPad photos with all of your iCloud enabled devices. It'll share everything you take and sync it to your Windows 10 PC. It'll also work in reverse and allow you to add photos from your computer that will then sync to iCloud and any iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV that's set up for it.
- iCloud Photo Sharing: Choose the people you want to share photos with and allow them to add photos, videos and comments. Comments will show up right in the folder when you open it in Windows 10.
You can also change the folder that synced photos go into. By default it'll be set to go into Pictures\iCloud Photos, but you can change that to any other that you wish.
5. Quick Access

The steps above will leave you in a position where iCloud will sync your photos to your computer. The photos themselves will reside in the folder specified in the previous step, but iCloud for Windows installs a 'desktop app' for quicker, easier management.
Only it's not a desktop app as you might imagine. To locate it you can either go into the "iCloud" folder in the Start Menu and find "iCloud Photos," or just open File Explorer. iCloud Photos will be added here under "Devices and drives" in "This PC."
- To add to Quick Access in File Explorer, right click on "iCloud Photos" and select "Pin to Quick Access."
- To pin to the Start Menu, right click on "iCloud Photos" and select "Pin to Start."
6. Add Photos to a folder or Photostream

Once you open up iCloud Photos and you're viewing either your folders or Photostream you can add new photos right from your computer.
- Open the location you wish to share new photos to.
- Above the main window look for "Add photos or videos" (illustrated in the image above.)
- Choose the photos from your computer.
- Once you're ready, hit "Done."
The photos you've just selected will soon be available on the devices and to the other people you've allowed access to.
7. Create a new shared album

If you want to share a specific set of photos with friends or family who also use iCloud, there's a really easy way to do it.
- Open the location you wish to share new photos to.
- Above the main window look for "New shared album."
- Add the email addresses of the people you want to share with.
- Give the album a name.
- Click "Next."
- Select all the photos you want to add from your computer.
- Click "Done."
Now, all the photos you added to the folder will be synced to the devices of everyone you shared to. It's important to remember that you need to add their iCloud email address which may well be different to their regular email address, so always make sure to check if in doubt.
8. Unsubscribe from shared folders

If someone has shared a folder with you through iCloud but you're done with it and want to unsubscribe, you can do that too from iCloud for Windows.
- Select the folder you want to unsubscribe from.
- Click "Info."
- In the box that appears click "Unsubscribe" in the bottom left corner.
You'll now no longer see any photos from these folders.
You may not get as wide a range of features as perhaps on Mac OS X, but Apple does at least provide a comprehensive, if a little rudimentary, way to keep your iCloud Photo Library in order on Windows 10.
For more on iCloud Photo Library as a service, be sure to visit our pals at iMore and check out their ultimate guide.
For more Windows 10 tips be sure to visit our dedicated page here
Reader comments
How to set up and use iCloud Photos on Windows 10
or you can simply use OneDrive and enjoy your files on any device!
Well that's all well and good. But some people, like my wife, use whatever is built in.
We like to help everyone out.
To be honest, OneDrive isn't that great for Photos. It's a vanilla sync service with mediocre photo apps.
I also completely avoid it becuase it renames the files it backs up from iOS and Android. Which means, I had to start incorporating wildcards into file searches as a result. That gets tiresome, when you do a lot of searching for files. One thing a "Backup" app should never do, is change the file names of the files it backs up - when trying to reconcile a backup with a local version of your library, it becomes a hot mess of frustration... I used it for about 6 months and complained to Microsoft in Feedback and on their forums about it. They didn't fix it, so I just stopped using OneDrive altogether.
Google Photos, iCloud Photo Library, Flickr, etc... none of those rename files. OneDrive seems to be the only service that does that.
OneDrive also had issues with stripping metadata from photos it uploaded from some platforms.
It worked well when I was on a Windows Phone, but I cannot touch it for anything else.
Not to mention better encryption of your files
Just seeing the word icloud makes me steam for some reason. :/
It makes me sick :(
I like how all these dumb sh*Ts refer to Microsoft as the Evil Empire, yet they are the only one of the Big Three that welcomes the incorporation of the other twos' products and services.
iCloud and Norton are among the applications being blamed for explorer.exe crashes in Windows 10.
If you're experiencing this, it's recommend that you restart in safe mode and remove iCloud. Norton has a fix listed on their support site.
I learned long ago that Norton causes much more problems than it prevents, so I don't use it anyway. I do, however, use iCloud (my company issues iPhones, don't judge me) and haven't had any explorer issues.
Yep its especially useless if you dont have the rescue disc, & their firewall was quite the problem(& people think Kaspersky is overkill) if ya have to use it the av base is all thats needed nis/360 is a waste
Can anyone clarify if this syncs all photos or just your photo stream photos? Thanks!
It syncs whatever you've told iCloud Photo Library to sync. Photostream and shared folders as far as I can see.
So no way to sync your entire library? :(
Is this simply a sync agent or is it a full photo viewer/editor?
It's a sync agent. It only syncs your Photostream library. If you enable the newer Photo Library (Beta) on your iDevice, it is not supported with iCloud for Windows yet. You'll need to keep the "Upload to My Photo Stream" option enabled on your iDevice in order for it to come down to your PC. So, it "mostly" works...
Here's a good explanation: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6621155?start=0&tstart=0
iCloud Photo Library isn't available on Windows, at all. Or any non-Apple Platforms except via a Web Interface.
You can Access Photo Streams (The last 1,000 Photos you take, downsized and compressed) and Shared Photo Streams (Downsized and Compressed Photos/Videos you share - now called iCloud Photo Sharing), but not Photo Library except if you go via the web interface.
If you tend to View but not edit much on your Windows Machine (i.e. you have a Windows Notebook/Desktop but a Mac Desktop/Notebook and iPhone and do most of that stuff on your Mac), then that isn't an issue. If you have an iPhone with a bunch of Windows and/or Android devices, then you probably want to skip using iCloud Photos and use something else that has a bit better accessibility from other platforms.
Wow its Ally from iMore. Much things I learned from Ally's article. Specially PhotoStream - iCloud photo sharing - iCloud photo library DING DONG. Another clean stuff for W 10.
You know that you can get many ways to collect photos on your iPhone or iPad. And then you will always save in album in iCloud backup. One day I want to see the photos you saved on iCloud, and they just disappear. So I found that I can see my photos on iCloud through some tools like FonePaw iOS Data Recovery. You don't need to worry about the transfer photos between iPhone and iCloud.
You can see http://www.mytechlogy.com/IT-blogs/6780/how-to-free-up-space-on-iphone-i... Or you can know more in http://www.fonepaw.com/tutorials/view-icloud-photos.html . After you see this, I think you won't be so down to use iCloud.
Bro! It's called FonePaw iPhone Data Recovery! But it also supports iPad or other iOS devices.
http://goo.gl/cnU5bR