The iPad is a great tool for showing off and enjoying your favourite photos, only it'due south less popular for taking them - your iPhone is far more user-friendly and a DSLR camera more capable. So how do y'all get the snaps off those devices and on to your tablet?

In this article we look at the best means to transfer photos from iPhone to iPad, how to transfer photos from Mac to iPad, and how to get photos directly from your camera onto your iPad. Nosotros likewise look at how to AirDrop photos to your iPad, and how to sync your photos between all your devices via iCloud.

If you are trying to get your photos from your iPad to your iPhone, or to a Mac almost of the communication beneath will piece of work for yous, alternatively, read How to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac.

iCloud Photos

This is our favourite method because information technology just works. We don't accept to do anything other than pay our monthly fee for iCloud storage, which nosotros don't object to as we actually have more storage bachelor in iCloud than nosotros do on our Mac, iPhone and iPad combined. iCloud Photos keeps all our photos on all our devices in sync. You lot tin can run into all your photos on all of your devices, but the full resolution versions are actually stored in the deject rather than on your phone or iPad and then you save lots of space on the device. Perfect!

If you are prepared to pay Apple monthly for the storage and then it could exist a great selection for you. Prices are every bit follows - each cost is a per month subscription that you lot can cease at any time:

  • 5GB storage: Complimentary.
  • 50GB storage: £0.79/$0.99.
  • 200GB storage: £2.49/$2.99.
  • 2TB storage: £6.99/$9.99

On iPad or iPhone:

Here's what you need to do on your iPad (and your iPhone):

  1. On your iPad go to Settings > Photos
  2. Check the box abreast iCloud Photos (so it's light-green) iPad iCloud Photos
  3. Choose Optimise iPad Storage if you desire to salvage space.
  4. If your iPad is on a data programme you tin can turn off Mobile Data so that it doesn't use your data to sync photos. Tap on Mobile Data and deselect the Mobile Data option.

At present get your iPhone and follow the same steps as above.

On your Mac:

You can do the same on your Mac in the Photos app.

  1. Open Photos.
  2. In Photos, click on Photos in the menu and so Preferences.
  3. In the iCloud pane, tick iCloud Photos. iCloud Photos on the Mac
  4. Again you can choose to Optimise Mac Storage if y'all want to save some infinite on your Mac.

Now that all your devices are gear up to sync their photo libraries yous should be able to view your synced library on all of your devices. It may take a while for all your photos to sync.

Now if you lot have photos on your iPhone they volition appear on your iPad as well. And if you transferred photos to Photos on your Mac from your photographic camera'south memory card you lot will as well run across those on your iPad too.

Beware that if you delete a photo from any of your devices yous will be deleting it from all of them. You need to recall of it as if you have one library in the deject, then if you delete a photograph you are deleting information technology from there.

Using iCloud Files

There is another method that uses iCloud that we recommend.

You tin transfer photos between your iPhone and iPad or Mac using the Files binder on your devices.

The Files app arrived in iOS 11 and is a shared binder in iCloud where yous tin shop annihilation and access it on all your devices (obviously you will only be able to open up the file on a device that has the software to support information technology, only it most likely will).

If you want to share a photo via the Files folder follow these steps:

From an iPhone or iPad

  1. Open Photos on your iOS device
  2. Select the photo or photos you desire to share and tap the Share button (square with the arrow)
  3. Scroll through the options below until you become to Share to Files
  4. This volition open up the iCloud Drive and you'll run across a list of all the folders you have on your drive.
  5. Tap on the binder you wish to add together the photo(s) to.
  6. Tap Save.

Share to files ios

On a Mac

Each of our Macs is set to share its Desktop (System Preferences > Apple tree ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options > Desktop & Documents folders).

This means we encounter the same desktop on our piece of work Mac and the Mac we use at dwelling. It's a handy way to always be able to access files wherever we are. The fact that these files are also attainable on our iPhone and iPad is a bonus.

This means that if we wanted to share a photograph or screenshot from our Mac nosotros could simply save it to the Desktop and admission the Desktop folder on ane of our other devices.

You could just save the image file to your Desktop - screenshots tend to end up here anyway.

Nonetheless, nosotros'd suggest that you brand a binder on your Desktop and drag the images into that just because it will be easier to locate later.

At present when y'all open the same folder on your iPhone or iPad the images will be at that place.

Photo Stream

What if you lot don't want to accept to pay Apple tree monthly for storage? Luckily there's still an option for keeping all your photos in sync on all your devices.

Photo Stream is part of Apple's iCloud service and is a simple style of sharing photos across all your Apple devices.

Photo Stream won't sync your unabridged library, only the concluding 1,000 photos. Just, assuming you lot don't take ane,000 photos a solar day, that should comprehend y'all for a few weeks at least (well up to thirty days as that's the cutting off). And the all-time bit is that those photos are stored for free and won't encroach on your iCloud storage space (not fifty-fifty your free 5GB).

Note that this won't automatically save them to your devices. For example, if y'all want to delete a photo from your iPhone and move information technology to your iPad you will need to brand a copy of it to your iPad first (nosotros'll show you lot how to do that below).

First we'll show you how to set up Photo Stream on your devices.

On iPhone or iPad:

  1. Get to Settings > Photos and turn on 'Upload to My Photo Stream' (or just 'My Photo Stream').
  2. You lot may want to make certain that Upload Burst Photos is deselected then that it merely uploads the all-time photo of the set. (Yous can accidentally take a lot of photos that style!) iPad photo stream

On the Mac:

  1. On Mac open the Photos app.
  2. Click on Photos > Preferences.
  3. Cull the iCloud tab.
  4. Select My Photo Stream.

Now open Photos on the iPad, and tap on Albums, then My Photo Stream. All the images y'all accept recently captured on the linked iPhone, or added to the Photos library on your Mac, should appear in here.

If you wanted to move your photos onto your iPad and so delete them from your Mac using the Photo Stream method follow these steps:

  1. Tap on the photograph yous desire to copy.
  2. Tap on the Share icon (the foursquare with an arrow pointing out the acme).
  3. Ringlet downwards through the options to Duplicate.
  4. This will download the photo and you will run across a 2d photograph abreast the ane you copied.
  5. If you become to your camera curl album you should see the new copy.
  6. You can at present delete information technology from your iPhone (or iPad). Make sure y'all delete the correct one (if yous brand a mistake you can observe 30 days worth of deleted items in the 'Other Albums' section.

AirDrop

What if yous just desire to copy a few photos to your iPad? As long equally your iPhone and iPad (or Mac and iPad) are close together y'all could use AirDrop.

AirDrop is the simplest manner of transferring a modest number of photos. It uses WiFi and Bluetooth to transfer the photo (or any type of file) between the two devices.

iPhone to iPad (and iPad to iPad):

Here's how to AirDrop from an iPhone or iPad:

  1. Make sure your iPad is set to receive over AirDrop. It probably is because AirDrop is on past default these days, simply a few years back it needed to exist turned on. Open the Control Centre (swipe downwards from top right on a Face up ID phone or any iPad, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen on a Impact ID iPhone). To bank check that AirDrop is on press in the middle of the four icons that include Aeroplane Style and Wi-FI. This will open a pane with AirDrop included.
  2. If below AirDrop it says 'Contacts Merely' and you are merely transferring between your own devices, or the sender is in your contacts book, you are good to go. If they aren't in your contacts then tap on the AirDrop icon and cull 'Anybody'. AirDrop settings iPhone
  3. You'll need to do the same steps on the sending device.
  4. Now Open Photos on the sending device. If yous're only sending one photo, locate and tap it, and then tap the sharing icon - a foursquare with an arrow pointing up, at the bottom left on iPhone or superlative right on iPad. If y'all want to send more than one, striking Select, tick multiple photos, and then striking the sharing icon.
  5. Y'all'll now run across the photo(south) to send at the acme of the screen, and various sharing options beneath. Tap the icon for the receiving device in the AirDrop section and, hey presto, the photo(s) will exist sent.

Send by AirDrop

If AirDrop isn't working it might be because you are sharing your information via a hotspot or you might have switched off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Nosotros do have this commodity about how to set AirDrop problems.

Mac to iPad

Here's how the process works when you're transferring from a Mac:

  1. Equally above, cheque that your iPad has AirDrop switched on that it is shut to your Mac.
  2. On your Mac open a Finder window.
  3. Click on AirDrop in the left-hand column. This will open a Finder window that should show the devices that you can share with nearby. If you don't encounter them try turning Wi-Fi off and on again, Bluetooth off and on, or change the 'Let me to be discovered' setting to Everyone. You lot'll besides need to wake upwards the device you lot want to share with (if your iPad is set to switch off later on 30 seconds that can be frustrating).
  4. Find the photo y'all want to share and drag it to the icon representing the device you lot want to add together information technology to.
  5. You'll see a blueish line announced around the icon and then a Sent message will appear below it.

Send photo to iPad from Mac

Tunes sync

There are even more ways to sync your photos with your iPad, if you need them.

If you need to transfer a large number of photos from your Mac (or a camera or memory menu which you connect to the Mac) one good way is to syncing them using iTunes and Photos - or if you accept installed Catalina the sync volition exist set via the Finder.

In Catalina follow these steps:

Plug your iPad into your Mac using a cable (Lightning or USB-C depending on the age of the device. You may have an issue with this method if your Mac doesn't have the necessary USB port.)

  1. Open up a Finder window.
  2. In the left-hand column look for your iPad. Click on information technology.
  3. If necessary click on Trust.
  4. Enter your passcode on your iPad.
  5. At present you'll encounter an option to Sync your iPad.

The residue of the steps volition exist similar to those below.

Sync iPad

If you are using Mojave or older, follow these steps:

  1. If your photos are on a camera or iPhone, plug that device into your Mac. If yous're transferring direct from the Mac itself, jump to stride 4.
  2. Open Photos on your Mac, and click the proper noun of the device (under the section called, er, Devices) in the left-hand bar. We'd recommend clicking the 'Import To' dropdown menu and selecting New Album, and so your new images are grouped together. Then either click Import All New Items (top right), or tick the photos you want and click Import Selected.
  3. Unplug the device that had the photos on.
  4. Plug in the iPad using the Lightning or USB-C cable, and open iTunes. Click on the iPad icon in the meridian bar to see the device's summary page.
  5. In the lefthand bar, select Photos, and put a tick adjacent to Sync Photos. Next to 'Re-create photos from', select Photos, then choose either all the photos on the Mac or select an anthology.
  6. Click Done, then Apply.

How to transfer photos from Mac to iPad: iTunes

Wired transfer

You lot could go old school and connect your iPad to your Mac with a cable.

The 2018 iPad Pro models have USB-C (rather than Lightning) connectors, which makes things a lot easier when transferring images from a camera.

Detect an advisable cablevision (the precise cablevision you demand volition depend on your camera's ports - read recommendations of USB-C adapters) and plug the photographic camera straight into the iPad. Open up Photos, and y'all'll see a new tab labelled Import. From hither you can easily access the photos on the camera'due south storage, and re-create beyond the ones you lot fancy.

The same process can be used to plug in an SD card (Apple tree sells a USB-C to SD Carte Reader for £39/$39) and get photos off that.

How to transfer photos to iPad: USB-C connector

Those with Lightning-based iPads tin can use a camera Lightning adapter, although the transfer won't be quite as speedy.