Three years after Apple and Google teamed up to create a tool to transfer photos from iCloud to Google Photos, an option to go in another direction is now available

As reported by 9to5Mac, the two tech giants have teamed up again to create a data portability tool that would allow users to transfer from Google Photos to iCloud Photos

The collaboration is part of the Data Transfer Project, an open-source effort focused on data portability; according to a blog post on the DTP website, the new tool will be rolled out in the next week

"Starting today, Apple and Google are expanding their Direct Data Transfer offering to allow Google Photos users to transfer their collections directly to iCloud Photos This complements and completes the existing transfer from iCloud Photos to Google Photos and fulfills the principle of reciprocity at the heart of the Data Transfer Initiative (DTI) This tool from Apple and Google is the latest tool provided by the open-source Data Transfer Project (DTP) technology stack and joins the existing billions available today from DTI and its founding partners Apple, Google, and Meta direct portability tools available to billions of people today

The support pages on the Apple and Google sites provide details on transferring photos and videos from Google Photos to iCloud

Note that tools that allow transfer from iCloud to Google Photos, the transfer is only a copy After the transfer, the photos and videos are not deleted from Google Photos

Also, there is no need to download photos and videos, as the connection is made directly between Google Photos and iCloud

Finally, Apple and Google have stated that this process can take several hours to several days, depending on the size of the videos and photos being transferred

Child or Managed Apple ID accounts cannot use this tool

Step-by-step instructions for initiating a photo transfer from Google Photos to iCloud are as follows