How to export iPhone photo albums to a Windows PC, one folder per album

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Quick answer: Windows doesn't see your albums at all. Over USB the iPhone only shows one big camera folder. You can download an album from icloud.com if iCloud Photos is on, or export albums directly over USB with an app that reads the iPhone's own library, so each album lands in a folder with its name.

Why your albums disappear on Windows

Albums live in the Photos app's database, not in folders. When you plug the iPhone into a PC, File Explorer and the Windows Photos app only see DCIM: the raw camera files in folders like 100APPLE, with names like IMG_4471.HEIC. The album you carefully built is nowhere to be seen.

Free option: download an album from icloud.com

If iCloud Photos is on:

On the PC, go to icloud.com and open Photos.
Open the album, select all (Ctrl+A) and click the download button.
The files arrive as a ZIP in your Downloads folder; unzip it into a folder named after the album.

Limits: you download through the internet rather than the cable, icloud.com only lets you download up to 1,000 items at a time, and you repeat it for every album. If iCloud Photos is off, this option isn't available.

Free option: one album at a time on the iPhone

On the iPhone you can open an album, select everything and Save to Files onto a USB drive or iCloud Drive. It works for small albums; for large ones it's slow, can silently skip items, and saves Live Photos as stills only.

Export albums as folders with PhotoFroggy

PhotoFroggy reads the iPhone's own photo library over USB, so it sees your albums exactly as the Photos app does. No iCloud needed.

Connect the iPhone with a USB cable, unlock it and tap Trust.
In the sidebar, next to Albums, click Export….
Tick the albums you want and click Continue.
Choose a folder and click Export.

Each album becomes a folder with the album's name. Tips:

Keep them in order: choose File names: Date first (for example 2024-06-09_111955_IMG_4471.HEIC) and the photos sort in the order they were taken, in any program.
A photo in two albums is saved in both folders.
Live Photos come with their short video.
HEIC to JPG: tick Convert HEIC photos to JPEG if the photos are going somewhere that doesn't open HEIC.
Every file is verified on disk, so afterwards you can safely free up space on the iPhone.

You can also do this from the normal export: select photos, click Export and choose Organise into subfolders: By album.