There are many reasons to ditch Google Photos in favor of Amazon Photos, or you may just want a secondary backup app. Amazon Photos offers better options and more advanced features. The photo backup service comes included if you have already subscribed to Amazon Prime/Amazon Drive.
However, importing images from Google Photos to Amazon Photos is tricky and will take some time. Unfortunately, Google Photos no longer allows sync with Google Drive, so the sync and upload workarounds no longer work.
You can still get your photos from Google Drive to Amazon Prime, but it will take some work. Having higher-quality images and the additional storage space will make it worth it. If you ever get locked out of your Google account, your favorite pictures will reside in Amazon photos for easy access.
Amazon Photos Benefits
Amazon Photos excels when it comes to storage limits. Google allows you to have up to 15GB of free storage for Google Photos and other data using Google Drive. At the same time, Amazon Prime members can upload an infinite number of full-resolution photos to the app. This feature is convenient for photographers and graphic designers, who would be able to store an unlimited number of RAW files on Amazon Photos instead of having them automatically converted to JPEG by Google Photos or compressed to lower resolutions.
Amazon Photos also offers Family Vault and Amazon Prints. Family Vault allows you to add up to 5 family members to your Photos account, meaning that they also gain access to Amazon Photos with no charge. Amazon Prints offers many valuable options for printing your photos on various items. Compared to Google Photos’ “1-person sharing” and two print options, Amazon is the clear winner here.
Downloading from Google Photos
This download/upload process isn’t the easiest or fastest workaround, but it is the one available right now. The instructions will differ slightly depending on whether you’re using your phone or your computer. The first step is to download your images from Google Photos.
Downloading Google Photos Using Your Computer
It’s probably best to use your computer to download your images in Google Photos because you’ll need the storage space for a minute. If you have a higher storage phone or tablet, it may be possible to use that.
- Open “Google Photos“ in a browser on your computer and sign in to the correct account (usually your primary Google account).
- Click on “Photos,” located on the left-hand side of the window.
- Hover your cursor over a photo you’d like to download, then click on the “translucent white checkmark” (it will turn blue).
- Continue scrolling through your photos, clicking each one you’d like to move to Amazon Prime Photos.
- Once you’ve selected the desired photos/images, click the “vertical ellipsis” (three vertical dots) in the upper right-hand corner.
- Select “Download.”
From Your Smartphone or Tablet
Sign in to the Google Photos app and follow the verification instructions. From here, follow these instructions:
- Tap on “Photos” on the lower left-hand side.
- Long-press one of your photos.
- Tap each photo so that the hollow circle turns into a blue checkmark
- After selecting the images to import to Amazon Photos/Amazon Drive, click on the “vertical ellipsis” (three vertical dots) in the upper right-hand corner.
- Choose “Save to Device.”
Note: Only select the photos not already saved to your device. Otherwise, you will not see the ‘Save to Device’ option.
The Google photos app does have a nifty scroll option that allows you to go back to a particular month or year. If you remember when you first purchased your phone, going back to that date makes this importing process easier.
Backup to Amazon Prime Photos
The next step is to upload all of your photos to Amazon Drive/Amazon Photos. Amazon Photos has a URL for easy access and apps for several operating systems, but it utilizes Amazon Drive to store your data.
1. Sign Up and Configure Amazon Photos
First of all, take note that the best way to get Amazon Photos is to become an Amazon Prime subscriber, as this comes with much better options than subscribing to Amazon Drive. If you aren’t a Prime member, sign in to your Amazon account and upgrade your membership, either on a PC/Mac or Android/iOS device.
Once you’ve set up your Family Vault (not required, but recommended), consider turning on the “Add Uploads to Family Vault” option.
2. Install the Amazon Photos App for Android/iOS
For smartphones and tablets, download and install the “Android Amazon Photos app“ or the “iOS/iPhone Amazon Photos app.” If you want Amazon Drive to back up your phone’s photos and videos automatically, go to the app’s “Settings” and turn the auto-save option on by navigating to “Auto-Save” and activating the sliders for “Photos” and “Videos.”
There is no Amazon Photos app for Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs/laptops, but you can use a browser to access Amazon Photos or install Amazon Drive (Windows and Mac only).
3. Upload Images to Amazon Drive on Windows or Mac
Download and install the Windows or Mac Amazon Drive desktop app, then back up all the desired photos and videos.
You can keep Google Photos as a backup option or delete it once you’ve verified that all your pictures safely got stored in Amazon Drive.
Note: The Amazon Photos app/Amazon Drive app (all devices) tends to strain the device and its performance when always set to run. It is best to turn background functionality off on mobile and remove it from startup on the PC. That way, it only backs up files (automatically) when you launch the app.
The Final Steps
Now that your photos got backed up on Amazon Drive, you’ll have to clean up the mess left behind. Depending on the reason for transferring content away from Google Photos, you may want to disable or delete the application. You can also leave it as is so that you have two clouds to backup your photos, screenshots, and images.
Workarounds
Although the process isn’t simple, downloading images/photos from Google Drive and uploading them to Amazon Photos/Amazon drive seems to be the easiest way to migrate your photos. Using an Android phone, you can also try Android Beam or Wifi Direct to migrate images.
If you have the time and the know-how, you could transfer content directly from Google Photos from one Android device to another. Unfortunately, only so much content can travel at a time, so you’d spend more time sending five or ten photos simultaneously.
The same thing goes for iPhones with AirDrop. Even if Google Photos gave you the option, you could only send a few at a time.
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