"Hi, I've got some old photos in my iPhone backup and I want to get them out to my computer, and the only way here seems to be restoring my iPhone from the backup. It's kind of troublesome and looks a bit unnecessary. So I'm wondering if there's a way that I could try to extract the photos from my backup without restoring my iPhone from the backup?"
Actually, if you want to extract files from an iPhone backup, it's not a difficult task to perform as you think it is. With the right method and the right program, you can easily extract photos from iPhone backup. In the following content, I'll show you several different ways to extract photos from iPhone backup.
How to Extract Photos from iPhone Backup on iCloud
#1. How to extract photos from iPhone backup stored on iCloud on Windows.
If you are using a Windows PC and trying to extract photos from iCloud, you can use iCloud for Windows to extract files from iCloud backup. Usually if you've sign in to iCluod on your iPhone, you can also access the photos on iCloud on your iPhone. But if you've turn off photos in iCloud or you are not using iCloud on your iPhone, you'll need iCloud for Windows to help you extract photo from iPhone backup on iCloud. Before you start the photo extracting process, first download and install iCloud for Windows on your computer.
Step 1. Open iCloud for Windows and sign in with your Apple ID.
Step 2. You'll see different options like iCloud Drive, Photos and Bookmark, etc. Select Photos.
Step 3. Open File Explorer on your computer. On the left side under Favorites you should see iCloud Photos, click on it to open this folder.
Step 4. Click Download Photos, select the photos you want to download and click Download to download the photos to your computer.
#2. How to extract photos from iPhone backup stored on iCloud on Mac.
If you are using a Mac computer, things would be a lot easier as you don't have to download and install iCloud on Mac OS.
Step 1. On the desktop, click on the Apple menu and then choose System Preferences. Select iCloud and then sign in with your Apple ID.
Step 2. Next to Photos you should see an Option button, click it and a popup would appear. Select iCloud Photo Library, My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing. Then you'll be able to access the photo in your iCloud backup.
How to Extract Photos from iPhone Backup in iTunes
If you have photos in your iTunes backup that you want to extract, here's how you can get them.
First you'll need an iPhone backup extractor program. Here I would recommend to you Leawo iOS Data Recovery. It's a program designed for iOS users to retrieve data for iOS devices. Also you can use it as an iPhone backup extractor to extract files from iPhone backups in iTunes. Only a few simple steps are needed for you to extract photos from iPhone backup.
Here's how to extract photos from iPhone backup in iTunes using Leawo iOS Data Recovery.
Step 1. Launch the program on your computer and then you will see 3 tabs on the interface. Click Recover from iTunes backup in the middle.
Step 2. Next you will see a list of all the backups of your iOS device you made with iTunes. Select the one with the photos you want and click Scan button to allow the program to scan your backup.
Step 3. After the scanning process is complete, click on Camera Roll, Photo Stream, and Photo Library on the left column to check out all the photos in your backup. And then select the photos you want to extract and click Recover button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Step 4. On the following popup, click the Open button to set the directory for the photos you've chosen. And then click Go to start extracting photos from the iPhone backup. When the extracting process is done, you can find the photos in the folder you previously chose.