"I recently purchased an iPhone 7 Plus but have a lot of photos on a micro SD card from being a previous android owner. Was wanting to know how to transfer pictures from SD card to iPhone, thanks."

- An Apple user posted on Apple Communities

With the popularity of iPhone, many Android users change their phone to iPhone and some of them want to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone. For them, these photos symbolize for their past and their love to family or friends. Therefore, it is really significant for them to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone. How to transfer pictures from SD card to iPhone? Today, I would like to introduce how to transfer photos from SD to iPhone for you.

Part 1: How to Transfer Photos from SD Card to iPhone via iTunes

To transfer photos from SD card to iPhone, the simplest tool is iTunes. What we need is simply a SD card reader. First, we have to plug SD card to computer and copy photos from SD card to computer. Afterwards, we can adopt iTunes to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone. Now let's take a look at how to get pictures from SD card to iPhone via iTunes.

sync photos via iTunes

1. Launch iTunes and make sure iTunes is the latest version.

2. Go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and check "Prevent iPods, iPhone and iPods from syncing automatically".

3. Tap on "File" at top left corner and choose "Add File to Library" to transfer photos from computer to iTunes.

4. Now connect iPhone to computer with USB cable. You can see iPhone icon at the upper right corner. Click the icon to choose "Photos" under “Settings” list and check "Sync Photos". After that, choose "Apply" at bottom right to let iTunes transfer photos from SD card to iPhone.

Part 2: How to Transfer Photos from SD Card to iPhone via Leawo iTransfer

Leawo iTransfer is an easy-to-use tool that is able to transfer all iPhone files including photos, music, TV shows, contacts, movies, etc. between iOS devices, iTunes and computer. With super clear and simple interface, you can easily manage your iPhone files on this software. You can delete duplicate contacts, songs and back up iPhone files to computer and iTunes. As for how to get pictures from SD card to iPhone, the following steps will show you in detail.

iTransfer

Leawo iTransfer 

☉ Transfer files among iOS devices, iTunes and PCs with ease.
☉ Transfer up to 14 kinds of data and files without iTunes.
☉ Support the latest iOS devices like iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, etc.
☉ Play back, view, and delete data and files on iOS devices.

1. Plug SD card reader into computer and locate photos on SD card, then transfer photos from SD card to computer via copy-and-paste.

2. Launch Leawo iTransfer and connect iPhone to computer. Leawo iTransfer will automatically recognize iPhone and show its information on the left sidebar.

launch iTransfer

3. Go to iPhone > Library > Photos and click File > Add File/Folder at top right corner. If you want to selectively choose photos from computer, you can choose "Add File". If you want to transfer a folder from computer, you can choose "Add Folder".

add file or folder from computer

4. After you choose photos from PC, computer will start to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone. A transferring dialogue will pop up to show you the process. After it finishes transferring, you transfer photos from SD card to iPhone.

start to transfer

You could not only use iTransfer to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone, but also transfer photos from iPhone to computer, SD card, Android devices, etc. Actually, as a professional iOS data transfer and backup tool, Leawo iTransfer could transfer up to 14 kinds of files, like apps, photos, music, videos, SMS, contacts, and so on between iOS devices, iTunes and PCs. It can also back up iPhone, iPad and iPod (touch) files to computer. Additionally, Leawo iTransfer is an iOS data manager tool that enables you to manage iOS device data on your computer. You could delete videos, music, pictures, and other data and files on your iOS devices from your computer.

Part 3: How to Transfer Photos from SD Card to iPhone via E-mail

How to get pictures from SD card to iPhone? E-mail is also another good way to easily help you to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone. All you need is an e-mail account. Now let's head to how to transfer pictures from SD card to iPhone in detail.

transfer photos from SD card via email

1. Connect your SD card to computer with SD card reader. Find photos on SD card and copy them to a specific folder on computer desk.

2. Open computer browser and log into your mail with user name and password.

3. Write a new e-mail and upload the photo folder from computer as attachment, then send to another e-mail account. If you don't want to change another e-mail account, you can simply save the e-mail as the draft.

4. If you send e-mail to another e-mail account, open your iPhone mail app and log in mail with another e-mail account. You will receive that e-mail and you can save the attachment on your iPhone. If you save the e-mail as the draft, you can simply log in mail with same account and go to the draft box to save the attachment to your iPhone. In this way, you successfully transfer photos from SD card to iPhone.

Part 4: How to Transfer Photos from SD Card to iPhone using Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader

Besides the above mentioned 3 methods, if you have an iPhone 5 or later running on iOS 9.2 or later, you could make use of another tool Apple has provided for you – Apple Camera Adapters. You can import photos and videos from an SD card, digital camera, or other supported accessories to your iOS device by using any of these Apple camera adapters: Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader, Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, Lightning to USB Camera Adapter and Apple USB-C to SD Card Reader.

Lightning-to-SD-Card-Camera-Reader-06

Follow the below steps to learn how to transfer photos from SD card to iPad via Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader:
1. Connect the adapter to your iOS device.
2. Connect your digital camera to the adapter by USB or insert an SD card to the adapter.
3. Photos should automatically open to the “Import” tab. If it doesn't, open “Photos” app on your iPhone and tap “Import” option.
4. Tap “Import All” to import your content, or tap specific items, then tap “Import”.
5. When the import is complete, you might be asked to Keep or Delete the media on the camera or SD card. Clicking Keep button is recommended.
It would be quite easy for you to transfer photos from SD card to iPad via Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader. You don’t even need a computer. But you have to pay for it, and the cost might not be low.

Part 5: How to Transfer Photos from SD Card to iPhone with iCloud

We know that iCloud would help us easily sync photos between iOS devices. Therefore, as long as you have enabled iCloud Photos on iPad, you could transfer photos from SD card to iPad by uploading photos from SD card to iCloud for syncing to iPad. This would be quite easy thing. You could transfer photos from SD card to iPad via iCloud in batch. And what’s more, it’s free. To do this, you need to enable iCloud Photos firstly on your iPad and computer:
1. On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 10.3 or later, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then turn on iCloud Photos.
2. On your Mac with OS X 10.10.3 or later, go to System Preferences > iCloud. Click Options next to Photos, then select iCloud Photos.
3. On your Windows, make sure you have installed iCloud. Click iCloud icon on the task tray and choose “Open iCloud Settings” option. Then tick “Photos” option on iCloud interface. Click the “Options” button next to Photos and check “iCloud Photo Library” option.

transfer-photos-from-sd-to-ipad-via-icloud-07

After enabling iCloud Photos, it would be easy for you to transfer photos from SD card to iPhone via iCloud. Check the below steps to learn how to do this on Windows PC:
1. Connect your SD card to computer via card reader and then open Windows Explorer.
2. Select “iCloud Photos” folder.
3. Then select “Upload photos”.
4. Select the images from your SD card to upload then select “Open” button to start uploading photos to iCloud.
After uploading, you could then see these photos automatically appear on your iPad tablet that has enabled iCloud Photos option.