How to Save Pictures or Videos From Files to Photos App on iPhone and iPad

Apple has presented an amazing app in the form of Files app since iOS 11. It shows you the files on your iPhone or iPad and the ones available in iCloud storage. Not only that, you can view files from other cloud services like Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. But viewing photos and videos from Files app doesn’t provide the same experience as seen in Apple Photos app. So users want to move photos and videos from Files app to Photos app. Let’s see how to do this.

Here we will tell you how to save single and multiple photos from Files app to Photos app on iPhone and iPad. All photos and videos taken from the Camera app on iPhone or iPad will appear in the Photos app by default. Some photos and videos from third-party apps will also appear. In case they don’t, this article will help you.

There are several ways to accomplish this, depending on the number of files and the location of the file. Let’s check them out. We’ve also covered what happens when you upload photos or videos from the Files app to the Photos app after posting.

How to move photos or videos from iPhone or iPad folder from files to Photos app

Move a single photo or video

If you want to move a single non-iPhone video or photo to Files app, follow these steps:

Step 1: Launch the Files app on your iPhone or iPad.

2nd step: Navigate to the photo or video you want to move to the Photos app. Use the back button in the upper left corner to change folders.

Step 3: Touch and hold the photo or video. Select Share from the menu.

Step 4: Tap Save Image or Save Video. That’s all you have to do. Open the Photos app and your photo or video should be visible.

Move multiple photos and videos

The process of moving multiple photos and videos is similar to single files. The only difference is that you have to select the multiple files first. To do this, launch the Files application and open the folder containing photos or videos. Tap the Select icon at the top. Now tap on the photos or videos to select them. Once selected, tap the Share or More icon, then tap Share.

Select Save X images or videos. The selected photos or videos will be uploaded to the Photos app.

How to move photos or videos from cloud folder in Files to Photos app

The Files app supports viewing media both from iCloud storage and other cloud services. So if you want to move photos and videos from any of these services to Photos app, you need to download the file first.

Launch the Files app and open the required cloud service folder. Then open the folder from which you want to download the file. You will see a download icon on the photo or video. Tap the file to upload it to the Files app. At this point, the photo or video can only be viewed in the Files app.

Note: Tap the file to download it only if you see a download icon on the file. If the icon is not there, long press on the file directly and select Share then Save image.

Now to view it in the Photos app, long press on the downloaded file and select Share as you did above. Choose Save Image or Save Video from the menu.

Likewise, you can save multiple photos or videos as shown above. So first of all, download the multiple files. To do this, select the files using the Select option. Then tap Share and choose Save to files. Then select the images again and tap Share. Choose Save X images or Save X videos.

Bonus: save photos or videos from third-party apps

Some third-party apps, such as Telegram, do not directly save photos or videos in the Photos app. If you want to view the files of these apps in the Photos app, you will need to save them manually.

Point: Find out what happens when you delete photos from iPhone.

Here we will walk you through the steps of Telegram app, but the same would work on other apps as well. Launch the app and download the file first by tapping on it. Next, press and hold the file and tap the Share button or icon. If you don’t see the share directly, tap More, then tap the Share icon or button. Choose Save Image or Video from the menu. Open the Apple Photos app and you’ll see it.

Point: You can even save the photo or video from third party apps in Files app. To do this, select Save to files when you tap Share.

What happens when you save photos or videos from Files app to Photos app

When you save a photo or video in the Photos app from the Files app, that file will take up double storage space – in the Files app and the Photos app.

After that, if you delete the photo from Files app, it will still be available in Photos app. The same goes for the situation vice versa. That is, if you delete something from the Photos app, the original file is still accessible on the Files app, as long as a copy was made in both locations.

So whenever you move photos or videos to Photos app, make sure you only keep one copy to save storage space on your iPhone or iPad.