Transferring photos from iPhone 12 Pro to iMac while upgrading to iPhone 17 Pro Max

Question

Transferring photos from iPhone 12 Pro to iMac while upgrading to iPhone 17 Pro Max

Hello,

I am upgrading from iPhone 12 Pro to a 17pro Max and I use a iMac in which I store my photos. How do I avoid loosing all my photos from the IMac when I back up to it with the iPhone 17 ? Is there a way to keep all my photos?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: changing from iPhone 12pro to iPhone 17promax. how do I avoid loosing my photos on my iMac if I synch the new phone to it

iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Sep 22, 2025 4:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Richard.Taylor

Level 6

17,047 points

Sep 23, 2025 7:48 AM in response to skyesdayghter

Are you using iCloud Photos with your iMac and your current phone? If so, when you get a new phone it will have an empty Photos Library. When you connect Photos to iCloud, then the Library will begin filling from iCloud Photos at iCloud.com. No pictures will be removed from iCloud Photos, so the iMac will continue with all the pictures it had from iCloud before.

If you don't use iCloud Photos, then there's no connection between what you do with your phone and what happens on the Mac.

In any case, you really really need to back up your iMac. You should either use Time Machine to do incremental backups to a dedicated TM volume on an external drive, or at least copy your Photos Library from your Pictures folder to an external drive. I do both.

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Answer 2

Niel

Community+ 2025

Level 10

741,251 points

Sep 22, 2025 4:06 PM in response to skyesdayghter

Back up the Mac normally. Neither of those will affect data already stored on it, but other things can.

(261405)

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Transferring photos from iPhone 12 Pro to iMac while upgrading to iPhone 17 Pro Max

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