iCloud Photos Downloader

• A command-line tool to download all your iCloud photos.
• Works on Linux, Windows, and MacOS.
• Run as a scheduled cron task to keep a local backup of your photos and videos.

This tool is developed and maintained by volunteers (we are always looking for help...). We aim to release new versions once a week (Friday), if there is something worth delivering.

Install

icloudpd is a Python package that can be installed using pip:

pip install icloudpd

If you need to install Python, see the Requirements section for instructions.

Usage

Usage: icloudpd.py <options>

  Download all iCloud photos to a local directory

Options:
  -d, --directory <directory>     Local directory that should be used for
                                  download
  -u, --username <username>       Your iCloud username or email address
  -p, --password <password>       Your iCloud password (default: use PyiCloud
                                  keyring or prompt for password)
  --cookie-directory </cookie/directory>
                                  Directory to store cookies for
                                  authentication (default: ~/.pyicloud)
  --size [original|medium|thumb]  Image size to download (default: original)
  --live-photo-size [original|medium|thumb]
                                  Live Photo video size to download (default:
                                  original)
  --recent INTEGER RANGE          Number of recent photos to download
                                  (default: download all photos)
  --until-found INTEGER RANGE     Download most recently added photos until we
                                  find x number of previously downloaded
                                  consecutive photos (default: download all
                                  photos)
  -a, --album <album>             Album to download (default: All Photos)
  -l, --list-albums               Lists the avaliable albums
  --skip-videos                   Don't download any videos (default: Download
                                  all photos and videos)
  --skip-live-photos              Don't download any live photos (default:
                                  Download live photos)
  --force-size                    Only download the requested size (default:
                                  download original if size is not available)
  --auto-delete                   Scans the "Recently Deleted" folder and
                                  deletes any files found in there. (If you
                                  restore the photo in iCloud, it will be
                                  downloaded again.)
  --only-print-filenames          Only prints the filenames of all files that
                                  will be downloaded (not including files that
                                  are already downloaded.)(Does not download
                                  or delete any files.)
  --folder-structure <folder_structure>
                                  Folder structure (default: {:%Y/%m/%d})
  --set-exif-datetime             Write the DateTimeOriginal exif tag from
                                  file creation date, if it doesn't exist.
  --smtp-username <smtp_username>
                                  Your SMTP username, for sending email
                                  notifications when two-step authentication
                                  expires.
  --smtp-password <smtp_password>
                                  Your SMTP password, for sending email
                                  notifications when two-step authentication
                                  expires.
  --smtp-host <smtp_host>         Your SMTP server host. Defaults to:
                                  smtp.gmail.com
  --smtp-port <smtp_port>         Your SMTP server port. Default: 587 (Gmail)
  --smtp-no-tls                   Pass this flag to disable TLS for SMTP (TLS
                                  is required for Gmail)
  --notification-email <notification_email>
                                  Email address where you would like to
                                  receive email notifications. Default: SMTP
                                  username
  --notification-script PATH      Runs an external script when two factor
                                  authentication expires. (path required:
                                  /path/to/my/script.sh)
  --log-level [debug|info|error]  Log level (default: debug)
  --no-progress-bar               Disables the one-line progress bar and
                                  prints log messages on separate lines
                                  (Progress bar is disabled by default if
                                  there is no tty attached)
  --threads-num INTEGER RANGE     Number of cpu threads (default: 1)
  --version                       Show the version and exit.
  -h, --help                      Show this message and exit.

Example:

icloudpd --directory ./Photos \
--username testuser@example.com \
--password pass1234 \
--recent 500 \
--auto-delete

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• pip

Install Python & pip

Windows

• Download Python 3.x

Mac

• Install Homebrew (if not already installed):

which brew > /dev/null 2>&1 || /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

• Install Python (includes pip):

brew install python

Alternatively, you can download the latest Python 3.x installer for Mac.

Linux (Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y python

Authentication

If your Apple account has two-factor authentication enabled, you will be prompted for a code when you run the script.

Two-factor authentication will expire after an interval set by Apple, at which point you will have to re-authenticate. This interval is currently two months.

Authentication cookies will be stored in a temp directory (/tmp/pyicloud on Linux, or /var/tmp/... on MacOS.) This directory can be configured with the --cookie-directory option.

You can receive an email notification when two-factor authentication expires by passing the --smtp-username and --smtp-password options. Emails will be sent to --smtp-username by default, or you can send to a different email address with --notification-email.

If you want to send notification emails using your Gmail account, and you have enabled two-factor authentication, you will need to generate an App Password at https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords

System Keyring

You can store your password in the system keyring using the icloud command-line tool (installed with the pyicloud dependency):

$ icloud --username jappleseed@apple.com
ICloud Password for jappleseed@apple.com:
Save password in keyring? (y/N)

If you have stored a password in the keyring, you will not be required to provide a password when running the script.

If you would like to delete a password stored in your system keyring, you can clear a stored password using the --delete-from-keyring command-line option:

icloud --username jappleseed@apple.com --delete-from-keyring

Error on first run

When you run the script for the first time, you might see an error message like this:

Bad Request (400)

This error often happens because your account hasn't used the iCloud API before, so Apple's servers need to prepare some information about your photos. This process can take around 5-10 minutes, so please wait a few minutes and try again.

If you are still seeing this message after 30 minutes, then please open an issue on GitHub and post the script output.

Cron Task

Follow these instructions to run icloudpd as a scheduled cron task.

# Clone the git repo somewhere
git clone https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader.git
cd icloud_photos_downloader

# Copy the example cron script
cp cron_script.sh.example cron_script.sh

• Update cron_script.sh with your username, password, and other options

• Edit your "crontab" with crontab -e, then add the following line:

0 */6 * * * /path/to/icloud_photos_downloader/cron_script.sh

Now the script will run every 6 hours to download any new photos and videos.

If you provide SMTP credentials, the script will send an email notification whenever two-step authentication expires.

Docker

This script is available in a Docker image: docker pull icloudpd/icloudpd

Usage:

# Downloads all photos to ./Photos

docker pull icloudpd/icloudpd
docker run -it --rm --name icloud \
    -v $(pwd)/Photos:/data \
    -v $(pwd)/cookies:/cookies \
    -e TZ=America/Los_Angeles \
    icloudpd/icloudpd:latest \
    icloudpd --directory /data \
    --cookie-directory /cookies \
    --folder-structure {:%Y/%Y-%m-%d} \
    --username testuser@example.com \
    --password pass1234 \
    --size original \
    --recent 500 \
    --auto-delete

On Windows:

• use %cd% instead of $(pwd)
• or full path, e.g. -v c:/photos/icloud:/data

Building image locally:

docker build . -t icloudpd
docker run -it --rm icloudpd:latest icloudpd --version

Contributing

Want to contribute to iCloud Photos Downloader? Awesome! Check out the contributing guidelines to get involved.