How to Add Photos Onto the iPhone Without Erasing

By Andrew Tennyson

Sync your iPhone with iTunes to delete photo albums from the device.
i Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Taking photos with your iPhone’s onboard camera is a snap, but how you go about adding photos to the phone from your computer is slightly less straightforward. As is often the case when it comes to the iPhone, you will want to take advantage of iTunes when adding photos. But iTunes removes existing photos and replaces them with new ones by default when you perform a synchronization. In order to keep your existing photo albums, events and faces on your iPhone, reselect them in iTunes when adding new photos.

From Photo Applications

Step 1

Connect your iPhone to your PC or Mac using the dock-to-USB cable that came with the iPhone. Open the iTunes application on your computer if it does not open automatically.

Step 2

Click your iPhone under the Devices heading in iTunes.

Step 3

Click the “Photos” tab located in the main panel of iTunes.

Step 4

Click the “Sync Photos from” menu and click the name of the application from which you want to sync photos. On a PC, options may include Adobe Photoshop Albums and Adobe Photoshop Elements. On a Mac, options may include “Aperture” and “iPhoto.”

Step 5

Click the radio button next to “Select albums, events, and faces.”

Step 6

Click the check boxes located next to photo albums, events and faces that are already on your iPhone.

Step 7

Click the check boxes next to the new photo albums, events and faces you want to add to your iPhone.

Step 8

Click the “Apply” or “Sync” buttons to transfer both your old and new photos onto your iPhone.

From A Folder

Step 1

Click Start and then “Computer.”

Step 2

Drag and drop your old and new photos into a common folder.

Step 3

Connect your iPhone to your computer using the USB-to-dock cable that came with the phone. Launch iTunes if it does not launch automatically.

Step 4

Click your iPhone under the Devices heading in iTunes.

Step 5

Click the “Photos” tab in the main iTunes panel. Click the “Sync Photos from” menu and click “Choose Folder.”

Step 6

Browse to the folder containing your old and new photos.

Step 7

Click the “Apply” button to transfer your photos onto your phone.

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