Downloading icloud photos using icloudpd on linux, windows or mac

icloudpd is a third-party command-line tool to download all your iCloud Photos automatically.

Install icloudpd

Install Python3 and pip:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
        

Install icloudpd:

pip3 install icloudpd
        

Download iCloud Photos

Create a directory for your photos (e.g., /mnt/backup_photos):

mkdir -p /mnt/backup_photos
        

Run icloudpd to download your photos:

icloudpd --directory /mnt/backup_photos --username your_apple_id
        

Authenticate:

• You’ll be prompted to enter your Apple ID password.
• If Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is enabled, you’ll need to enter a verification code sent to your Apple devices.

Let icloudpd sync all your photos. It will download your photos to the specified directory.

Additional Options

To download specific albums:

icloudpd --directory /mnt/backup_photos --username your_apple_id --album "Album Name"
        

To sync automatically:

Add icloudpd to a cron job for regular backups.

Download Metadata (XMP File)

To download albums with metadata, include the --xmp-sidecar option:

icloudpd --username your_apple_id --directory /mnt/backup_photos --album "Album Name" --xmp-sidecar
    

Delete photo in album from icloud after downloading

--delete-after-download flag requires downloading the photos first before they are deleted from iCloud --delete-after-download option:

icloudpd --album "Album Name" --delete-after-download --directory /path/to/temp/directory
    

Sample Script

#!/bin/bash

# Set your iCloud username
username="example@icloud.com"

# Set the download directory
download_directory="/your-directory-path"

# List of album names to download
albums=(
  "Vacation_2025"
  "Family_Birthday_2024"
  "New_Year_Celebrations"
)

for album in "${albums[@]}"; do
    echo "Creating directory for album: $album"
    
    # Create a folder for each album
    album_directory="$download_directory/$album"
    mkdir -p "$album_directory"
    
    # Download the album with metadata (XMP sidecar)
    echo "Downloading album: $album"
    icloudpd --username "$username" --directory "$album_directory" --album "$album" --xmp-sidecar
    
    echo "Downloaded album: $album"
done

echo "Download completed!"