How to Upload Old Home Videos to Apple Photos

What You Need Before You Start

To get your old home videos into Apple Photos, you'll need:

• A Mac, iPhone, or iPad. Apple Photos comes pre-installed on all Apple devices — you don't need to download anything.
• Your video files. These should be in a common format like MP4, MOV, or M4V. If your files came from a transfer service, they're almost certainly in one of these formats already.
• An Apple ID. If you use any Apple device, you already have one. This is the same account you use for the App Store and iCloud.

If you still need to convert your old tapes to digital files, see our guides on digitizing VHS tapes or digitizing 8mm and Hi8 tapes. If your tapes were already transferred to DVD, check out our guide to ripping DVDs.

How to Import Videos on a Mac

Importing videos into Apple Photos on a Mac is very straightforward. There are two easy ways to do it:

Method 1: Drag and drop

1. Open the Photos app on your Mac (you can find it in your Applications folder or by clicking the colorful pinwheel icon in your Dock)
2. Open a Finder window and navigate to the folder where your video files are saved
3. Select the video files you want to import (click one, or hold Command and click to select several)
4. Drag the selected files from the Finder window into the Photos app window
5. Drop them — Photos will begin importing

Method 2: Use the import menu

1. Open the Photos app on your Mac
2. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
3. Click Import
4. Navigate to the folder where your video files are saved
5. Select the files you want to import and click Review for Import
6. Click Import All New Items (or select specific files and click Import Selected)

Your videos will appear in your Photos library right away. If you have iCloud Photos turned on, they'll sync to your iPhone and iPad automatically.

How to Add Videos on an iPhone or iPad

If your video files are on your iPhone or iPad (for example, if you downloaded them from an email, a file-sharing link, or AirDrop from your Mac), here's how to save them to your Photos library:

From the Files app

1. Open the Files app on your iPhone or iPad
2. Navigate to where the video file is saved (it might be in your Downloads folder or iCloud Drive)
3. Tap and hold the video file until a menu appears
4. Tap Share
5. Scroll down and tap Save Video

From an email or message

1. Open the email or message containing the video
2. Tap on the video to open it
3. Tap the Share button (the square with an upward arrow)
4. Tap Save Video

The video will now appear in your Photos app. If iCloud Photos is turned on, it will sync to your other Apple devices.

Using AirDrop from a Mac

If the video files are on your Mac, AirDrop is a quick way to send them to your iPhone. Right-click the file on your Mac, click Share > AirDrop, and select your iPhone. The video will appear in your Photos app automatically.

Understanding iCloud Photos and Storage

iCloud Photos keeps your entire photo and video library synced across all your Apple devices. When you add a video on your Mac, it automatically appears on your iPhone and iPad — and vice versa.

To turn on iCloud Photos:

• On Mac: Open System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Photos and turn it on
• On iPhone/iPad: Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos and turn it on

Every Apple ID comes with 5 GB of free iCloud storage. That fills up quickly with videos, so you'll likely want to upgrade. Apple's storage plans are:

• 50 GB — $0.99 per month
• 200 GB — $2.99 per month (good for most families)
• 2 TB — $9.99 per month (plenty for large video collections)
• 6 TB — $29.99 per month
• 12 TB — $59.99 per month

You can upgrade your storage in Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Account Storage on your iPhone, or in System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud on your Mac.

How Apple Photos Organizes Your Videos

Apple Photos has some wonderful features that make old home videos feel right at home:

• Timeline view. Apple Photos arranges everything by date. If a video file has the correct date in its metadata, it will appear in the right place on your timeline — a clip from 1997 shows up in 1997, right alongside any photos from that time.
• Memories. Apple Photos creates automatic highlight videos called "Memories." These are beautiful montages set to music, built from your photos and videos. When your old home videos are in the library with the right dates, they can appear in these Memories — imagine a "Summer 1995" Memory with old camcorder clips mixed in.
• People album. Like Google Photos, Apple Photos uses face recognition to group photos and videos by the people in them. You can name each face, and then search for anyone by name.
• Albums. You can create albums to organize your videos however you like — by year, by event, by family branch, or any other way that makes sense to you.

The more organized your clips are before you import them — with correct dates and as individual moments rather than one long file — the better Apple Photos can work its magic.

Sharing Videos with Family

Apple Photos gives you several ways to share old home videos with your family:

Shared Albums

Shared Albums are the best way to share a collection of videos with family members:

1. Open the Photos app and go to the Albums tab
2. Tap the + button in the top-left corner and choose New Shared Album
3. Give the album a name (like "Family Home Videos")
4. Add the people you want to share with (using their Apple ID email addresses)
5. Tap Create
6. Open the album and tap the + button to add your video clips

Everyone you invite can view the videos on their own Apple devices. They can also add their own clips to the album, which is great for gathering videos from different family members.

iCloud Shared Photo Library

If your family all uses Apple devices, you can set up a Shared Photo Library— a single library that up to 5 family members can all contribute to and access. This is different from Shared Albums; it's a shared space where everyone's photos and videos live together. You can set it up in Settings > Photos > Shared Library.

Why TapeSave Clips Work Perfectly with Apple Photos

When you use TapeSave to organize your digitized tapes, the clips are specifically prepared to work beautifully in Apple Photos:

• Dates are embedded in the file metadata. TapeSave reads the on-screen dates from your original recordings and writes them into each clip's metadata. When you import these clips into Apple Photos, they land in the exact right spot on your timeline. A clip from Christmas 1994 appears in December 1994.
• Individual clips, not long files. Instead of one 3-hour file sitting awkwardly in your library, you get dozens of short, meaningful clips — each one its own moment, just like the videos you take on your iPhone today.
• Compatible format. TapeSave clips are delivered in MP4 format, which Apple Photos handles perfectly on both Mac and iPhone.
• Memories come alive. Because your clips have correct dates and are the right length, Apple Photos can weave them into its automatic Memories feature. You might open your phone one morning to a beautiful montage mixing your 1990s camcorder footage with last year's holiday photos.

The combination of TapeSave and Apple Photos turns your old tapes into something that feels just like the rest of your photo library — searchable, shareable, and always with you on your phone. See also our guide to organizing old home movies for more tips.