iCloud to Google Drive sync, running by itself.
AlbumFlow keeps a Google Drive copy of your iCloud Photos library and refreshes it on a schedule. Videos and photos arrive as the original files, every album becomes a Drive folder, and nothing is ever written back to iCloud. It is purpose-built for this one job.
What "sync" means here
A sync is not a one-off transfer. After the first run, every run lists your albums and your Drive folders, compares them, and copies only what Drive is missing. Shoot a video today and it is in Drive on the next run, in the right folder, without you doing anything. Rename an album and a new folder appears. Turn on mirrored deletions and a clip removed from the album leaves the Drive folder too, within the safety limits you set.
The direction is fixed: iCloud is the source, Google Drive is the copy. That is what makes it safe to leave running for years.
How the sync works
- Connect iCloud with your Apple ID and the verification code your iPhone shows. Trust lasts about two months; you are emailed before it runs out.
- Connect Google Drive through Google sign-in. Only Drive file access is requested: the folders you pick or AlbumFlow creates, nothing else in your Drive.
- Choose a destination folder in My Drive or a Shared Drive, keep “Everything” or name the albums to include, and pick how often to run.
- Each run lists both sides, streams the missing files from iCloud straight into Drive, and writes a ledger you can read in the dashboard.
Original quality, including 4K and HEVC
Files are copied, not re-encoded. A 4K 60 fps HEVC clip from an iPhone lands in Drive as that exact file, ProRes included. Compare the Google Photos app, which compresses on its storage-saver setting, or iCloud Shared Albums, which cap video at 720p. For an editor or a client, only the original is useful.
Who uses it
- Creators handing iPhone footage to an editor who works out of Drive.
- Teams keeping client albums in a Shared Drive, one folder per client, shared once.
- Families who want one archive everyone can open, Android relatives included.
- Anyone leaving the Apple ecosystem who wants the library mirrored before they switch.
Pricing
Starter is $20 a month for syncing every 6 hours into up to 3 folders; Pro is $39 for hourly syncing and up to 10. Neither counts photos, videos or storage, which stays in your own Google Drive. Every account starts with 7 free days and no card. Full comparison.
Questions
No. Apple offers a one-time "Transfer a copy of your data" to Google Photos, not to Google Drive, and it does not keep syncing. AlbumFlow fills that gap with a scheduled, one-way sync from iCloud Photos into Google Drive.
iCloud Photos: the photos and videos in your library and its albums. iCloud Drive documents are not part of it.
Every 6 hours on the Starter plan and every hour on Pro, plus a Sync now button in the dashboard. The trial runs at Starter limits for 7 days.
Never. The sync only reads from iCloud. Deletions in iCloud can optionally be mirrored to Drive, but nothing flows the other way.
Supported. Pick a folder in a Shared Drive as the destination and the team owns the copy rather than one person.