iCloud Photos Is Sync — Not a Backup: Here’s How to Properly Back Up Your Apple Photos

If your photos are stored in iCloud, there’s something important you need to understand:

iCloud Photos is synchronization — not a true backup.

The distinction may seem subtle, but it can become painfully clear if something goes wrong. If your Apple account is suspended, compromised, or deleted, you could instantly lose access to your entire photo library.

And when it comes to irreplaceable memories, that’s not a risk worth taking.

Today, we’ll walk through a reliable way to create a real backup of your iCloud Photos library using an open-source tool called osxphotos.

Why iCloud Photos Is Not a Backup

iCloud Photos keeps your devices in sync:

• Delete a photo on your iPhone → it’s deleted everywhere.
• Edit a photo on your Mac → the change syncs across devices.

This is convenient — but it’s not protection against:

• Account lockouts
• Accidental mass deletions
• Data corruption
• Policy violations
• Apple ID termination

A real backup means having a separate, independent copy stored outside Apple’s ecosystem.

The Solution: Exporting Your Library with osxphotos

osxphotos is an open-source Python tool (MIT license) that reads directly from the Photos.app SQLite database and exports your entire photo library.

It works on:

• macOS (from Sierra to Sequoia)
• Linux (with some setup)

Instead of copying your massive .photoslibrary bundle each time, osxphotos performs incremental exports, making future backups fast and efficient.

Step 1: Install osxphotos (macOS)

You’ll need Homebrew installed.

First, tap the repository and install:

brew tap RhetTbull/osxphotos
brew install osxphotos

Step 2: Export Your Entire Photo Library

To export all photos to an external drive:

osxphotos export /Volumes/YourDrive/Photos --download-missing --update

What the flags do:

• --download-missing
  Forces download of original files from iCloud that are not stored locally.
• --update
  Performs incremental backups — only exporting new or modified files.

The first export may take hours, depending on your library size and internet speed. Future runs usually take seconds.

osxphotos also creates a tracking database:

.osxphotos_export.db

This file keeps track of what has already been exported, preventing duplicates and unnecessary processing.

Much cleaner than re-exporting the entire .photoslibrary file every time.

Step 3: Automate Daily Backups with cron

You can automate backups using cron.

First, locate the binary:

which osxphotos

Typical paths:

• Apple Silicon → /opt/homebrew/bin/osxphotos
• Intel Mac → /usr/local/bin/osxphotos

Then add a cron job (example: daily at 3 AM):

0 3 * * * /opt/homebrew/bin/osxphotos export /Volumes/YourDrive/Photos --download-missing --update

This runs every day at 3:00 AM.

Important Warning

If your external drive is not mounted:

• The export won’t run properly.
• You may not receive a visible error.

To handle mount conditions properly, using launchd is more robust than cron. But cron is perfectly fine for a simple setup.

Just remember to check logs periodically.

Why This Is Better Than Relying on iCloud Alone

This method gives you:

• A fully independent backup
• Incremental updates
• Full-resolution originals
• A local archive you control
• No dependency on Apple’s cloud

Even if your Apple ID disappears tomorrow, your photos remain safe.

What If You Don’t Use Photos.app?

If you only use iCloud Photos from your iPhone and don’t sync to a Mac, you should consider:

• Creating full iPhone backups to an external drive
• Exporting iCloud data manually
• Setting up periodic device backups

Your photos are too important to trust to a single cloud service.

Bonus: Don’t Forget Apple Notes

While you’re at it, consider backing up:

• Apple Notes
• Reminders
• Other synced data

There are tools available to export Apple Notes to Markdown and even migrate them to apps like Obsidian for long-term ownership and portability.

Digital sovereignty starts with controlling your own data.

Final Thoughts: Sync Is Convenient — Backup Is Essential

iCloud Photos is incredibly convenient. But convenience is not redundancy.

A proper backup strategy follows the 3-2-1 rule:

• 3 copies of your data
• 2 different storage media
• 1 copy stored offsite

Using osxphotos gives you a clean, automated, incremental way to protect your photo library.

Because when it comes to your memories, “it’s in the cloud” is not a backup plan.