Send photos from an iPhone to a PC

The usual ways to get iPhone photos onto a Windows PC are a cable and the Photos import, iCloud for Windows, or emailing them to yourself. For a handful of photos, or a few hundred, it is quicker to open one web page on both devices and send them straight across.

Steps

On the PC, open toss2.me in any browser.
On the iPhone, open toss2.me in Safari. If both are on the same Wi-Fi, the PC shows up under Nearby within a few seconds.
Tap the PC, then Choose files, then Photo Library. Select as many photos and videos as you like and press Add.
On the PC, press Accept. When the transfer finishes, press Save next to each photo. They go to your browser's downloads folder.

If the iPhone is on mobile data or a different network, press Create a code on the PC and type the 6-digit code on the iPhone instead. More about codes.

Lots of photos, or every day

If one of the devices is a computer you send to often, keep an inbox on it instead. Run this once on the computer (it needs Node.js 22 or newer):

tosstome listen

It prints a link and a QR code, and saves incoming files to a tosstome-inbox folder (change it with --dir). Scan the code with your phone and add the page to your home screen. From then on you only open that page on the phone, pick files, and press Send. Nothing needs to be open on the computer except the running command, and it works from any network. More about the inbox.

The inbox writes each photo to disk as it arrives, so the PC browser does not have to hold a whole album in memory.

From the PC to the iPhone

It works the other way too: tap the iPhone on the PC, pick the photos, and accept on the iPhone. Safari saves downloads to the Files app, in Downloads. From there, open a photo and use the share button to save it to Photos.

Tips

Keep Safari in the foreground until the transfer finishes. iOS pauses pages in the background.
Photos picked from the library may arrive as JPEG rather than HEIC, because Safari can convert them for compatibility. If you need the originals, export them to the Files app first and pick them from Choose File.
Both devices must be online at the same time. Nothing is stored in between.

Questions

Do I need to install an app?

No. Sending and receiving both work in a normal browser tab. The command line tool is optional and only needed if you want an always-on inbox on a computer.

Do I need iCloud or iTunes?

No. The photos go directly from the iPhone to the PC. Neither iCloud nor iTunes is involved, and no Apple ID is needed.

Are my files uploaded or stored anywhere?

No. Files go straight from one device to the other over WebRTC when the networks allow it. When they do not, the file passes through a relay on Cloudflare that forwards the bytes as they arrive and keeps nothing. If the receiver is offline, nothing is sent.

Do both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi?

No. On the same network they find each other automatically. On different networks, for example a phone on mobile data and a laptop at home, one device creates a 6-digit code and the other types it in.

Does it reduce photo quality?

tosstome sends the file it is given, byte for byte. Safari may hand over a JPEG version of a HEIC photo when you pick from the photo library; picking the original from the Files app avoids that.

Last checked 2026-10-28.

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