Late last year, Facebook announced a tool to let users easily migrate their uploaded photos to Google Photos. The tool was initially available in Ireland, with plans to expand to more countries in the first half of this year. The social network has made good on those plans by expanding the rollout to the US and Canada in April, and now reaching a global rollout today.
Global availability
In a post on Twitter, Facebook has confirmed the transfer tool is globally available.
The timing may be coincidental, but given the recent controversies surrounding Facebook, there may be a lot of people looking into moving their photos and videos elsewhere. If you’re looking for instructions to get that content moved over to Google Photos, check out the step-by-step guide we posted a couple weeks ago.
Facebook previously made the tool available in a number of regions throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. It’s a pretty straightforward process: from the general Facebook settings, select Your Facebook Information →Transfer a Copy of Your Photos or Videos. From there, just follow the prompts.
The tool came out of the joint Data Transfer Project by Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft — a GDPR-compliant initiative to make personal data more mobile. In addition to downloading a copy or exporting it to Google Photos, users will eventually have more destination options for their photos, although Facebook hasn’t said which.
