There is a new feature on your iPhone (enabled by default) to save your pictures in a different format called “High Efficiency Image Format”.
Sometimes you will see this new format with either .heic or .heif filename extensions. They are great and reduce filesystem storage; however, if you download them off your phone for archival purposes, chances are you will not be able to view them with whatever image programs you have installed on your computer.
Recently, I had to spend about three or four hours with a customer converting these files on their computer so they could send them to friends and family. The conversion process does take quite a bit of computer resources and takes time and adds more steps to get your images off your iPhone than the already cumbersome process to get them off in the first place (without using iCloud).
In order to save your pocketbook and heartache, do yourself a favor and disable this feature on your iPhone. It will cause images to use up more storage space on your phone, but will make it easier to share and store on different devices. See the screenshot below, which can be found in settings on your phone and change it to “Most Compatible”:
Changing this setting can save you time and money in the future when you decide to store your photos elsewhere other than on your phone or send to friends/family! We would be happy to assist you in these or whatever your repair or computer service needs are!
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