How To Transfer Pictures From Your Cell Phone

It goes without saying that the top priority for any wireless company is to make money. Before downloadable ringtones, expensive data plans, and text messages became the cash cows, it became difficult for carriers to profit from selling voice services. In the cut-throat wireless industry, increasing plan minutes and while lowering prices was becoming an all too common practice for providers. At the time, they could only hope you would greatly exceed your plan minutes, thus allowing them to charge you huge overage fees from your per-minute rate. The problem is that 60 minute plans died in the early part of the century, and before long, the amount of minutes included in a typical wireless package is often more than what a person (or family) can use.

When camera phones hit the scene, wireless providers held their arms wide to welcome this new potential revenue stream. Wireless companies like Verizon, Sprint PCS, and AT&T are relying on data services to keep their businesses profitable in a time of lower prices on voice services. These new carriers want all want customers to snap a picture on their camera phone and send it to a friend or family member through the network. Of course, sending the photo incurs additional charges on your wireless phone bill.

The problem with camera phones is that when you capture a funny or special moment with your phone, it's often unclear how to get photos from your phone to your computer. Many methods incur additional charges that you'd most likely rather not pay. Fortunately, there are usually a few different ways to get images off your phone for good.

Method #1: E-mail them to yourself

Most camera phones have the ability to send photos in the form of an email. Of course, this is the method wireless providers would prefer since they typically get to charge additional fees for sending picture mail. Normally, wireless providers charge a flat rate to send a picture as an email through their network, but you could also be billed on a per-kilobyte rate for the data used. You'll need to check the details for your specific wireless plan.

To e-mail photos to yourself, you'll need to make sure your phone is configured to send e-mails. Most phones purchased from the carrier are setup out of the box, but you'll need to determine that on a per-case basis. The process for selecting an image to send will vary on the individual phone model, so refer to the instructions in your telephone manual for instructions. When you're ready to send the picture, place your e-mail address in the "To:" field, and hit send.

Method #2: Bluetooth transfer to a PC

If your phone is equipped with short-range Bluetooth wireless technology (most are these days), you can often send images to a similarly equipped notebook or desktop computer. The best part about Bluetooth is that images transferred in this manner are completely free to you. Whether you send 1 picture or 50, it's still free. Not all phones are equipped with Bluetooth, but even less computers come with the technology built-in. However, you can add the technology to your computer by purchasing a USB Bluetooth module from a local electronics retailer. Don't worry about it being expensive, considering most modules retail for less than $25.

Sending photos to a computer using Bluetooth is fairly simple... once you pair the phone to your computer. Sometimes the pairing process goes smoothly, and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, once you've gotten the two talking to each other, sending images to and from the phone is a snap. On top of this, Bluetooth allows you to send images and files to other Bluetooth phones without wires or charges.

Not all Bluetooth phones will be able to send images to a computer. Some carriers disable the file transfer profile before the phone is sent to the stores for sale, thereby forcing the users to either buy a data kit or send e-mails. This is what's referred to as the "no free lunch" approach to customer service. It's reasonable for them to assume that most would not spend fifty-dollars on an accessory, so they'll get to charge your account for every picture you send or make a monthly fee on a picture package.

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Method #3: Transfer via a data cable

Any phone that has a built-in camera will most likely be able to connect to a computer via a USB data connection kit. Data kits are phone specific, so you'll need to make sure you get the correct one for your model phone. The kit includes the cable that plugs your phone into your computer's USB jack, as well as software to assist in transferring files to and from the phone.

Once connected, you'll have the same file transfer abilities as you would with Bluetooth, except with a wire. Unfortunately, you cannot transfer images to anything but a computer, so don't expect to move a picture from your phone to a friend's. Though data connect kits are often more expensive than Bluetooth modules, they do transfer files at a faster speed.

Method #4: Phones with removable memory cards

Many newer phones have a slot for an external memory cards, especially models with higher resolution cameras. Since the images are stored on a removable memory card, transferring images to the computer is a breeze. All you need to do is pick up an external memory card reader from a local electronics store. You'll need to know what kind of card your phone uses before you go shopping to make sure the reader you buy supports the correct format.

Once your card reader is in place, merely remove the memory card from your phone, and insert it into the card reader. The computer will recognize the card and assign it a drive letter. Actually moving images is as easy as using the "cut and paste" commands in Windows Explorer. Just reinsert the card back into the phone when you're ready to take new pictures.

Summary

While you can continue to pay the carrier to keep images you snap on your phone, there are ways to do it for free, or at least one low-cost payment. Of all the options presented, Bluetooth is the most versatile of the methods, especially since it can allow you many other useful functions. If your phone isn't equipped with Bluetooth, yet you still wish to snap and keep pictures with your phone, opt to go with the data-connect kit. It will cost you a little cash up front, but it will be cheaper than paying monthly or individually over a standard 2-year contract. Now start snapping pictures, and post them at TechLore for the world to see!

Comments

…once you've gotten the two talking to each other, sending images to and from the phone is a snap.

What if the pictures are stored in the phones memory and not on a memory card?
How does one transfer these to a computer?

wat about ur comp duznt have a slot for the card?

how do i get pictures from cellphone to computer some i would like to keep
i can't get anymore

samowen2000 said:
wat about ur comp duznt have a slot for the card?

Wow. How about you read the article before you post questions? I've already covered this.

syble said:
how do i get pictures from cellphone to computer some i would like to keep
i can't get anymore

That's what the article above is about. I talk about various methods for doing just what you're asking.

happi:) said:
DO U HAVE 2 HAVE A CAMERA PHONE??

Well, if your phone doesn't have a camera, how would you take the pictures that you'd want to transfer to a PC.?

baldyriek said:
What if the pictures are stored in the phones memory and not on a memory card?
How does one transfer these to a computer?

I detail four different methods above. 3 out of 4 don't require a memory card.

Well, what if you sent a pic to someone who you dont want to have the pic anymore and you want to make sure it is erased or deleted from the memory on their phone? I know this sounds strange, so are the circumstances... Is there a way to disable the memory or card in a phone without someone knowing? please don't think I'm creepy, I am just desperate!

if you have a cell phone that has no memory card and you don't have the option plan to send emails or pictures. then your up the creek without a paddle.
my cell phone is MetroPCS camera phone) and on a $40.00 a month plan that is limited. I since moved to an area where Metro does not cover. I purchased a TracFone (camera phone) and i want to transfer my pics to the new phone but there is no service on MetroPCS and is disconected since i stopped paying my bill 2 months ago.
isn't there a usb that can connect cell phone to cell phone and transfer that way?

what if you have a cell phone that can't send pics or have a memory card and is deactivated? can't yuo get a usb that just connect from one cell phone to another cell phone? i don't want my pices on the computer.

my micro sd card works in my computer, it is able to read it; im able to transfer pic using the micro sd card and even save images and music in the micro sd. However when i use the micro sd in my phone it doesnt read it ( it is inserted correctly) Erro M505: unable to read memory card. I dont know what happend it used to work. Now i found a program called motorola driver installment and i downloaded it in my lap top, but im still not able to transfer my pictures to my pm from the phone. if im using the program wrong let me know, if theres an actaul way on how to do it and i just dont know , please let me know. Oh, and is there a way i could reboot the system in my phone so it can read the mirco sd properly again, or its just simple broken..

thanks

my micro sd card works in my computer, it is able to read it; im able to transfer pic using the micro sd card and even save images and music in the micro sd. However when i use the micro sd in my phone it doesnt read it ( it is inserted correctly) Erro M505: unable to read memory card. I dont know what happend it used to work. Now i found a program called motorola driver installment and i downloaded it in my lap top, but im still not able to transfer my pictures to my pm from the phone. if im using the program wrong let me know, if theres an actaul way on how to do it and i just dont know , please let me know. Oh, and is there a way i could reboot the system in my phone so it can read the mirco sd properly again, or its just simple broken..

thanks

my micro sd card works in my computer, it is able to read it; im able to transfer pic using the micro sd card and even save images and music in the micro sd. However when i use the micro sd in my phone it doesnt read it ( it is inserted correctly) Erro M505: unable to read memory card. I dont know what happend it used to work. Now i found a program called motorola driver installment and i downloaded it in my lap top, but im still not able to transfer my pictures to my pm from the phone. if im using the program wrong let me know, if theres an actaul way on how to do it and i just dont know , please let me know. Oh, and is there a way i could reboot the system in my phone so it can read the mirco sd properly again, or its just simple broken..

I have an iPhoneGS and the phone says its discoverable and shows up on my PC but when I try and transfer a photo it says "make sure your OBEX File Push Profile is installed". What does that mean? I've searched on the Apple site and come up with nothing. Thanks

is there a way to transfer your pictures on your fone to the memory card in your fone

I cant get my computer to recognize my phone for me to download the pics to my comp. is there a trick to it or something

Transferring photos to my PC over bluetooth results in garbled jpegs - lines of 8x8 pixel, colored blocks. My phone is a T-Mobile prepaid Nokia 2760. Is this T-Mobiles way of disabling photo transfer by bluetooth?

We got a micro SD card (option #4) for our phone

OK...let's try this again...maybe it will include my entire comment this time...*sigh*

We bought a micro SD card (option #4) for our phone (LG CU920). We thought that when we put it in to the phone, any pictures that we took after installing it would automatically be saved on to the card. It didn't work that way.

Is there a way to transfer the pictures from the phone's internal memory to the SD card? I've tried, but I can't see it as an option on this phone to transfer from internal memory to the SD card.

I found another article that said to simply send a message to the "scandisk" but when I tried that, there wasn't the option of doing that. So, now we have pictures on our phone but aren't sure of how to transfer them to the SD card, so we can eventually put them on the computer. Is there a way to do this that I'm not figuring out? Anything you have will be helpful, thanks!

Carrie

HELLO AND THANK YOU FOR HAVING THESE SITES TO HELP US, PLEASE TELL ME I HAVE A CAMERA PHONE CELL AND THE PROPER WIRE TO TRANSFER THE PHOTOS TO MY PC BUT I HAVE TRIED AND NOTHING IS IT TRUE THAT I NEED AND DISK TO INSTALL A PROGRAMME OR NOT THANK YOU VERY MUCH
I APPRECIATE YOUR ANSWER

I READ IT ALL AND TRIED ALL OF THEM AND NO SUCCESS MAYBE I HAVE TO GO TMN AND ASK THEM.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
REGARDS
CRISTINA

I have a Nokia At&t wireless cell phone that I have had almost a year now. The problem is that At&t no longer makes the phone I have and I am unable to use a USB port and I do not have E-mailconnection to my phone and I would like to know how to put my photo's onto my computer with out the USB cord. I did call AT&T and they said it could be done but I am having trouble trying to figure it out so if someone can seen me an E-mail on how to do it. I will E-mail you back to let you know if it work or not.

Thank you so much for your help
EvaMae

i just started to send pics from my cellphone about 2 weeks ago to my computer
using my email. now i cant send anymore pics.what happen? i really need your advice
aloha, debbie

geez man you are kind of a dick why did you put a comments part to the page if you didnt want to answer questions

blah blah said:
geez man you are kind of a **** why did you put a comments part to the page if you didnt want to answer questions

Since you sent me a PM on this, I figure I'd respond to you here than in private. I have no problem addressing your comment in public. 

For starters, article comments are intended for users to comment about the article. This article is called "How to Transfer Pictures From a Cell Phone to a PC."  If someone comes along and asks, "How do I transfer pictures from my cell phone to a PC, " I can only assume they actually haven't read the article since it details, step by step, how to do just that. I've taken the time and energy to write the article, so I'm not going to regurgitate the article's contents for every person that asks. In other words, I won't address questions that are already answered in the article. 

I will, however, address questions asking for clarification about the article. So if someone asks, "You mentioned data kits in the article, but didn't specify ______. Does that work?" I'd be happy to respond.

There's also a misconception that comment areas on articles are intended for users to post questions about their own problems. These are intended for people to ask questions about the article, not ask why their LG phone won't pair with their PC's bluetooth module. That's what the community forums are for, which get more traffic and visibility than the comments page to an article, and where users are far more likely to get help.

How do you tranfer a photo to your cell phone?

what if u dont have a memory card can u still transfer info?

I transfer pictures & videos, I have taken on my cell, to the computer, via bluetooth. No problem until I tried to transfer pictures & videos I have received on the cell from other cells. My cell is a Samsung SGH-A737.
Thanks

Aloha, This is a question, not a reply. I have a Motorola Razr and have had pictures sent to my phone. I purchased the cable and software but when I hook up my phone all it shows are folders which cannot be opened or transferred. Is there a way to transfer pictures that are sent to my phone from another person's cell phone? I'd really like to get them into my PC so I could print out larger versions.
Mahalo (Thank you in Hawaiian)

i got a droid the other day. i have pix on my old phone that i want to transfer to the droid. i put the memory card in, transferred the pix to the card and put the card back in the droid. when i go to gallery, it says there are no pictures. Help!!!

i just put photos from my computer onto my memory card. . they are on the memory card, but they do not show up under

OMG: please help I have an old cell phone, not active dahhhh ok need to know how to import pics from the cell to the computer plz plz plz help me.............

This is great. Thanks for posting this. I suppose this would all work the same way in reverse right. For example if I wanted to put some Gia Allemand Pics onto my phone, i would just transfer through a blue tooth connection or right onto the card from my computer right?

i need to know how i can get my lovely picture that was sent to me of my daughter and our dog via my ex partners mobile via picture msg...how do i get that sent via bluetooth or with sd card cant seem to see it when i put the sd card into computer?? Thanks in advance for any replys x

I know how to send a picture from my cellphone to my computer using the e-mail way. How do I then get the pictures out of my e-mail to store somewhere else on the computer (Pictures link)? Or how do I send a picture to someone else? A company?

I'm in a serious mix. The software C.D. that came with my phone is messed up and my computer won't read it anymore. I need a program that will remove the pictures from my phone and get them onto the computer. We had one once on our old computer that would do that, but it crashed due to viruses and such. I still have my USB connector, I just need some kind of software to getthem off my phone. I've had pictures on phone for over a year. Please email me on the matter, [email protected]

i will follow the method #3 but can you give me the steps of how to do it because i have no knowledge about it. please...thank you!

I'm just wondering if u culd help me I can transfer my music and vidio's from my fone to my laptop and foto's from the laptop to the fone. When i tri to send foto's to my laptop from my fone it pops up a conection faliure and when I browse my fone from the laptop the fotos are not visible

Hi, I have an LG VUE, the touch screen pad is shot, it won't work at all....is there anyway to remove my pics off of this phone without being able to use the touchpad?

umm. my phone has a built in camera (samsung genio touch) but it doesnt have a lead too connect too my laptop, and im not sure where too get a bluetooth usb from, and when i try and send an email too myself it just says define email profiles.

i have a SPRINT PHONE AND I'M TRYING TO DOWNLOAD PICS TO MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK AND IT WON'T LET ME OPEN THE FILE ON YAHOO MAIL. PLEASE HELP. THANKS A BUNCH.

I have a prepaid phone and i dont have the money 4 a kit thing or bluetooth thing. i heard u could create a MY VERIZON ACCOUNT (if u have a verizon phone), and get your pics on the computer......i dont have a memory card and i cant email on my dumb phone and i was wondering how 2 get your pics on the computer if u dont have any of the options above. Plus i have a limited amount of space 4 my pics and they r all important to me...i constantly find myself erasing pics that i really want!!!!!!!!! How do i get them on the computer then?????????????

yo , uhmm how do ii put pic. wiff out memory card where does it say in ur writeing thingy

What if I had deleted pictures from a while back, is there some way I am able to look into some database online and view them again? Please answer. Thanks

okay so i just got an env3 for christmas and it was acting funny a verizon eployee said it might be caused by using too much memory so we bought a card to transfer all my pictures and all my vidoes to it....it still took me a few minutes to figure it out but what you need to do is insert the memory card and go to your pictures select options and then manage messages it will then ask you to select the pictures you want to move after doing so you will need to hit options again and this time click on move the options that will come up are to card or to phone click to card and it will one by one move your pitures from your phone to your card :] thanks guys!

how can I transfer my ring tones from my old phone to my memory card for my blackberry curve my old phone is a samsung or how do I make a separate folder for all my ring tones?

wat if the memory is stored in the phone and u cant email it transfer it from a bluetooth or transfer a via data cable.and its disconnected

If I take a picture with my camera phone and e-mail it to myself can I then somehow send it to photo lab to print the picture?

How to i get pics from my phone to the computer without sending them in a picture message?

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