icloud drive

Apple publishes no API for a personal iCloud account, and there is no developer key you can request for your own Drive or Photos library. Blober signs in on Apple's own web page, captures the validated session, and presents the account as two roots.

Apple lists whatever other people shared with you inside iCloud Drive, as ordinary items with a shared label. Blober checks what each share lets you do.

Two details matter before a transfer. iCloud Drive delete is a move to Trash, the file is recoverable for 30 days and its storage is not freed until then. Photos has no folders, so there is no album browsing. Renaming a photo works, because its name is a field on the record behind it. Moving between the two iCloud accounts works too, Blober copies the file across and deletes the original.

You sign in on Apple's own page, never on a Blober form: click Open iCloud Login, enter your Apple ID, and complete two-factor authentication. When the login finishes, tick Keep me signed in before you submit it. The screen that follows asks you to trust the device: click Trust, so the session is long-lived. Wait for iCloud to finish loading, and Blober captures the validated session and closes the window. It never sees or stores your Apple ID password, and no app-specific password is needed. Advanced Data Protection is supported as long as Access iCloud Data on the Web is on; China (GCBD) accounts are not.

Writing to the Photos library is the part other tools leave out. rclone's iclouddrive backend can read the library, but its docs are explicit: "iCloud Photos is read-only. Upload, delete, rename, and move operations are not supported."^[1]

That makes Blober one of very few tools that can put new photos and videos into iCloud Photos, and the only one that does it from a desktop app rather than from Apple's own Photos.

What to expect when you upload:

• Images keep the capture date Blober sends, so an old library is not stamped with today's date.
• Videos use the creation date stored inside the file when it has one; Apple prefers the media's own metadata.
• Camera raw files such as dng, cr2, arw, nef, orf and raf are skipped because iCloud photos does not accept them
• A new item can take a few seconds to appear in the timeline.

iCloud works as a source and a destination, so it can sit on either side of a transfer with any other provider Blober supports: AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Cloudflare R2, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, pCloud, Proton Drive, and GoPro Cloud.

Some transfers that come up often:

• GoPro Cloud to iCloud Drive. Pull the camera library out of GoPro and into Drive as ordinary files. Drive files do not join the Photos library, so send them to the iCloud Photos root instead if you want them in the Photos app.
• Google Photos to iCloud Photos. Move a whole Google library into Apple's timeline, with capture dates intact.
• Proton Drive to iCloud. Both are encrypted in transit to their own servers, and Blober decrypts Proton on the way out.
• iCloud to a NAS or a cheap bucket. Keep an offline copy of Drive and Photos in one run.

rclone can do several of these too, and it is free. Three of its limits shape the choice. Setting up the iCloud remote needs your Apple ID password and a 2FA code, and the trust token it leaves in the config is renewed every 30 days^[2]. Since March 31, 2025 rclone "can only download photos it uploaded," so a pre-existing Google Photos library needs the separate gphotosdl proxy, and its shared Google Photos client ID is being retired during 2026, which means creating your own Google Cloud app^[3]. Its Proton Drive backend is described as Beta, is built on a third-party bridge, covers Proton Drive files only, and generates no thumbnails^[4]. Blober covers both with no setup beyond the browser login.

rclone is a command line tool with config files and per-job flags: no desktop app, no saved workflows, no thumbnail generation. Blober stores each transfer as a workflow you can run again with one click. Our Blober vs rclone write-up goes through that in detail.

• No albums in Photos. The library is one timeline, so there is nothing to browse by album or folder. A photo can move between the two libraries, and a rename works in place.
• Drive delete is Trash. Space frees after 30 days, not immediately, delete manually if you want to clear the memory immediately
• Shared items are workable Other people's folders appear in Drive and can be browsed, and an item inside one renames, moves, and deletes when the share allows it.
• China (GCBD) accounts are not supported.
• Camera raw files are refused before upload to Photos. iCloud Drive takes them as ordinary files, but the Photos library refuses dng, cr2, arw, nef, orf and raf with a skip message. Apple's own upload page refuses them too ("This item's file type is not supported"), so convert raw files to JPEG or HEIC first if they need to be in the library.
• Sessions expire. Signing back in is one click, and transfers resume where they left off.

Does Blober need my Apple ID password? No. You sign in on Apple's own page, and Blober stores only the validated session cookies.

Can I upload to iCloud Photos with rclone? No. rclone's own docs state the iCloud Photos service is read-only, and that upload, delete, rename, and move are not supported^[5].

Will my photos land in the Photos app or in Drive? Whichever root you choose. The iCloud Photos root puts them in the Photos timeline. The iCloud Drive root keeps them as files that do not join the Photos library.

Does Advanced Data Protection break this? No, as long as Access iCloud Data on the Web is on in your Apple settings.

What happens if a video will not upload? Apple's transcoder refuses some media. Blober reports the item as skipped rather than retrying it on the fallback route, so the rest of the transfer keeps going.

• Blober vs rclone - where a desktop app fits next to a command line tool
• Transferring GoPro Footage to iCloud Drive on a Mac - what to expect from the iCloud Drive folder itself
• iCloud Drive and iCloud Photos Setup - the provider page

Blober connects to iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, GoPro Cloud, Proton Drive, and the rest of its provider list in one desktop app. One-time purchase, no subscription, no per-GB fees.

Download Blober at blober.io

You can transfer GoPro footage into the iCloud Drive folder on a Mac, and blober will mark the task complete with every file written. It is a reasonable option when you want the footage available across your Apple devices or viewable from iCloud.com. The main thing to understand is that iCloud Drive is a cloud folder, not an ordinary local one, so a few behaviors are worth knowing before you start.

When you choose iCloud Drive as the destination, blober writes the files to a folder at a hidden path (~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs). Finder shows that folder in the sidebar as iCloud Drive. The files are real and appear on iCloud.com, but they do not show up in Home, Documents, or Downloads. Depending on your storage settings, macOS may keep only a cloud copy and download the file to the disk only when you open it.

macOS can remove the local copy of an iCloud Drive file and keep only the version in iCloud. With the Optimize Mac Storage setting on, it does this automatically when the internal disk runs low, starting with the files you have not opened recently.^[1] The file is not deleted, it is re-downloaded the next time you open it.

You control this per file or folder in iCloud Drive. Choose Keep Downloaded to pin an item so macOS does not remove its local copy. It applies per device, and choosing it on a folder keeps the whole folder and anything you add to it local.^[2] Choose Remove Download to free space on purpose, deleting only the local copy while the file stays in iCloud.

This is separate from the iCloud Photos optimize setting, which keeps smaller versions of photos and videos on the device and the originals in the cloud.

1. Open iCloud Drive in Finder and look for the folder that mirrors your source. For a GoPro copy that is usually a date folder (such as 2025-12-01) containing HERO12 Black/videos/ and HERO12 Black/photos/.
2. Check iCloud.com while signed in, under iCloud Drive.
3. Search from the terminal to confirm the files exist and locate them:

   find "$HOME/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs" \( -iname "*.MP4" -o -iname "*.JPG" \) 2>/dev/null

4. To keep real local copies, right-click a file or folder and choose Download Now or Keep Downloaded.

If you want to check that blober transferred everything correctly, run the task again to a normal local folder such as Desktop or Downloads, then look for the files there:

find "$HOME/Desktop" \( -iname "*.MP4" -o -iname "*.JPG" \) 2>/dev/null

If the files show up on the Desktop, the transfer is fine and the earlier confusion was just iCloud Drive hiding the files, not a failed copy.

Why can't I find my files after the transfer? iCloud Drive is a cloud folder, so files you just transferred do not appear in the usual local spots. They are still there. Open iCloud Drive in Finder, or sign in at iCloud.com and look under iCloud Drive.

The files show a small cloud icon. What does that mean? The file is in iCloud but not downloaded to the disk yet. macOS offloads local copies to save space, usually only when the internal drive runs low. To keep a local copy, right-click and choose Keep Downloaded or Download Now.^[3]

How do I stop macOS from offloading my footage? Right-click the folder or files in iCloud Drive in Finder and choose Keep Downloaded. This pins them so the local copies stay even when the disk is low. It applies per device, and pinning a folder keeps everything in it, including files you add later.^[4]

I removed the local copy. Are the files gone? No. The Remove Download option deletes only the downloaded copy and keeps the file in iCloud. Choose Download Now to bring it back to the disk.^[5]

The task finished, but one file is missing on iCloud.com. Uploading can lag. Large files upload over time, and a photo can trail a video even though blober wrote both at the same time. Watch the small info icon next to iCloud Drive in Finder for progress and give it a few minutes.

Will my GoPro footage fit in iCloud storage? You get 5 GB free, and GoPro files are large, so the account can fill up and syncing stalls.^[6] Check used space in System Settings under Apple Account, then iCloud, before a big transfer, and free room or upgrade if needed.

If I save to Desktop or Documents, is that a local copy? Not always. macOS can sync your Desktop and Documents folders into iCloud Drive. If that toggle is on, a file saved there lives in iCloud and can be offloaded. Check System Settings under Apple Account, then iCloud, then Drive, for the Desktop & Documents Folders switch.

Will my photos go into the Photos app? No. iCloud Photos keeps media in the Photos library, while files in iCloud Drive stay as files. Your JPGs stay in the Drive folder and do not join the Photos app on their own.

Does iCloud support all GoPro formats? Apple's published list covers HEVC, MP4, and JPEG, but not GoPro's GPR RAW or 360 project formats.^[7] If your camera uses an unusual format, test a real sample before moving a whole library.

If you want the footage stored physically on the Mac, pick a folder that is not synced to iCloud. Turn off the Desktop & Documents Folders switch in System Settings under Apple Account, then iCloud, then Drive, or use a folder outside those two. Desktop, Documents, and Downloads work well once they are not synced. Otherwise, move the files out of iCloud Drive after the transfer.

• GoPro Cloud vs iCloud, OneDrive, and an External Drive
• How to Download All Your GoPro Cloud Videos
• GoPro Cloud Storage: The Complete Guide
• Where to Store DJI Osmo, Insta360, and GoPro Footage

Blober is the only desktop app that connects to GoPro Cloud and moves your footage where you want it. One-time purchase, no subscription, no per-GB fees.

Download Blober at blober.io