Open iPhone HEIC photos on Android
Someone sent an iPhone photo and your gallery shows a blank thumbnail. Android 10 can decode HEIC; many manufacturer galleries still skip it. Convert the photo to JPEG on Tinolia. Files are deleted within 1 hour.
IMG_2048.heic
IMG_2048.jpg
Why the iPhone photo will not open
The file is HEIC, the iPhone default. Android 10 added HEIF reading. Google Photos usually opens it. Samsung Gallery on recent One UI often does too. A cheap or older phone, a file manager preview, and some chat downloads still show nothing.
How the photo arrived matters more than the Android version. WhatsApp from an iPhone often recompresses to JPEG on send, so that copy already opens. USB, email, Drive, and Save to Files keep the .heic. That is the copy that breaks on the other phone.
How the photo got there
AirDrop to a Mac, then a USB stick to Android, is a common way to land a raw .heic. So is a Gmail attachment, a Drive link, and Files on the iPhone. Those paths keep Apple's format.
WhatsApp, Telegram, and a lot of share targets rewrite the photo. If the gallery already shows the picture, you do not need this page. If the filename still ends in .heic and the thumbnail is blank, you do.
Try Google Photos before you convert
Open the file in Google Photos if it is already on the device. If it opens, you can keep HEIC in that app. Saving out of Photos may write HEIC again, so the next app can still fail.
If Photos also shows a blank thumbnail, skip the Play Store HEIC viewer lottery. Convert once. JPEG opens in every Android gallery that still exists.
Convert in the browser
Drop the .heic in Chrome or any browser on the phone or a PC. The server decodes with libheif. You get the main photo. The Live Photo clip is not in the JPEG. HDR becomes a standard 8-bit JPEG, which is what Android galleries know how to show.
Need PNG for an editor, use HEIC to PNG. If a form also names a size, run Compress to 100 KB on the JPEG. Windows is a separate mess: HEIC on Windows.
- Open HEIC to JPG and drop the .heic. Up to 10 files, 20 MB each.
- Download JPEG, or a ZIP of several. Delete when you have the files.
Fix it on the iPhone before the next send
If you are the Android side of a mixed household, convert the batch once and keep JPEG. Asking the iPhone owner to switch Formats is the long-term fix: iPhone JPEG. HEIC to JPG is the batch in front of you.
Re-encoding usually drops GPS. Use Remove EXIF if a listing must be clean. See strip GPS.
- On the iPhone the Formats toggle is iPhone JPEG. New shots write JPEG. Photos already on the roll stay HEIC.
- Mail and some share targets convert. Files and USB do not. Send JPEG when the other phone is Android.
Questions
Why does WhatsApp open the photo but Files does not?
WhatsApp often recompresses to JPEG on send. USB, email, Drive, and Save to Files keep the .heic. Convert that copy.
Does Android 10 open HEIC?
It can. Google Photos usually does. A manufacturer gallery on a cheap or older phone may still show a blank thumbnail.
Should I install an HEIC viewer from Play Store?
Only if you want to look on this phone. The next app can still fail. Convert once if the file has to open everywhere.
Does the JPEG include the Live Photo?
You get the main photo. The clip stays behind.
Can I convert on the phone?
Yes. Open the page in Chrome, drop the .heic, download the JPEG. Same limits: 10 files, 20 MB each.
Do you keep the file?
Original and result are deleted within 1 hour. You can delete them from the download screen.