How to Convert HEIC to JPG on iPhone (No App Needed)

Your iPhone takes HEIC photos by default. Every so often you need a JPG — for a website upload, an Android friend, a job application, a print lab. The good news: iOS already has a HEIC-to-JPG converter built in. Three taps, no App Store, no upload. Here is the full menu of options, from one-off photos to a folder of hundreds.

The Fastest Method: Files App, Three Taps

Since iOS 16, the Files app on iPhone has a built-in Convert Image Quick Action that handles HEIC → JPG locally. No third-party app, no upload, no internet. The output lands next to the original.

1. Open the Photos app, find the HEIC photo, tap the share icon.
2. Scroll down and pick Save to Files.
3. Choose a folder on On My iPhone (any folder is fine) → Save.
4. Open the Files app, navigate to that folder.
5. Long-press the saved HEIC file → tap Quick Actions → Convert Image.
6. Pick JPEG, choose an image size (Actual Size keeps full resolution), tap Convert.

A new .jpg file appears in the same folder, with the same filename. You can now share that JPG anywhere — Mail, Messages, WhatsApp, a browser upload form — and the recipient gets a plain JPG that opens everywhere.

This is the right method when you have one to five photos to convert. For more than that, scroll down to the Shortcuts method or use a browser tool.

The Better Method for Batches: Shortcuts App

If you do this regularly, build a one-time Shortcut and run it from the share sheet. The Shortcuts app is pre-installed on every modern iPhone; you do not install anything.

1. Open Shortcuts → tap + to create a new shortcut.
2. Add the Select Photos action. Toggle Select Multiple on.
3. Add the Convert Image action. Set the format to JPEG, quality High.
4. Add the Save to Photo Album action (target: Recents or any album).
5. Tap Next, name the shortcut something like Convert to JPG, tap Done.

Now run it: open Shortcuts, tap Convert to JPG, pick your HEIC photos, and JPG copies land in your library. The originals stay HEIC, so nothing is destroyed.

You can also expose this shortcut directly inside the Photos share sheet. In the shortcut’s settings, toggle Show in Share Sheet and restrict it to Images. From then on, selecting HEIC photos in the Photos app and tapping share gives you Convert to JPG as a one-tap option.

For the broader context on iOS sharing behavior and which actions already auto-convert to JPG without any effort on your part, see Why Are My iPhone Photos Sometimes HEIC, Sometimes JPG?.

The Lazy Method: Email the Photo to Yourself

Apple’s Mail app auto-converts HEIC to JPG when attaching, regardless of any setting. This is the lowest-effort method when you just need one or two JPGs and do not want to learn the Files app dance.

1. Open the photo in Photos.
2. Tap share → Mail.
3. Send to your own email address.
4. Open the email on any device (iPhone, Mac, Windows, Android) and download the attached .jpg.

The downside: the Mail app sometimes downsamples large photos to “medium” by default. Check the image size dropdown in the compose screen and pick Actual Size if you need full resolution.

The same auto-conversion happens with most other share-sheet destinations from inside the Photos app — WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Discord. The recipient sees a JPG, you never touched the original. Where this does not work: AirDrop to another Apple device (preserves HEIC), the Files app sharing the raw file directly, and certain cloud-upload apps that bypass the share sheet. We covered the full breakdown in How to Send HEIC Photos to Android.

The Permanent Fix: Stop Saving HEIC at All

If you keep ending up here, kill the problem at the source. iPhone has a one-time setting that switches the Camera app to JPG output for all new photos:

1. Settings → Camera → Formats.
2. Tap Most Compatible instead of High Efficiency.

Every photo you take from that moment on is JPG. The trade-offs: photos take roughly twice the storage, and you lose 10-bit HEIC HDR in good lighting. For most people who keep sending photos to Android, Windows, or upload forms, the storage cost is worth not having to convert anything ever again. We compared the trade-offs in depth in HEIC vs JPG: Which Should You Use?.

Important: this setting is not retroactive. Existing HEIC photos in your library stay HEIC. To clean those up, use one of the methods above, or batch-convert the lot with a browser tool.

When the Files App Is Too Slow: Use the Browser

Past about 20 files, the Files app picker becomes painful — you are tapping each file one at a time, and the Shortcut share-sheet flow still asks you to pick photos one batch at a time. The fastest path for a folder of HEIC files is to drag them into a browser converter:

1. Open Safari on your iPhone (or any browser on Mac, Windows, or even an iPad) and go to PixFlip’s HEIC to JPG converter.
2. Tap Choose Files → Photo Library → select all the HEIC photos at once.
3. JPGs are produced instantly. Everything runs locally in your browser via WebAssembly — nothing is uploaded.
4. Tap each thumbnail to save the JPG to Photos, or download the ZIP of all of them.

This works on the iPhone itself — Safari can read and write the Photos library directly. There is no app to install, no signup, and no upload step. PixFlip also handles HEIC to PNG (useful when you need transparency or lossless output) and HEIC to WebP (smaller than JPG, works in every modern browser). The full format hub lives at /heic-converter.

Which Method to Pick

If you have…	…use this
One photo, right now	Mail to yourself, or Files app Quick Action
Five to ten photos	Files app Quick Action, one at a time
A whole album, batch	Shortcuts app, then run from share sheet
A folder of 50+ HEIC	PixFlip in Safari (no app install needed)
All future photos	Settings → Camera → Most Compatible

The Files app method covers 80% of “I need a JPG right now” cases and never asks you to install anything. The Shortcut method is the answer when you find yourself doing the Files dance more than once a week. And the Camera setting is the only fix that stops the problem from coming back at all.

If you still ended up with mixed HEIC and JPG in your library and want to understand why iOS made each choice, Why Are My iPhone Photos Sometimes HEIC, Sometimes JPG? maps out the full decision tree.