Converter / On Android

Open and convert HEIC on Android without uploading

Updated September 2026

The HEIC still is decoded on this Android device with WebAssembly. This site does not receive the photo. There is no account.

An iPhone photo arriving on Android is often a .heic file. Some phones preview it in Google Photos or Files. Many chat apps, email clients and upload boxes still want JPEG. The usual advice is to install another converter app, or to drop the picture on a website that uploads it first. This page is the other route: open the still you already have, convert a copy in Chrome or Firefox, and keep the original on the device.

What Android can already do

Android’s own picture stack has understood HEIF for years. On a current Pixel or Samsung, Google Photos will usually open a HEIC still you saved from a shared album. The Files app often shows a thumbnail as well. That is viewing. It is not the same as attaching. WhatsApp, Gmail, a job portal, or a landlord’s form may still refuse the original extension, or convert it badly on the way out. If the recipient asked for JPEG, send a JPEG copy. Do not rename .heic to .jpg and hope.

Sharing from the iPhone can hide this. AirDrop is an Apple path. Email from the iPhone often writes a JPEG on the way out. A USB copy, an iCloud download opened on Android, or a file forwarded as “keep original” is more likely to arrive as HEIC. If the filename ends in .heic or .heif, treat it as the still this converter reads.

Convert the still in the browser

1. Put the file on the phone or tablet. Downloads, the Files app, or a USB-C connection from a computer all work if the file is still HEIC.
2. Open the converter in Chrome, Firefox, or another current Android browser. Samsung Internet is usually fine on a recent device. You do not install a codec pack.
3. Tap Choose files and pick one or more stills. Android’s picker may hide HEIC unless you choose “Browse” or “Files” rather than the gallery’s already-converted JPEGs.
4. Wait until each card shows a thumbnail. Download JPEG for almost every chat or form. Download PNG if the recipient named PNG. Tick Include in PDF if a portal wants one attachment.

Open the converter

Getting the file onto the phone without a theatre of uploads

The converter never sees your picture. The step that often does is how the file travelled. A shared Google Photos album can re-encode. A messaging app may compress. If you care about keeping the original HEIC as well as making a JPEG copy, prefer a direct file transfer: USB from a computer that already has the stills, a zip from iCloud opened in Files, or email to yourself as an attachment you then save. After that, conversion stays in this tab.

If the iPhone is in the same room, the owner can open Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic and copy over USB to a computer, then move the JPEGs to Android. That helps future transfers. It does nothing for the HEIC files already sitting in Downloads. Those still need a copy, which is what this page is for.

Google Photos on Android can export a JPEG from a HEIC it can open. That is a reasonable built-in path when the still is already in Photos and you only need one share. It is a Photos feature, not this site, and it still leaves the original on the device only if you export a copy rather than replacing anything. Use it when you live in that app. Use the browser converter when the file is a download, when you want PNG or a short PDF, or when you would rather not send the still through another Google product just to change the container.

Sharing after conversion

The downloaded JPEG is a normal picture. Share it from Files, Downloads, or the notification Android shows after the save. Chat apps then treat it like any other JPEG. If a form still rejects the file, the problem is often size, not HEIC: a full-resolution iPhone still can be several megabytes as JPEG. Lower the quality slider and add the HEIC again; the slider applies to the next conversion, not to a card already in the list. For a portal that wants one PDF, see HEIC to PDF for forms.

EXIF such as capture date and GPS is not copied into the JPEG or PNG this tool writes. That is usually what you want when a landlord or an HR inbox should not receive a location. Keep the original HEIC if you need that metadata later.

What this will not do on Android

• It will not play Live Photo motion. Drop the .heic still, not the .mov. Details are on Live Photos, bursts and panoramas.
• It will not install a system codec so every Android app starts opening HEIC. Apps that already can, keep doing so. Apps that cannot still need a JPEG or PNG copy.
• Very large panoramas are decoded in memory and can be slow, or fail, on a modest phone. Try one file at a time.
• Offline conversion works only after the page and decoder have loaded. The first visit still needs a network connection to fetch those program files — not your photo.

If the still is on a Windows PC instead, the same converter runs in Edge or Chrome there. See HEIC to JPEG on Windows. On a Mac, you can make the JPEG without importing into Photos: HEIC to JPEG on a Mac without Photos. For why the iPhone wrote HEIC in the first place, see why iPhone photos are HEIC. For chat and mailbox size versus type, see HEIC vs JPEG for email and WhatsApp.