Windows Phone, Nokia Lumia and your Apple Mac

It’s easy to think of a Nokia Lumia as the perfect companion for your Windows 8 PC. However, switching to a Windows Phone doesn’t mean you have to give up on Apple and OS X. Quite the opposite, in fact…

From iTunes and iPhoto to Apple Mail, it can all be synced and transferred quite simply.

Before you do anything else, you’ll need to download and install Windows Phone App for Mac. It’s a great utility that allows your Lumia to talk to your Mac, offering a variety of software syncing options, which we’ll delve into, and the ability to browse your Lumia for individual files.

Talking to iTunes

From within the Windows Phone App, click the ‘Music’ icon. You’ll now see tick-box options to sync specific playlists, genres and artists from your iTunes library. Click the arrow next to each artist to see and select individual albums. After selecting what you want to be copied to your Lumia, click Sync and your music will appear in your Lumia’s Music folder.

To sync your entire iTunes library to your Lumia in two clicks, simply tap the ‘Select all music’ box at the top of the page and then ‘Sync’. It really is as simple as that.

Transferring movies, TV shows and Podcasts are just as easy. Just select and sync. Bear in mind that DRM –protected iTunes content won’t show up as it can’t be played on the Lumia.

You can also send ringtones to your Lumia from your iTunes music library. Just click on ‘Ringtones’, select the track you want and ‘Send to Phone’. It’ll appear in your available Ringtones list when you disconnect the phone.

Syncing with iPhoto

Getting your iPhoto collection onto your Lumia is a similarly stress-free process. Click ‘Photos & Videos’ to see your shots arranged into Events, Albums and Faces. Just like syncing music, choose what you want to transfer and click Sync. To shift everything, tick the ‘Select all Photos’ and ‘Include Videos’ boxes.

If you want to find specific photographs, click ‘Browse device’ from the menu on the left to be presented with a list of your videos and photos. Although everything’s listed by the cumbersome filename format, you are given some clue as to its contents via the Album field, which will tell you where on your Lumia the photo is saved. You can also preview images and videos. To transfer these from your Lumia to iPhoto, just select single or multiple photographs and then ‘Import Selected Items’.

Nokia Photo Transfer

For more comprehensive photo-syncing options, use Nokia Photo Transfer. Here you’ll find more choice with where you can import and export photographs to, with the additional ability to browse and pick destination folders.

Load the app, connect your Lumia to the Mac and scanning will commence. The more photos you have, the longer it will take. Then, highlight your desired photos on your phone and click ‘Import’ to transfer them to your Mac. If you want to move them to a specific folder – such as your iPhoto collection, or a Favourites folder, or anywhere else – click the drop down menu on the right, and highlight the correct folder. Check out our full guide to Nokia Photo Transfer here.

Mail me

If you’ve got a Mac, there’s a good chance you’ve got an iCloud email account.

Unlike Gmail and Hotmail, iCloud doesn’t appear on the list of supported email providers for your Nokia Lumia. However, Nokia offers everything you need to get started in seconds. Open the Settings page and tap ‘Email and Account’, followed by ‘Add an account’. Scroll down, and press ‘Other account’.

Enter your iCloud username and password and tap ‘Sign in’. Your email should be set up and a Live Tile will be automatically added to your Start Screen.

Do you have any other Lumia-on-Mac tips? Let us know in the comments below