Photos from iPhone won't sync with Mac!

[easttowest]

Normally when I connect my iPhone, iPhoto opens up automatically and gives me an option to upload photos to computer. Tonight it is not doing that. What can I do to get these photos into iPhoto?

 

[Stephanie_21]

Normally when I connect my iPhone, iPhoto opens up automatically and gives me an option to upload photos to computer. Tonight it is not doing that. What can I do to get these photos into iPhoto?

I have exactly the same problem. I can't seem to find a solution on any forum either. And the only options seem to be to pay for icloud?

I was having that problem this morning too, but I restarted both my phone and my MacBook and the pictures are syncing fine again.

 

[GRACE4ME]

So, I was having the same problem where I was getting messages that I needed to sync my phone and type in my password, but wasn't able to upload my pictures. I ended up calling apple support. From them I learned that I needed to update my computer. I have a mac, so I did this by going to the apple at the top of my screen, clicking on "about this mac" and clicking on "software update" on the bottom of my screen. Doing this update fixed the problem for me.

 

[Melianthusmajor]

I have a MacBook mid-2010 (operating system was Lion). All software was up to date but iTunes still would not recognise my iPhone 6 (Christmas present) and hence, I was unable to access, on the laptop, any recent photos, or anything else, by any means!!!

Interestingly, I was able to access the photos and videos on a Windows laptop as it recognised the iPhone as a device.

I kept receiving the following message on my MacBook - "iTunes could not connect to 'name of iPhone' iPhone because an invalid response was received from the device." Aaarrrggghhhhh ...

Having turned both laptop and phone on and off whilst connected to laptop and whilst disconnected from it and quitting iTunes and iPhoto nothing changed and although I got so far with trying to refresh the iPhone it always got to the point where again I received the above message.

I tried the suggestion made by a few people in this thread and downloaded for FREE from the AppStore the 'Sierra' operating system.

THIS WORKED and now iTunes and Photos recognises the iPhone 6 device - phew!! I was also able to update iTunes to the latest version.

WARNING - if you are thinking of doing this please be aware that 'Sierra' does not seem to support iPhoto and although the icon appears on my dashboard I'm told it's inaccessible and there's no update available to me in the UK from the AppStore. It also took me a while to locate the 'Pictures' folder but I found it eventually. Thankfully, I learnt the hard way a number of years ago, and now have all of my important media and documents backed up on several external devices!!

Back up anything that's irreplaceable - if it's not lost on the device, great - if it is, then at least it can be reloaded.

As mentioned by others it takes quite a long time to download and instal 'Sierra' and my laptop is now more sluggish than usual - a small price for me to pay given that my laptop connects with the phone and I can now import photos/videos etc etc.

Thanks to everyone who has posted for their help in rectifying this problem and I hope that the solution which worked for me also works for others.

 

[Melianthusmajor]

Having just joined the community and posted the above post I read through the previous posts and now wonder whether the downloading of 'Sierra' was mentioned in a different thread??!!

It was a late night and maybe I did lose my mind in the process!!

Nonetheless, when no other solution had worked for me 'Sierra' did fix the problem.

 

[DenJansen]

I think I unintentionally solved this problem. I had the same issue as everyone else, the whole process kept freezing up. The reason I was syncing was because I was way overdue on cleaning up my phone and I was running out of storage.

After giving up on syncing my photo albums for a hot minute, I went and deleted all the photos/videos stored in my Messages to free up space. This left me with about 3GB free on my phone. Next time I synced it, no problems.

My running theory is the iPhone needs a minimum amount of free space to properly transfer photos. I have absolutely NO way of proving this, but there you have it. Don't know if this will help anyone, but it's worth a shot, right?

 

[SaracheleJarvis]

I just had the same issue. I resolved it by unplugging my iPhone, shutting down iPhoto, shutting down iTunes and then plugging the iPhone back in and restarting both programs. Just thought I'd post in case it helped you.

Thank you so much! This solved the problem for me. I appreciate your post and the help it provided.

 

[Will_81]

Thank you! Ive been trying to solve this problem for weeks. Worked like a charm on my iPhone 7 and MBP (2011).

 

[Yorgos_1]

When I plug my iPhone 7 (iOS 10.3.2) into my MBP 2014 with Maverick, iPhoto gets stuck on "loading" and I see no pictures at all. This happened after I updated to iOS 10.3.2. Is there anything I can do about it? None of the solutions you mentioned worked

 

[Someone Somewhere]

When you say it gets stuck, how long have you waited?

 

[keepontruckin]

Had the same problem as everyone else. Photos not automatically showing up on my "import" button. All it says is "No Photos". I think I figured out the solution. Hope this works for others.

1. Connect your iPhone with USB cable and Photos will likely automatically open due to the auto open setting (that we are about to turn off). It will also most likely open on the Import tab and "No Photos" will appear.
2. Click the checkbox to remove the check (box should appear empty now) next to the message "Open photos for this device" at the top next to your device name that should appear stating that Photos recognizes your device (which obviously it doesn't really).
3. Quit Photos software. Disconnect the USB cable from your iPhone.
4. Reconnect the USB cable to your iPhone. Nothing should happen (maybe iTunes will pop open but ignore it for now) which is a good sign. Photos should not be opening automatically if you unchecked the box in step 2.
5. Open Photos (presumably by clicking on it on the dock)
6. Click on the "import" tab at the top and voila your photos should appear.
* Just keep the checkbox unchecked and remember to open Photos each time manually after connecting your iPhone to the USB. This setup is frankly silly, but at least it appears to work. Good luck!

 

[brook00]

Thankyou "keepontruckin" it worked for me. To even make it simpler for those using a mac, part 2 of his instructions are as simple as: Open iPhoto, click on preferences, click on general, change "connecting camera opens" to No Application.

 

[mariana56]

Thanks, keepontruckin. I followed your instructions, although I did have to go to preferences as brook00 did to select "No Application" because I had nothing like what you described in step 2 available, and the 72 photos I've been trying to upload for the past 3 weeks finally appeared. However, I then took two test shots, but they won't upload. I went through all of the steps again but get nothing. I have absolutely no idea why. The same thing happened when I tried another suggestion of turning off both the iPhone and computer, then restarting both. A batch of photos finally uploaded, but the method didn't work a second time. Now your method won't work for me a second time. Very, very strange. Any ideas?

 

[sherrylr]

Had the same problem as everyone else. Photos not automatically showing up on my "import" button. All it says is "No Photos". I think I figured out the solution. Hope this works for others.

1. Connect your iPhone with USB cable and Photos will likely automatically open due to the auto open setting (that we are about to turn off). It will also most likely open on the Import tab and "No Photos" will appear.
2. Click the checkbox to remove the check (box should appear empty now) next to the message "Open photos for this device" at the top next to your device name that should appear stating that Photos recognizes your device (which obviously it doesn't really).
3. Quit Photos software. Disconnect the USB cable from your iPhone.
4. Reconnect the USB cable to your iPhone. Nothing should happen (maybe iTunes will pop open but ignore it for now) which is a good sign. Photos should not be opening automatically if you unchecked the box in step 2.
5. Open Photos (presumably by clicking on it on the dock)
6. Click on the "import" tab at the top and voila your photos should appear.
* Just keep the checkbox unchecked and remember to open Photos each time manually after connecting your iPhone to the USB. This setup is frankly silly, but at least it appears to work. Good luck!

 

[sherrylr]

It's hard to believe that 2-½ years after this thread was started Toms Guide is still the only place on the net with the correct answers, including Apple. Thanks so much to all who solved the mystery. In my case as soon as I opened Photos again in step 5 above the photos appeared. I had already tried unchecking and then rechecking the box but never thought of leaving it blank. Counterintuitive but it works. Thank you keepontruckin!!!

 

[sonilein]

Had the same problem as everyone else. Photos not automatically showing up on my "import" button. All it says is "No Photos". I think I figured out the solution. Hope this works for others.

1. Connect your iPhone with USB cable and Photos will likely automatically open due to the auto open setting (that we are about to turn off). It will also most likely open on the Import tab and "No Photos" will appear.
2. Click the checkbox to remove the check (box should appear empty now) next to the message "Open photos for this device" at the top next to your device name that should appear stating that Photos recognizes your device (which obviously it doesn't really).
3. Quit Photos software. Disconnect the USB cable from your iPhone.
4. Reconnect the USB cable to your iPhone. Nothing should happen (maybe iTunes will pop open but ignore it for now) which is a good sign. Photos should not be opening automatically if you unchecked the box in step 2.
5. Open Photos (presumably by clicking on it on the dock)
6. Click on the "import" tab at the top and voila your photos should appear.
* Just keep the checkbox unchecked and remember to open Photos each time manually after connecting your iPhone to the USB. This setup is frankly silly, but at least it appears to work. Good luck!

Thank you so much! This worked!!

 

[davidastorer]

Had all the same problems with phone recognised but photo transfer not possible to Photos or Dropbox because phone was said to be locked - which it wasn't. spent two hours trying every one of the solutions, but all to no avail.
Finally tried a different USB Lightning cable and everything worked first time!
The variability of success when unplugging/ replugging the cable is masking a cable fault.
I believe the 'availability to transfer' signal is not getting through a faulty cable although same cable is able otoconfirm a connection and charge the phone.

 

[psychservices]

Normally when I connect my iPhone, iPhoto opens up automatically and gives me an option to upload photos to computer. Tonight it is not doing that. What can I do to get these photos into iPhoto?

Yours is the first post in recent years detailing the same exact issue I and other iPhoto devotees have faced, increasingly.

The issue is not "syncing" and does not involve iTunes. It's the simple, once-automatic-and-easy process of importing from an iPhone to a Mac/iMac iPhotos library. [No violin music here for iPhotos - it is still infinitely more useful with ratings, exif-viewing, albums, etc., than "Photos", especially for a library with 10's of thousands of photos organized over many years. ]

History and editorial aside, for me the "norm" of late is plugging the iPhone into Mac, and iPhotos screen comes up "loading" - forever.
For a while (mid 2017) I defaulted to using Image Capture to import to iPhotos or direct to a storage folder and then importing from that. But as of today - 1 September 2017 - Image Capture is just holding and not loading [despite showing the icon for] iPhoto images.

It just gets worse and worse, decrements, defenders of "Photos" (who have fun developing apple scripts and really don't focus on the flow or fun of photography). Shutting down any combination of iPhotos, iPhone, and computer occasionally has worked, but not any longer. The only thing which works - sometimes - is rebuilding the iPhotos library - mine is 200+ Gb. Then it restarts, and with iPhone plugged in, or then plugged in, it begrudgingly, slowly, loads and - sometimes taking 1/2 hour or longer - will eventually show new, un-imported photos on the iPhone.

I spent a decade happily using Steve Jobs' brilliant, intuitive, functional iPhotos program, through debates over Aperture's non-updates, and then the introduction of the abhorrent "Photos", which is a major task to assign ratings to (beyond "like") or access/see exif info immediately, etc.

Apple - along with the undoing of Google+ photography tools (collections, E.g.) are just plowing over actual photography/photographer tools in favor of the smartphone user experience, forgetting that some people actually use viewable monitors of size, and editing software. Where iPhoto excels/excelled beyond any other I've found, is image management and easy organization into albums, titling, exif-viewing, etc.etc.

So - now the decrements upon decrements to OS/X and all things good for serious photographers with serious collections - are a flood of "evil" performed in the name of standardized (phone) platform experience. You're not alone. Thanks for posting, as almost every response and post relating to this awful state of Apple for photographers using computers is non-responsive to your question.
Sorry I do not have a fix, other than a combination of Lightroom and other non-Apple products. (Said sadly as a longtime fan.)

Apple does not listen, respond, or care - it's quite evident over several years of non-answers to your question. Apple needs to have a photography lover who has spent years with iPhone management, head up the "product line" of tools for photographers.

 

[catherineneil.aus]

Normally when I connect my iPhone, iPhoto opens up automatically and gives me an option to upload photos to computer. Tonight it is not doing that. What can I do to get these photos into iPhoto?

Yours is the first post in recent years detailing the same exact issue I and other iPhoto devotees have faced, increasingly.

The issue is not "syncing" and does not involve iTunes. It's the simple, once-automatic-and-easy process of importing from an iPhone to a Mac/iMac iPhotos library. [No violin music here for iPhotos - it is still infinitely more useful with ratings, exif-viewing, albums, etc., than "Photos", especially for a library with 10's of thousands of photos organized over many years. ]

History and editorial aside, for me the "norm" of late is plugging the iPhone into Mac, and iPhotos screen comes up "loading" - forever.
For a while (mid 2017) I defaulted to using Image Capture to import to iPhotos or direct to a storage folder and then importing from that. But as of today - 1 September 2017 - Image Capture is just holding and not loading [despite showing the icon for] iPhoto images.

It just gets worse and worse, decrements, defenders of "Photos" (who have fun developing apple scripts and really don't focus on the flow or fun of photography). Shutting down any combination of iPhotos, iPhone, and computer occasionally has worked, but not any longer. The only thing which works - sometimes - is rebuilding the iPhotos library - mine is 200+ Gb. Then it restarts, and with iPhone plugged in, or then plugged in, it begrudgingly, slowly, loads and - sometimes taking 1/2 hour or longer - will eventually show new, un-imported photos on the iPhone.

I spent a decade happily using Steve Jobs' brilliant, intuitive, functional iPhotos program, through debates over Aperture's non-updates, and then the introduction of the abhorrent "Photos", which is a major task to assign ratings to (beyond "like") or access/see exif info immediately, etc.

Apple - along with the undoing of Google+ photography tools (collections, E.g.) are just plowing over actual photography/photographer tools in favor of the smartphone user experience, forgetting that some people actually use viewable monitors of size, and editing software. Where iPhoto excels/excelled beyond any other I've found, is image management and easy organization into albums, titling, exif-viewing, etc.etc.

So - now the decrements upon decrements to OS/X and all things good for serious photographers with serious collections - are a flood of "evil" performed in the name of standardized (phone) platform experience. You're not alone. Thanks for posting, as almost every response and post relating to this awful state of Apple for photographers using computers is non-responsive to your question.
Sorry I do not have a fix, other than a combination of Lightroom and other non-Apple products. (Said sadly as a longtime fan.)

Apple does not listen, respond, or care - it's quite evident over several years of non-answers to your question. Apple needs to have a photography lover who has spent years with iPhone management, head up the "product line" of tools for photographers.

 

[catherineneil.aus]

psychservices I appreciate this entry. I am pulling my hair out with Photos- my iPhone has stopped being recognised in Photos by my Mac (it says No PHOTOS) recently and I'm left stumped. I have some really special holiday shots I can't upload and can't create a hard copy album for. I'm so frustrated. And I agree with everything you have said about the wonderfully instinctive iPhoto and the abominable Photos. You have kind of confirmed everything I've been feeling as a keen (very) amateur photographer - I want to marry up my real camera photos with the photos I took on my phone and cannot. I thought it was me but no, it's just some awful planning and strategising on the part of Apple. What is Apple playing at? It's almost enough to make me convert to Android and PCs.

 

[ntava165]

Hey guys, follwed some of these steps but it still didn't work for me. My problem was that my phone was plugged in and iphoto recognized it but the screen just said "Loading...."

So I turned off my iCloud photo sharing and they all uploaded onto the computer. Figured I would post this just incase anyone runs into the same problem and since this was the first forum i checked.

Thanks every one!