You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
My Apple MacPro Photos.app won't import my iphone pictures anymore. I don't want them to go to iCloud. I want them on my hard drive and this has worked fine up until now. My hard drive has plenty of space, over 740GB.
If this won't work then I will have to seriously reconsider which high end system to get next time.
Mac Pro, macOS 15.0
hinton_johnson wrote: … I don't care about iCloud.
iCloud is not required to use Photos. Many people just plug their phone into the computer and import their pictures to Photos. Some use the Apple app Image Capture that is in the Applications folder for a bit more versatility.
Do you have "Optimize Storage" turned on in Photos Settings>iCloud. If so, then that might complicate disconnecting from iCloud. Otherwise, just go to Photos' Settings>iCloud and turn off iCloud. I doubt seriously that Apple cares if you use iCloud.
You are using an external hard drive for your Photos Library-- is that right? Lots of people do. But I haven't seen anyone ask in this thread: How is your external drive formatted? To avoid damaging the Photos Library an external drive must be formatted in either APFS format or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Additionally, the drive can not have had Time Machine on it since it was formatted. The drive must be connected directly-- it can't be networked, NAS, or cloud based. There have been so many problems with using incompatible drives that the newest macOSs won't even allow a Library on a non-Mac formatted drive to open, since there is a chance of damaging the Photos database. See this:
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Same here. Frustrating.
Just updated to Sequoia 15 and my mac pro cant import the photos from iphone 16 pro with IOS 18.
It works well with Sonoma....
Please fix it.
If the external drive is formatted in ExFAT you will not be able to import photos from the iphone it seems. There's discussion about it in this support topic:
Photos won't import from iPhone to Mac af… - Apple Community
In my experience, merely having a drive connected that's formatted in ExFat will not allow you to import photos, even if the library is not located on the ExFAT drive. Importing to the system photo library with the drive connected had the same effect, after disconnecting the drive it worked just fine.
Agree. I have many more things to do with my time than debug Apple photo upload. Ready to quit trying. I was planning to buy an Apple MacBook Pro ... but am reconsidering.
You'll need to tell us how you are trying to import your photos and just what does happen when you try. More details are better than fewer.
Also, is this your internal hard drive or an external drive? If external, how it is formatted?
The process is a normal one: connect the iPhone to the hard drive through USB, open Photos, select 'iPhone' on Photos ... and wait for pictures to appear in the app, select a bunch, maybe 15 of them, then tell Photos to import the selected photos then delete them on the iPhone. But 15 minutes later the Photos app still shows "importing" as barely started. Unplugged and turned off everything, then tried again with the same result.
The good news is that I tried for a third time the following day and everything worked. I did exactly the same thing as before. So why did it work the next day and not earlier? That's a question for people who know the software. I personally have no idea. I'm glad it's working now but it was extremely frustrating when it did not work soon after the update to Sequoia.
Now, October 1, I am having exactly the same problem I had the first time. As for "how" read my steps from the previous note. Does this have something to do with the internet ??? It's late afternoon right now which is at about the same time I had trouble last ... There IS a problem here, but maybe it's intermittent.
I am having the same problem as you are…
Tried two different MacBooks(had my SSD hooked to them) but still can’t import the photos to my photos app from my iPhone.
Did you figure out what could be wrong?
I did see an online report that Sequoia has had problems with SSD that Apple said it had fixed but that several people were continuing to experience. I also noted that Sequoia is said to have some, perhaps intermittent, trouble with USB connections, which would be more in line with my particular problem.
To get around the possible USB trouble I tried using the new iPhone "mirror" feature. Once set up I tried to directly copy the photos I wanted from the iPhone mirror on my desktop to a new folder I created under my user folder in the hard drive's folder tree. Sadly, this flamed out spectacularly. It seemed to start working and then froze right away after zero-byte placeholders for the pictures were put into the new folder.
I finally "fixed" that problem -- and possibly my first problem -- by making the Finder Force Quit, then restarting the Finder. I also turned off Mirroring. (I'll be waiting for bugs-be-gone before I try Mirroring again.) Suddenly the Photos App and my iPhone were happy with each other over USB.
So when or if I run into this problem again, I'll jump straight to force quit on the Finder, then restart it to see whether that was the magic workaround.
I'm glad that worked for you.
But it's ridiculous that those many steps are required for something as basic and simple as importing photos from one Apple product to another.
I bought a new MacBook a few weeks ago and was shocked at the deterioration of the OS over the last few years. Planned on returning the computer to Costco, but thought I'd wait for the new OS to see if the problems are resolved.
Sequoia seems just as terrible as Sonoma. I don't know what's happened to Apple software in the last 4-5 years but it's tragic. I've used Apple products for over 20 years but they have probably lost me as a customer for their computers.
My wife's ancient Dell computer, which she barely uses, was able to import photos from my iPhone 12, but my brand-new $900+ Mac doesn't import photos from the same iPhone.
Same problem for me.
Previously, when I plugged my iphone 13 into my MacBook Air, it would automatically open Photos to reveal all of the recent photos on my iphone. I would then import all of these photos and delete them simultaneously. Then, organized in to monthly folders, I would synch these photos back to my iphone.
Now, suddenly, I am unable to see those recent photos on my laptop.
I am stuck.
Trying to upgrade my iphone from iOS 17.7 to 18.0 to see if it helps.
Pessimistic.
Advice?
I believe iCloud is the problem - my iCloud is full and I don't care about iCloud. I want the photos placed on my hard drive directly from my iPhone but Apple wants me to use iCloud for photos though I don't want to and though I have plenty of hard drive space for my photos. Does anyone know of an App that will take photos directly through a cable and put them onto my hard drive? I want that App. Thanks.
(Annoying) WORKAROUND. Note that you have to have system requirements that allow 'mirroring' your iPhone, i.e., the latest Mac OS and probably the latest iPhone iOs.
Ok, here goes:
1) Turn on iPhone bluetooth. Go to your Mac and click the iPhone Mirroring app. A virtual iPhone should appear on your desktop Mac. If it doesn't or if you see a funny message such as "Your iPhone is in Use" you may need to look up answers to help you with that. (If you see "Your iPhone is in Use," try locking your iPhone - the one in your hand, not the virtual one on your Mac.)
2) When you see a virtual iPhone on your Mac monitor,
a) go to Photos,
b) select some photos
c) then click the 'send' icon (the box with the up-arrow)
d) select AirDrop (yes, I know this doesn't make logical sense, do it anyway)
Result: note that your Mac desktop appears as an option under My Devices at the top of the following screen
e) click the icon representing your Mac desktop computer
Result: see a virtual 'popup' showing that your photos are being transferred to your Mac
f) when AirDrop Complete appears, click the Show in Finder button
Result: In my case I'm taken to Downloads and there are my photos in DNG format
-------------------
OPTIONAL, but handy. I have an existing Photoshop/Lightroom subscription, so the following ONLY works for people
with a Lightroom subscription -- though if you have another photo editing tool, that should also work.
1) Copy your downloaded photos from Downloads (or wherever they were put) into a Lightroom catalog folder
2) Open Lightroom and then the catalog/folder where you put the pictures
Result: Now you've got your photos and you can edit them with a very decent editing tool
BEST WORKAROUND (this should work for most iOS and Mac OS, not just on the latest versions)
1) Turn on bluetooth for your Mac and your iPhone. (They're probably already on, but checking is a good idea.)
2) On your iPhone.
a) go to Photos,
b) select some photos
c) then click the 'send' icon (the box with the up-arrow)
d) select AirDrop
Result: note that your Mac desktop appears as an option under My Devices at the top of the following screen
e) click the icon representing your Mac desktop computer
Result: You'll see that files are being transferred
f) when AirDrop Complete appears, click the Show in Finder button
Result: In my case I'm taken to Downloads and there are my photos in DNG format
Problem one day. No problem the next morning. Now, several days later, the problem is back.
Sequoia 15 Photos won't import iPhone iOS 18 pictures to hard drive that has plenty of space
