How can I import photos from my iPhone to my iMac?

Image Capture has a menu item (⋅⋅⋅) in the toolbar, where you can specify which apps are showing the iPhone, when it is connected.

For example:

You need to set this menu to "Photos" instead of "No app".

This menu may not be available when you are not using wired connection. Have you tried to get the lightning adapter fixed?

If it is not possible, it might help to remove the plist of Image Capture, this should reset the menu to the default "Photos".

• Quit all open apps.
• Open the Library folder in your user home folder, then the subfolder "Preferences" and drag the file com.apple.imagecapture.plist to the Desktop. depending on the System version it could also be called com.apple.Image_Capture.plist . Close the Preferences folder and the Library again.
• Log out of your user account, then in again, then try again, if you can see your iPhone in Photos.

If you cannot see the Library folder in your Home folder use the Finder's main menu bar to open it.

• In the Finder use the menu item "Go to" and hold down the options key ⌥, then click "Library" in the Go to menu.

I had came the same problem,update your system and check the usb. Then follow this Apple official guide--https://support.apple.com/120267

Try the following in order as needed:

1 - launch photos with the Option key held down and create a new, empty library.

2 - connect the iPhone to your iMac with it's USB charging cable.

3 - check the library's sidebar to see of the iPhone is recognized.

4 - if it is close the test library, open your current library and check to see if the iPhone is recognized in the sidebar.

5 - if the above fails open your current library with the Option+Command keys held down and restore/repair the library.

6 - after the repair is complete check the sidebar to see if the iPhone is recognized.

That's good information about Image Capture-- it eliminates the Photos Library as the problem.

Let's narrow things down a bit more. Try these steps:

• Restart the computer (of course)
• Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

Be sure to go back to normal mode after a while.

• Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it.  This is a bit harder with Photos, because a new user can't access a different user's files. Try with Image Capture first. For Photos, you would need to move your Library out of your own user's folder up to the general "Users" folder. 

The idea is to find out if the problem is with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.

Let us know what happens…

Connect your iPhone to your Mac with its charging cable. Then see if Image Capture recognizes it. I don't like doing any transfer by WiFi because if there's a momentary interruption things can go south quickly.

If you already haven't tried it try connecting your iPhone to the Mac via its charging cable.

Thank you for your reply and info.

Re: phone doesn't even appear in the (Photos app) sidebar:

You can check whether Mac can access the photos on iPhone:

Eg: On iPhone: Open Photos > Albums : ensure “All Albums”  is turned on.

(If necessary: Try turning Firewall off on Mac while you import photos from iPhone … then remember to turn Firewall back on.)

Apple support has a useful article online (link below) that may help:

(There are several ways to transfer the photos from iPhone to Mac)

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC - Apple Support

or

An older (archived) article may help troubleshoot:

If you can't import photos from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your computer – Apple Support (AU)

Matti Haveri wrote: … Do you by chance use some 3rd party virus app that in the link below seemed to cause this kind of issue?

Good suggestion! Someone else here was getting crazy stuff. He had deleted "Bitdefender," but apparently some of its little pieces were still playing around in his system. He discovered them using Activity Monitor, and when he got rid of them, it all cleared up.

Sometimes these things don't leave you alone even after kill them. Sounds like some movies I've seen…

Re: iPhone doesn't show up in Photos.

Wondering if some small detail is being overlooked:

Apple Support's article" Import from a camera or phone in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Eg: provides this advice:

"Tip: If you want Photos to open whenever you connect this device, select the Open Photos tick box".

Do you by chance use some 3rd party virus app that in the link below seemed to cause this kind of issue?

[I feel like repeating myself but here it goes again]: Do not use any 3rd party virus apps or "cleaners" because they often produce obscure errors and corruption. macOS built-in security is all you need.

Image Capture not seeing all photos on iP… - Apple Community

See the following regarding booting into Safe Mode:

NOTE 2: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will insure a successful boot into Safe Mode.

At the login window you'll see this in the upper right hand corner of the screen:

Depending on the system it will have a different background color.

"It would be more useful if you told us exactly what did happen when, for instance, you used the app Image Capture"

Miguel_Muñoz wrote: …None of the suggestions in the second link were helpful.

It would be more useful if you told us exactly what did happen when, for instance, you used the app Image Capture from the Applications folder as mentioned in that link. Frankly, saying "None of the suggestions … were helpful" rather than telling us what did happen is itself not very helpful.