macOS' Photos app shows missing imported short videos from my iPhone.

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Level 2

212 points

macOS' Photos app shows missing imported short videos from my iPhone.

Hello,

2020 13" Intel MacBook Pro's macOS Sequoia v15.7.2's Photos app doesn't show my local offline(no cloud) USB sync imported iPhone 12 mini (iOS v18.7.2)'s short (1-2 seconds) videos (screen recording videos and saved videos from merged live photos). Photos app's import list show these videos, but not after importing in Library (even Media Types doesn't show any videos). I even tried deleting all of my macOS' Photos app images and videos, and reimport all from my iPhone. According to Windows 10's Explorer with iPhone connected, these video files are in MP4 and MOV formats.

Is this a bug or did I miss something? Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Nov 9, 2025 11:00 PM

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Answer 1

antdude Author

Level 2

212 points

Nov 11, 2025 4:01 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

I tried again with an old 13" 2012 Intel MBP with its macOS Mojave v10.14.6's Photos app. They showed up correctly after importing! Even a videos type filter unlike in Sequoia's Photos app.

Richard, that's correct. Sequoia's Image Capture import into Photos app worked. I see them in Videos type filter list.

What's up?

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Answer 2

Nov 10, 2025 7:11 AM in response to antdude

Wow, that is hard to read with all the parenthetical phrasing. I think you said that when you pug in your phone, Photos pops up on the Mac, shows some set of videos, but they (?) don't get imported. Is that right?

What happens when you use the Image Capture app that's in your Applications folder?

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Answer 3

Nov 12, 2025 6:17 AM in response to antdude

antdude wrote: … Sequoia's Image Capture import into Photos app worked. I see them in Videos type filter list. What's up?

I'm not sure what's up. Image Capture talks directly to Finder, and it has always been more robust. Videos are hard, and codecs change without warning.

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