Q: no import button in photos with iPhone 5s attached in el capitan

Did you select the iPhone in the sidebar after attaching it?

the Import options will only appear, after you select the device in the sidebar..

And they will not appear at all, if all photos already have been transferred by iCloud Photo Library. Are you using iCloud?

I don't see the iPhone in the sidebar.

Check, if the iPhone is properly charged and unlocked. Does the Image Capture.app see the iPhone?

If Photos still  does not see the iPhone, launch iTunes. Then unlock the iPhone and  confirm on your iPhone that you trust this computer when prompted on the iPhone.

And after iTunes launches, and you unlock the iPhone, do you see a prompt on your iPhone if you can trust the Mac?  Until you confirm your Mac as trusted, Photos, , Image capture, or iPhoto will not show the import panel o let you import from the device.

I had to confirm this trust after each MacOs X update.

I had this same issue. I restarted both the mac and the phone and voila, the device appeared in the sidebar.

I'm using iphone 5s and ios 9.0.2, El capitan Photos app.

While I can see my device in the sidebar, I don't see any photos for me to import.

Any idea how I can import my photos?

While I can see my device in the sidebar, I don't see any photos for me to import.

Have you selected the iPhone in the Sidebar? Then you should be seeing photos to import, if here are new photos on the iPhone. 

If you have iCloud Photo Library enabled on the iPhone or My Photo Straem, there may be no new photos to import, because they may already have been impported by iCloud.

I have this exact same question regarding Importing to Photos in El Capitan, and I don’t see that anyone has answered it here.  Old Toad, where are you?

To reiterate:

Previously, when I connected my camera, or my iPod Touch, to my Mac, Photos would open and I would have the option of importing all my new photos and videos and deleting them off my camera or iPod.  Now that I have El Capitan, however, when I connect my iPod Touch and click on the Import tab in Photos, NO PHOTOS ARE DISPLAYED.  [I was able to get my camera photos to import by turning off iCloud on my Mac, but when I turned off all iCloud features on my iPod Touch 9.0.2 and also disabled “Find My iPod” (which seems like a really bad idea) none of that helped my photos display in the Import tab in Photos.  Now that I have El Capitan, how do I import the photos I have taken on my iPod Touch?

iPod Touch is unlocked.

I don't see the iPod Touch in the sidebar, but it is “automatically selected” in Photos (see attached screen shot)

No, not using iCloud Photo Library; this setting is off on the device > settings > Photos & Camera

iTunes recognizes the device fine though.

I don't use the ImageCapture app for anything, but I just turned it on and it also recognizes the device (though I don't see any photos displaying in it.)

I've restarted both the Mac and the iPod Touch.. which did not help.

Still no iPod Touch in the side bar BUT that's okay, because it's back to allowing me to import photos from the iPod to my computer again!  Yippee!

I took ages trying to sort this out and a simple restart of both macbook and iPhone allowed me to see my iPhone in the sidebar.

Not working, again, and I can't figure this out.  I am so frustrated.

Does any application see your iPhone?  iPhoto? Image Capture? Or is it only Photos that does not see the iPhone?  Does iTunes see the iPhone?

Are you using Dropbox and is it set to upload your Photos? Then disable this. Could it be, that you have incompatible software installed, e.g. Razer Synapse software, see: Re: Cannot import photos / I only see a blank page

Leonie, all applications can see the iPhone, even Photos, but in Photos there are no pictures that display in the Import tab.  So what this means is that I cannot get any photos off of my phone or iPod Touch, which is a little crazy because they are all Apple products.  I do not have unusual software loaded onto my computer, nothing called Razer on my computer.