iPhone Videos Not Showing Up In iMovie For Import

Question

Level 1

4 points

iPhone Videos Not Showing Up In iMovie For Import

I plugged in my iPhone to my MacBook Pro, so I could get a video off my phone for the iMovie project I’m working on and my videos aren’t showing up.

I just got concert footage off my phone a little over a week ago with no issues.

Have barely used my laptop since then.

So far I have:

-Made sure hide imported is off.

-Updated iMovie

-Updated my iPhone

-Updated MacOS (Sierra)

-Currently updating to Mojave

If this doesn’t fix it, I simply don’t know what else to do...

If anyone can help me out I would beyond appreciate it!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jun 16, 2019 10:51 PM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,310 points

Jun 17, 2019 12:43 AM in response to Kinger18

Hi,

To cover the bases, if you haven't already done so try the recommended way of importing as follows: When you plug in your phone to your Mac, and open the Photos app, your phone will show as a device in the Photos side bar. Click on the device shown and an import window will open up that will populate with thumbnails of the photos and videos on your phone showing them as imported or not yet imported. Select the videos that you want to import and click on "import selected". That should download your iPhone photos to the Photos library where they can be accessed on your Mac or from within iMovie. They can be accessed from within iMovie via the Photos item in the sidebar of an iMovie project. The Photos item will appear if the Photos library is designated in the Photos general preferences as the system library.

If still no luck, try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if you can import your iPhone videos.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

48,310 points

Jun 17, 2019 10:57 AM in response to Kinger18

I don't know what the zip file is. You could try opening it to see what you get.

Insufficient free space can block importing, but the video to be imported should still show up in the Photos app before import.

You might try booting up in Safe Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads, immediately shut down and boot up in normal mode. Sometimes that clears out conflicts that cause issues.

Have you tried dragging the troublesome videos out of the Photos app to your desktop, and then dragging the vids into iMovie? If not, try that and see if they'll import into iMovie.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

48,310 points

Jun 17, 2019 8:16 PM in response to Kinger18

It can be difficult to address stubborn problems on an electric forum like this. We don't have testing equipment or hands on access to your computer. I think you might benefit from talking with Apple Support and, if still no luck, a visit to the Genius Bar at an Apple store.

At this point I have no additional thoughts that might be of help.

-- Rich

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Answer 4

Kinger18 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 17, 2019 8:14 AM in response to Rich839

Problem with the Photos app is that it’s not showing everything that’s on my phone.

I’ve never imported anything into Photos either, so it should be showing everything on my phone.

I did that and when I opened up iMovie it automatically reopened my projects.

When I deleted the preferences, it did make a zip file (VideoAppDiagnostics-iMovieApp-2019-06-17-110046.tar.gz) though.

Do I do anything with that?

Something to add, when I plug in my iPhone, it shows two videos that are on my phone, but one is the video photos (can’t think of the name of it at the moment) and one is a screen recording.

Then it starts loading all my photos, which it has never done.

Never had an issue until yesterday.

Like I said before, just uploaded concert footage last week with no issues.

Haven’t changed anything since.

Could the lack of storage space be an issue?

I got a notification the other day saying I had 7 GBs available, but I checked it last night and I have a little over 70 GBs now.

Haven’t deleted anything since I got that notification, which is weird.

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Answer 5

Kinger18 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 17, 2019 5:56 PM in response to Rich839

The zip file contained folders for; Caches, Layouts, Preferences, SystemProfile, and WindowLayouts. Then a document; system_profile-2019-06-17-110046.spx

I cleared space on the hard drive, but that didn’t fix it either.

Tried the safe mode, shutdown, reboot normal thing like you said and that also didn’t work.

The problem is is that they’re not showing up anywhere.

I have 78 videos on my phone and 1 is showing up in iMovie when I plug in my phone and directly try to access it through iMovie, which I have always done. I never use Photos app.

It’s very weird that this is happening out of nowhere as I’ve never had an issue. I’ve done everything I can think of and everything is up to date.

After everything loads in iMovie when I plug in my phone it’s all photos and 1 screen recording. It’s not showing any of my videos like it use to and I have the “hide imported” option off.

Any other ideas? This is super frustrating...😕

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Answer 6

Kinger18 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 17, 2019 5:58 PM in response to Rich839

Also, instead of just loading right to the home screen after logging in, it’s been doing this (photo attached) which I’ve never seen before. First regular login, then goes to black Apple loading screen, then boots up to main screen.

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Answer 7

Kinger18 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 17, 2019 11:00 PM in response to Rich839

Yeah, that’s what it’s looking like, unfortunately.

I appreciate your help though.

Thank you for trying.

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iPhone Videos Not Showing Up In iMovie For Import

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