Images Imported Into Photo Appear as Red Rectangles—Problem with Live Photos?

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Level 1

22 points

Images Imported Into Photo Appear as Red Rectangles—Problem with Live Photos?

I've seen a few posts on this, but no ways to fix the issue. When I import a photo into Photos from my iPhone SE, the photos show up as red rectangles. When I click on the top-right "Live" button, the live photo will show. When it stops, it goes back to red.

Strangely, on a few of the photos, I have been able to successfully duplicate them with the "duplicate as still image" option. For some of the photos, this still produces a red rectangle.

This must be some sort of bug with Live Photos.

I have a 2009 Mac Pro running High Sierra, 10.13.6, with a Radeon RX 580 8192 MB graphics. I'm using the MacOS Graphics Driver.

Anyone have any helpful information? If not, I guess I'll figure out how to turn off Live Photos on my Iphone...

Mac Pro

Posted on Nov 11, 2019 2:49 PM

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Answer 1

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Nov 15, 2019 6:05 AM in response to Engender

Engender,

If it does work in safe mode, it might be related to something with access to photos, like an app or setting. Check any login items: Open items automatically when you log in on Mac

If it still isn't working or there are no log in items affected, try these:

It might be related to a display setting, so continue with resetting the NVRAM/PRAM: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac
As a last step, back up your Mac and reinstall macOS using Recovery which will also reinstall the Photos app: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery

If the issues is still there, reach out to Apple Support directly: Contact Apple Support

Take care.

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Answer 2

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Nov 14, 2019 5:05 PM in response to Engender

Hello Engender,

Thanks for posting to the Apple Support Communities. I understand Live Photos are appearing as red rectangles when imported. I'll do what I can to help.

Here are some suggestions:

Try rotating the images with red rectangles and rotating them back to see if they appear normal again since they are able to be opened and edited: How to edit photos on your Mac
Restart your Mac from the Apple () menu then Restart and also reimport the Live Photos.
Repair the library: How to use the Photos library repair tool
Try seeing if they appear red in safe mode: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

Enjoy your day.

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Answer 3

i_rina

Community Specialist

Nov 17, 2019 9:37 AM in response to Engender

Engender,

You can reach out to Apple Support. If there is anything further that is needed, they will let you know once you get in touch with with. Here's the link again: Contact Apple Support

Enjoy your weekend.

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Answer 4

Engender Author

Level 1

22 points

Nov 14, 2019 7:08 PM in response to MoonJ.

I've tried rotating, restarting, and repairing. I can't reimport them because I chose to delete the files from my phone on import. I'll try in safe mode and then report back. If it works in safe mode, what do you think the problem could be?

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Answer 5

Engender Author

Level 1

22 points

Nov 16, 2019 4:32 PM in response to MoonJ.

Safe mode didn't work, so I reinstalled High Sierra. That didn't work either. One thing that occurred to me to mention is that my Photos Library.photoslibrary file is not on my Macintosh HD drive. I have it on another HD, so that the photos are not clogging up my boot SSD.

Can I reach out to Apple Support? My 2009 Mac Pro is almost a decade out of Apple Care.

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Images Imported Into Photo Appear as Red Rectangles—Problem with Live Photos?

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