iMessage images reimporting to macOS Photos from iPhone camera roll

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Vex Ing Author

Level 1

11 points

iMessage images reimporting to macOS Photos from iPhone camera roll

Hello,

Found and interesting possible bug with importing images and video.

Currently I am using a MacBook Air M1 (macOS 11.1) and importing from a iPhone 8+ (iOS 14.3)

All my images from camera roll on iPhone are downloading fine to photos on the Mac (via lightening).

However when I reconnect the iPhone at another time to download new images, photos and videos taken with the iMessage app reappear in the 'new items' section of Photos.

When I import, it brings in an exact duplicate of the image or video that is already in the macOS Photos library, and it will potentially continue to import another duplicate every time I go to import new images from my iPhone.

Just wondering if anyone else encountered this or found a solution.

Thank you

MacBook

Posted on Feb 6, 2021 11:31 AM

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Answer 1

SnickZ.

Community Specialist

Feb 9, 2021 5:03 AM in response to Vex Ing

Hello Vex Ing,

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities. We certainly understand you don't need to import the same photos to your Mac. We're happy to assist.

Please try restarting your Mac in safe mode, and importing the photos: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Safe mode prevents your Mac from loading certain software as it starts up, including login items, system extensions not required by macOS, completes a basic check of your startup disk, and clears cache. Attempt to import photos while in safe mode, and see if they're duplicated.

Test this issue on a new administrator account on your Mac. Here is how to create an account: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

While in the new account, try importing and see what happens.

If you're continuing to experience the same thing, please reach out to us directly here: Get Support

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Feb 9, 2021 5:32 AM in response to Vex Ing

Hi

Somthing about the files on your mac will be different to those in your phone. Either they will have illegal characters in the filename that have been removed on transfer, or there will be somthing about the format that is not compatible with the mac and have been altered during the transfer.

As a result they are not recognised as the same image.

To find out what, save one that is duplicating from your phone to an iCloud drive folder. Export the same image from Macphotos using "export original"

Compare the two files to see what is different - is filename identical, is size identical, is format identical.

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Answer 3

Vex Ing Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 20, 2021 1:14 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Hello Tony,

Thank you for the reply, sorry for taking so long to get on it. But I did get a chance to do what you suggested.

Here are the results:

Photo exported to iCloud Drive from phone is named RenderedImage

Photo exported original from Macphotos named RenderedImage.heic

I also downloaded the same photo from iPhone using Image Capture and it was named TDHE5260.HEIC

I Duplicated the three export tests using an image taken directly with iPhone camera (not through messages app) and all exported with the same name (with the exception of the iCloud Drive image dropping the extension as in the first example)

So as you hypothesized the messages app is doing something within the file that MacOS photos can’t cope with.

So I plugged the phone in again and saw the messages image in MacPhotos New Items section again and downloaded it. It exports again with the name RenderedImage.heic. (The image capture download is also the same name as before TDHE5260.HEIC). So somewhere within the file, Macphotos is looking at it and something is changing that is not visible to us.

So after all that the only solution I can think of is to not take photos from within the messages app, unless you have discovered another solution.

Thanks again for the test idea, it definitely showed that messages is doing something different with the naming strategy. Which I am guessing is based on where the app is storing the file, and with iCloud syncing used in messages included in that mix.

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iMessage images reimporting to macOS Photos from iPhone camera roll

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