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Photos won't import automatically

90% of the time when I take photos and plug iPhone into fire wire on iMac, photos import automatically in "Photos > All Photos" like they're supposed to.

10% of the time, photos don't import automatically (I have to click "iPhone > import" inside Photo app on iMac for them to import).

I don't use iCloud Photo Library; it is not clicked at "System Preferences>iCloud". But, failure to import photos sometimes seems to coincide with times my 5GB of free iCloud storage is full (with documents and desktop).

Why are photos not importing automatically 10% of the time? How can I get them to import automatically, without having to click "import"?

5yr-old iMac, 10.13.6 High Sierra. iPhone-6s

"Photo Stream" is turned on under "System Preferences>Photo".

Posted on Feb 19, 2022 2:46 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 25, 2022 2:43 PM

Hi, you asked "when the photos don't import automatically, do any errors or messages ever appear?" No, no error msgs appear.


You said, " If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the device's name in the Photos sidebar." I did that, it worked. but this: the iPhone device never used to appear, and I never used to have to click anything for Import to happen. Hence, my question. Random changes in what I have to click.

Thank you. Solved for now.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 25, 2022 2:43 PM in response to Brittany1416

Hi, you asked "when the photos don't import automatically, do any errors or messages ever appear?" No, no error msgs appear.


You said, " If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the device's name in the Photos sidebar." I did that, it worked. but this: the iPhone device never used to appear, and I never used to have to click anything for Import to happen. Hence, my question. Random changes in what I have to click.

Thank you. Solved for now.

Feb 20, 2022 12:30 PM in response to Polelamq

Hello Polelamq,


We understand that you're experiencing an issue importing photos automatically to your Mac from your iPhone, and we want to help.


Just to confirm, when the photos don't import automatically, do any errors or messages ever appear? If so, what does the error say?


"The Photos app shows an Import screen with all the photos and videos that are on your connected device. If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the device's name in the Photos sidebar." More about importing photos from your iPhone to your Mac here: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC


You can also find some great information about importing photos here: Import photos from a camera or phone using Photos on Mac


Thanks!

Photos won't import automatically

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