On Mac OS Monterey I can no longer import live photos from my iPhone. If they do appear they are only still frames. I've tried airdrop, they import but only as a single frame. Also tried connecting my phone with a cable but the live photos don't appear on the import screen. Even tried importing them to the computer via image capture but no luck.
iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.2
My Photo Stream is complicating things, as it only transfers the still frame of the Live Photo. It cannot transfer any video at all. With My Photo Stream enabled you cannot transfer the Live Photos alive. I would not use my Photo Stream at all, if you are having a modern iPhone and want to shoot Live Photos. My Photo Stream has not been updated to support the new iPhones well for many years. Apple is not even allowing new users with a new AppleID to enabled it. See: My Photo Stream - Apple Support
"... If you recently created your Apple ID, My Photo Stream might not be available. If My Photo Stream isn't available, use iCloud Photos to keep your photos and videos in iCloud."
Photo formats that you can use with My Photo Stream
"My Photo Stream supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and most RAW photo formats. My Photo Stream doesn't support video or Live Photos."
My Photo Stream is complicating things, as it only transfers the still frame of the Live Photo. It cannot transfer any video at all. With My Photo Stream enabled you cannot transfer the Live Photos alive. I would not use my Photo Stream at all, if you are having a modern iPhone and want to shoot Live Photos. My Photo Stream has not been updated to support the new iPhones well for many years. Apple is not even allowing new users with a new AppleID to enabled it. See: My Photo Stream - Apple Support
"... If you recently created your Apple ID, My Photo Stream might not be available. If My Photo Stream isn't available, use iCloud Photos to keep your photos and videos in iCloud."
Photo formats that you can use with My Photo Stream
"My Photo Stream supports JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and most RAW photo formats. My Photo Stream doesn't support video or Live Photos."
When you connect the iPhone with a USB cable, the Live Photos should appear in the import pane as a pair of a still frame (JPEG or HEIC) and a video component (.MOV or .mp4). Sometimes there will also be a .AAE file, if there have been camera filters applied. You have to import all components together for the Live Photo to remain LIVE.
Importing directly from the iPhone may not work at all, if the iPhone is using iCloud Photos. iCloud Photos may have optimised the local copies and removed the video components from the iPhone to save storage.
If you already imported just the still frame it is no longer possible to import the Live Photos alive, because the duplicate detection will prevent the importing of the pair. You have first to remove all still versions of the Live Photo from Photos, including from Recently Deleted.
Thanks Leonie, I had to turn photo stream off to make it work with the usb cable, finally solved the problem, thank you
Live photos
