Captions entered in iPhone do not import into MacOS Photos App

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Level 1

77 points

Captions entered in iPhone do not import into MacOS Photos App

I'm using MacOS Photos app to import photos from my iPhone via USB-C cable. There appears to be inconsistent behavior of importing Captions based on the path used to import photos into MacOS Photos app. Using AirDrop from iPhone to MacOS, then importing into Photos App: works. On iPhone Save to Files, then import to Photos App: works. Add to Shared Album: works on iPad, does not work on MacOS. Import using Image Capture, Import directly from plugged in iPhone, a dozen other methods tried: does not work. It's not just Photos app. Opening in Preview is also inconsistent. Depending on how the photo is transferred from iPhone to MacOS, sometimes the Caption shows up in IPTC, sometimes it does not.

I want to plug my iPhone into my MBPro, and use Photos app Import to properly import the photos, including the Captions. If that's possible, how? If that's not possible, why is handling of Captions so wildly inconsistent?

Background:

I use iCloud only for Shared Albums.

Yes I've opened Photos App using Option to create a new Photos library. It still does not work. I've searched forums and tried other methods. Nothing I've tried works.

When I open Image Capture app it does not include Caption regardless of download option. When I Add to Shared Album in iPhone, it does not work on MacOS - but Caption does show up on my iPad - except it's called Comment, not Caption. The UI on iPhone says "Caption".

I do not use iCloud for all my photos for many reasons, including: 1. I live in a rural area, and even though my internet is "unlimited", I have reason to believe that data speed is throttled past a certain point. 2. I have 6 Photos Libraries on my MBPro (for good reason), totaling over 600GB. 3. The "Some users were affected" during iCloud problems in March, 2021, I was one of them. I couldn't sign in, my devices didn't synchronize properly, there appeared to be corruption in some synchronized files. 2 weeks of phone support, install of a clean version of MacOS and many hours of investigation. If I didn't have my own daily, weekly and monthly external drive backups, I would have lost an unknown amount of data.

I stopped using My Photo Stream on MacOS because it shows only the JPG version and messes with video. When I use Photos Import I get hundreds of duplicate photos, interleaving HEIC and JPG. I want the HEIC only on my MBPro. That is where I do my photo editing. That is why I have an MBPro.

MacOS 12.3.1. iOS 15.4.1. The same problem existed on previous updates.

Posted on Apr 2, 2022 12:28 PM

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Answer 1

rboko Author

Level 1

77 points

Apr 5, 2022 6:53 PM in response to Amanda239_91

On the iPhone, My Photo Stream and Shared Albums are ON. On Mac, Keep Originals.

I tried turning My Photo Stream OFF, and same problem.

The Transfer Photos / Import To Your Mac link confirms that is how I do it.

Thanks for the link and reminders. I should have created a matrix for all the things I've tried. For me the aha moment was when Preview showed the same behavior - when the image transfer is AirDrop or Save to Files from iPhone, the Caption shows up in IPTC. I'm thinking the problem may not be Mac Photos App, but in the transfer.

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Answer 2

rboko Author

Level 1

77 points

Apr 5, 2022 7:01 PM in response to léonie

"The transfer via a USB cable is supposed to transfer the unmodified original, not the edited version."

I'm confused. On iPhone, when I crop or make any other adjustments such as Saturation, the edited version is transferred when Importing into Mac Photos App via USB cable. If it transfers the edited version, why doesn't it transfer the edit which is Caption?

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Answer 3

Apr 3, 2022 12:16 PM in response to rboko

Hi rboko,

It looks like you've done a lot of troubleshooting for this issue. To clarify, which options are selected on the iPhone in Settings > Photos? Is it just "Shared Albums"? Also, under "Transfer to Mac or PC", which option is selected there, Automatic or Keep Originals? Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices has more information on adjusting Camera and Photos settings on the iPhone to make sure you're importing the version you prefer.

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC has information on the expected behavior when importing images from your iPhone directly into the Photos app. When you're sending the photos to Shared Albums, it sounds like the iPad is behaving as expected, because the Shared Albums will display comments with others who are able to access the images.

Let us know what you find, and we'll work from there.

All the best.

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Answer 4

Apr 3, 2022 1:23 PM in response to rboko

A while back I noticed the same issue.

iOS 15 now allows the user to write a Caption a.k.a. Description to a photo.

AirDrop does copy that to a Mac and I guess also iCloud does the same (I don't use iCloud photos). But on the other hand, ImageCapture does not copy Caption to the Mac. I add all metadata on the Mac so I have not tested this more.

exiftool -a -G1 -s .
[IFD0]          ImageDescription                : Caption iOS.
[IPTC]          Caption-Abstract                : Caption iOS.

AFAIK IFD0:ImageDescription is legacy and should no longer be used so it is a weird decision to use it.

Captions from Images are gone - Apple Community

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

194,549 points

Apr 4, 2022 2:44 AM in response to rboko

The transfer via a USB cable is supposed to transfer the unmodified original, not the edited version. The caption is not embedded in the original, so it is not transferred.

The only easy way to transfer the edits from an iPhone or iPad losslessly, including the albums, caption, locations, adjusted dates is iCloud Photos Library. If you do not want to upload all photos from your mac to iCloud, only download the photos from your iOS device, create a new, empty Photos library to use with iCloud. Once the photos have been downloaded from icloud to this library, you can disable iCloud Photos again and import from this library to your main photos library.

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Answer 6

Apr 4, 2022 4:06 AM in response to léonie

> transfer via a USB cable is supposed to transfer the unmodified original, not the edited version

Thanks, that does explain the issue. So also AirDrop can be used to transfer the modified version with added metadata etc?

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Captions entered in iPhone do not import into MacOS Photos App

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