WHERE do these AirDrop photos go once accepted? It's SO frustrating.

Ok, I found a work-around... it's multi-step, so not pretty, but here you go...

Select the images on your iPhone, email them to yourself to an address you can pick up on your Mac. From there, open the image (in Preview), in Preview, select Share, then you can Share to Photos (you'll see the iPhotos circle icon with the sphere of colors). The pics will then pop up in your iPhotos library on your mac. Finally, from there, you can edit them, etc.... whew!

Past one or two, it’s far easier to connect your iPhone to your Mac (with a USB-C or USB-A to Lightning cable, the same cable used for charging) and import the photos directly into the Photos app.

This if you want to keep your photos local, and not use iCloud.

You can then sync your Mac with your iPhone (using Finder on recent macOS, iTunes on older), and the Photos are now copied from the Mac into the photos album on your sync’d iPhone and iPad devices.

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC - Apple Support

Use the Finder to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer - Apple Support

ArtDog11 wrote:

I have same problem. Once in downloads folder, how do you get photos from iPhone into iPhoto library on MacBook? (This process used to be automatically transferred... until March 2022)

Drag them from Finder and drop them on the Photos icon in the dock or onto the Photos app if it is open. Or in the Photos app choose Import from the file menu and get them from the Download folder.

ok, I was able to 'import' them into Photos, where they show up under 'Imports' w each listed individually. It says "showing all photos" on the upper right of this page, but now, I can't figure out how to get out of this 'show imports only' trap and just see the usual array of all photos... help!

PS: so there's no longer a way to enable automatic transfers as new photos are taken on your iPhone so they show up when I reopen Photos on my MacBook?

There is the way there has been for 5 years. Enable iCloud Photos on your phone and on your Mac and new photos will be added to the Photos app on your Mac seconds after they are taken. To see all photos just click on Library in the sidebar in Photos.

The stuff you send to your macOS via AirDrop is stored in Home folder -> Download folder.

I have same problem. Once in downloads folder, how do you get photos from iPhone into iPhoto library on MacBook? (This process used to be automatically transferred... until March 2022)