iPhone pictures not updating on Photos App (El Captain 10.11.6)

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Level 1

4 points

iPhone pictures not updating on Photos App (El Captain 10.11.6)

Hi there,

I would be very grateful if someone could help me with the following issue:

Recently upgraded my old Macbook Air 2013 edition to OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6 and can no longer see my recent iPhone pictures in the Photos app.

Both my iPhone and my Macbook Air are up to date re operating systems versions.

I am not good at any of this and spent hours researching this topic and the main types of comments all involve iCloud. The thing is that my particular issue is not related to iCloud, I have it turned off regarding photos and have no interest for the moment in using this service.

Apart from the Photos app not showing any of the recent pictures, the app works fine and my computer does indeed recognise my iPhone etc. It's just the updating that is not working.

I would like to get things back to normal i.e. I take a picture on my phone, then I connect my phone to my laptop, the Photos app launches automatically and shows me all the pics including the recent picture. I then import the recent picture and can then save it in a folder in said laptop.

Please assist as have already tried the following without success: the repair function on the Photos app, check "sync all photos" in iTunes, turning things on and off again, updated my iPhone OS, downloading Anytrans (not supported on my OS), updating iPhoto (not supported by my OS) and perhaps one or two more things that did not work.

Thank you very much in advance!

MacBook Air 11″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jul 21, 2022 9:37 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

ryane77

Community Specialist

Jul 26, 2022 9:29 AM in response to mbh87

mbh87,

Thanks for replying! It sounds like you were able to resolve the issue ultimately, correct? If so, that's great to hear.

If you find this issue persists after the steps you've tried, we'd recommend for you to reach out for additional support here: Get Support

Take care.

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Answer 2

destiny241

Community Specialist

Jul 22, 2022 12:43 PM in response to mbh87

Welcome Mbh87,

You've done a lot of troubleshooting, nice work.

What happens exactly when you take these steps to transfer the newer photos to your Mac: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC - Apple Support

Do you receive any errors? Does the iPhone show up in the Photos app?

Have you tried importing these photos using Image Capture? If you can see and import these photos using Image Capture, that isolates to the issue further for us: Transfer images in Image Capture on Mac - Apple Support

Hoping to hear how it goes, take care.

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Answer 3

mbh87 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 26, 2022 8:10 AM in response to destiny241

Hi destiny241,

I really appreciate you taking the time to assist.

To answer your questions:

I do not receive any error messages.

The iPhone does not show up in the Photos app.

I had not tried to use Image Capture however, after you suggested doing so, I tried but the device didn't show up.

It is strange because when I connect my phone to the MacBook Air via USB cable, the phone prompts a trust message which I unlock and then the phone shows it is charging. Therefore, we can be sure that it is recognised in this regard and it also shows up in iTunes it is just in the Photos App and Image Capture where the device does not seem to be recognised.

Any other suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks again and looking forward to hearing back from you.

Kind regards,

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Answer 4

mbh87 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 26, 2022 8:25 AM in response to destiny241

Hi again,

I also checked the system report/information and it does the iPhone comes up in the USB section so it is recognised.

I can transfer music and movies via iTunes but literally just the photos are not visible.

Thanks in advance for any further/future assistance.

Kind regards,

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Answer 5

mbh87 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 26, 2022 8:38 AM in response to mbh87

Ok cool so some update here.

I tried the reset location method for the third time and the latest picture is showing up on the photos app as well as the device itself but I am missing a good 20 pictures.... It is so strange...

They are on my phone photos app but do not show on the macbook photos app.

So, now that the device is back to being recognised, I tried via image capture and it worked!

Thanks a lot! Really appreciate your assistance.

To be honest, I have no idea what's going on with the photos app.... I am either going to upgrade my apple gear (new macbook and new iPhone - when the 14 comes out) or else go on the android/windows-based laptop because I've been literally wasting hours and hours trying to fix simple problems like this. On a windows-based laptop, the smartphone device shows up as an external drive and has a photos folder, you copy/paste and Bob's your uncle. I don't get why it has to be so finicky.

Thanks and kind regards,

Matt

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Answer 6

mbh87 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 27, 2022 3:01 AM in response to ryane77

Thanks again - much obliged.

It's a bit annoying because Image Capture seems to only import images in HEIC format instead of JPEG so I need to find another program to open but it's not the end of the world.

Kind regards,

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iPhone pictures not updating on Photos App (El Captain 10.11.6)

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