Some iPhone photos & videos keeps being imported as new

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Level 1

4 points

Some iPhone photos & videos keeps being imported as new

Hi!

I imported about 2500 photos from my iPhone 12 Pro (iOS 16.2) into Mac Photos (version 6.0 on Big Sur 11.7.3, iMac 27" Late 2014).

When trying to sync up again (seconds or hours later, no difference), 140 photos and videos will show as new. Importing them with create duplicates. This will keep happening every time I try to import, creating multiple copies of the same 140 items.

The duplicates are completely identical (see screenshots).

I tried to start from scratch but the issue remains.

Things I have noticed:

The photos/videos in questions have been taken in apps or shared with me and then saved in my camera roll (from WhatsApp, Apple Messages, inShot etc.).
They can be JPG, MOV or MP4 files. They all have these complicated names (for example 68234526659__550C1371-A659-4DD3-9DF9-CE151ECDD349) rather than the usual IMG_xxx.

Settings on my phone are:

Keep originals for transfers (high-efficiency settings)
No cloud

Thank you for your help!

MacBook Pro 17″

Posted on Feb 13, 2023 7:13 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,485 points

Feb 15, 2023 12:01 AM in response to jujuinla

When you download the shared items, new files seem to be created. This disables the duplicate detection on Import.

Are you using the most recent update of WhatsApp? Perhaps reinstalling WhatApp will help to fix this.

And deleting the shared items from the apps that saved them to Photos, so they are no longer managed by the app.

Just to besser about the Settings on your iPhone :

You wrote: "Settings on my phone are:

- Keep originals for transfers (high-efficiency settings)
- No cloud"

The settings for transfer are under "Photos " >"Transfer to Mac or PC", not under "Camera > High Efficiency".

The "High Efficiency" settings under "Camera" determine how the photos are taken, the Settings in Photos > Transfer to Mac or PC are determining, if they will be converted to a different format. Have you set these in both places to prevent a format conversion? Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices - Apple Support

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Answer 2

jujuinla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 17, 2023 8:09 AM in response to bruno75

Hi Léonie,

Yes, I can confirm the settings are:

High-efficiency under Camera/Formats
Transfer to Mac or PC set to Originals under Photos

Deleting the originals from the apps after having saved the photo/video in my camera roll first then imported to Photos didn't fix the problem. The only way to work around it is to delete them from the camera roll after import (which I would like not to do until I run out of storage on my phone).

I noticed it has to do with the filename of the media. The issue only happens to items which don't have the regular IMG_xxxx filename.

I did this test:

After initial import, the video with filename 69834123939__AF80710B-1D0F-44C8-8C6B-2D65E9E0DA01.MOV still shows as new when connecting iPhone.
I renamed it to IMG_1234.mov.
I imported IMG_1234.mov into Photos once.
Disconnected and reconnected my iPhone.
The video now shows are already imported!

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Answer 3

jujuinla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 23, 2023 1:36 PM in response to léonie

Hi Léonie,

Yes, I can confirm the settings are:

High-efficiency under Camera/Formats
Transfer to Mac or PC set to Originals under Photos

Deleting the originals from the apps after having saved the photo/video in my camera roll first then imported to Photos didn't fix the problem. The only way to work around it is to delete them from the camera roll after import (which I would like not to do until I run out of storage on my phone).

I noticed it has to do with the filename of the media. The issue only happens to items which don't have the regular IMG_xxxx filename.

I did this test:

After initial import, the video with filename 69834123939__AF80710B-1D0F-44C8-8C6B-2D65E9E0DA01.MOV still shows as new when connecting iPhone.
I renamed it to IMG_1234.mov.
I imported IMG_1234.mov into Photos once.
Disconnected and reconnected my iPhone.
The video now shows are already imported!

Reply

Answer 4

bruno75

Community Specialist

Feb 14, 2023 4:31 PM in response to jujuinla

Hey there jujuinla,

That is certainly a strange thing to occur, and we'd like to help however we can. Let's start with confirming more details to better understand what's happening, along with ruling out some possible causes:

When did this first start occurring with those same 140 photos/videos duplicating each time you want to import to your Mac?
Is there anything you can think of tying these 140 photos/videos together?
Sometimes unexpected behavior can be resolved with a restart: Restart your iPhone and check out the section ‘Restart your Mac' here: Shut down or restart your Mac
We see you're running the latest version for macOS Big Sur(11.7.3), and iOS 16.2 on your iPhone, but the latest for your iPhone would be iOS 16.3.1. In case you needed it, this link shows how to first back up, then Update your iPhone or iPad.

Cheers!

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Answer 5

jujuinla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 17, 2023 7:54 AM in response to bruno75

Hi Bruno,

I have updated my iPhone and Mac to the latest versions which came our a few days ago. All apps are also up to dates. No change unfortunately.

What I have noticed about this 140 items (photos and videos):

They all have a filename that is not the standard "IMG_xxxx" format usually generated when taking a photo from the camera app. Examples below:
WhatsApp (92F182BC-1D2A-4A9B-AD17-8861893E9F94.JPG)
Instagram (video_0_b50f5082767d486c8a201aae62010b42.mp4)
iOS Messages when taking a video directly in a message rather than in the camera app (69456540867__0C78A3C6-775F-4D60-9AE1-345B86791D98.MOV).
inShot (video-output-6926C553-B00B-4C9A-A595-E56DEC7B9ACE.mp4)

When media are sent to me in the regular "IMG_xxxx" format, no problem, even from the aforementioned apps.

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Some iPhone photos & videos keeps being imported as new

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