Photos app has imported a part of my photos and then stopped importing the rest

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Izykov Author

Level 1

21 points

Photos app has imported a part of my photos and then stopped importing the rest

I am importing all my photos and videos from iphone to mac.

I have 2500 items to import, i choose to import All new items.

The process starts and on item 915 it freezes and no more pics are imported.

Sometimes i can import by 1 or 2 pics but not a batch of remaining 1200 photos.

No errors are displayed. Just no more import happens.

Importing directly to mac from iphone with enough free space.

Tried all options described in internet.

Anyone else experienced such behavior?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Oct 13, 2023 8:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Izykov Author

Level 1

21 points

Oct 14, 2023 11:18 AM in response to karel_s

Thanks Karel, but unfortunately your suggestion won't work. It is too general.

I've found the root cause finally.

The problem was 1 broken photo on my phone, phone couldn't process it for importing, thus it was stuck importing.

I've tried importing photos using Image Capture tool and suddenly saw that import was stuck on a specific photo.

When i opened this photo on the phone - it displayed small exclamation sign in the bottom right corner and said "Unable to load photo. An error occurred while loading a higher-quality version of this photo". I just skipped this photo and everything else got imported successfully.

I have NO IDEA how that photo could break..

Hope this will help others experiencing this issue.

Will file an issue to Apple Support. System must notify user of such problems.

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Answer 2

Mar 24, 2024 6:36 AM in response to Izykov

Thank you so much! This was indeed the problem. With you, I wonder why Apple hasn't included this remedy in their database.

With Image Capture I found the videos that didn't sync with Photos--now I know that if Photos doesn't import a file, the first file that shows up in the screen 'devices', is the file that is corrupted. Strangely, I couldn't locate the corrupted files on my iPhone!

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Answer 3

karel_s

Community Specialist

Oct 14, 2023 11:04 AM in response to Izykov

Hi Izykov,

Thanks for posting here in Apple Support Communities.

There are several reasons this could happen. One is having "Optimize storage" selected where the full-size original is not stored on the phone. Another is the photos were synced to the phone from another computer.

Ensure you have "Download and Keep Originals" selected and try to remember if perhaps some of the photos were transferred from another PC. This article here should be of help in case you're still having issues importing your photos.

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

Cheers.

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Answer 4

Lager1

Community Specialist

Oct 14, 2023 11:36 AM in response to Izykov

Hello Izykov,

Thanks for letting us know and we are happy to hear it is resolved. Let us know if we can help in the future.

Take care.

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Photos app has imported a part of my photos and then stopped importing the rest

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