Image Capture Fails to Load Photos off iPhone

Hello,

Thanks for this great reply. As an update BLUF, Ive done most of those things, and no luck. So then I booted up my very old Core2Duo MBP which has Windows 7 in boot camp. And guess what? I could see the "internal storage" folders that are essential the DCIM folder, as soon as my iphone showed up. I cant even remember when I booted that laptop last time.

Its NOT a good solution long term. But it indicates to me that other non-mac machines can see the folders and files.

Regarding the list you gave me, I have some notes:

- Move ~/Librarary/Preferences/com.apple.imagecapture.plist to the Desktop, (just in case you need it later) reboot, and try again. - Did this 2x, no luck

- Put the phone in Airplane mode before plugging in the USB cable (maybe also turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Hotspot). - tried, no luck

- Remove all 3rd party virus apps (Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, Intego, MacAfee, Norton, ESET NOD32, Trusteer etc) and 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up" apps (CleanMyMac, MacKeeper etc). Don't use VPN services. Unless you're using it to tunnel into a secure private network such as your employer or school. - dont have any of these. Dont use a VPN.

Make sure that your computer has the latest possible version of macOS (or the latest version of iTunes in Mojave and earlier). - It does have the latest possible for this specific machine.

Reset iPhone's Network settings. - I was on the phone with apple last night and they had me reset ALL settings (which is now painful to recover from). No luck.

Change your settings for trusted computers. Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. - I reset all settings. Is this different?

About the 'Trust This Computer' alert message on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Restart (or power OFF for 2 minutes) both Mac and iPhone (maybe also force close all iPhone apps before doing so). - Tried multiple times, including hard restart of phone.

Plug in the iPhone, open Applications/Image Capture, click the three dots in the top right, and select "No application" when connecting this iPhone. Close Image Capture, unplug and re-plug iPhone, and launch Image Capture. - This was how I had it as a default. Ive tried both ways, no luck. I also tried with preview.

Clean the lightning port from pocket lint. - Did that on old phone. Since then Ive restored that phone to a new iphone 15 Pro and its having the same issue.

Un-plug the USB cable from the Mac mini (while the iPhone is connected to the lightning cable end) and re-insert the USB end into the Mac. - New phone is USB C. Not sure what this instruction means.

Keep the phone plugged to USB and reboot the Mac. - Tried this, no luck

If using an USB-C to USB-A adapter connect the adaptor first and then connect the iPhone. - OK will check the sequence.

Connect to the Mac's USB4 inputs, not Thunderbolt 3 inputs. - I dont have either. All I have is USB A and some older square thunderbolt ports that Ive never had a cable for...

Turn off iCloud Photos in iPhone settings. - Was never on

Use AirDrop instead USB. - Thats fine for a few photos, is there a way to do it for a large quantity, say a few hundred or a thousand easily?

Thanks very much for your detailed reply and help!!!!

Update - upgraded my 12 Pro to a 15 Pro. Did the transfer by backing up to an external drive and then pushing the contents onto the 15 Pro. No luck, it still does the same thing.

Then tried on a 2017 intel MBA, instead of my 2013 MBP. Also didnt work.

Ive tried two different USB cables, both ports on each computer, etc.

Any other ideas?

All I ever get is this:

And eventually the grey box talking about photos being prepared goes away, the little ball next to the phone keeps spinning, and nothing ever happens.

Was perfectly fine in early October, and I havent used the laptop since really.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Im tempted to just buy icloud, since that gets me an external backup too. But I hate to pay $10/mo because something else that Apple made doesnt work.

Is there a way to try to troubleshoot what photo or what details may be hanging up the data stream? Something is obviously hanging up. I could, I guess, delete all photos going back to when I last did a backup, and then add them a few at a time. Do you think that would work?

Thanks!