MacBook Photos app not seeing all photos from iPhone

M to the K wrote:

When I try to transfer photos from my new iphone 17 (IOS 26.1) to my macbook pro (2015) (IOS 12.7.6 Monterey) the macbook automatically opens the photo app as expected but then only "sees" about 1/4 of the photos on my cellphone, nothing from the last 4 years, and therefore thinks there are only 5 "new" photos to transfer when actually there are over 200 new photos. The photos ARE on my phone, not just stored in icloud, in fact I have never used icloud storage for photos at all (on the phone, under the "Saved to icloud" settings, Photos is set to "OFF"). I can transfer the photos using airdrop etc, and I realize I could probably use Image Capture as an alternate means of transfer, but why does the Photo app on my laptop not see and want to transfer most of the photos? This worked seamlessly for years with my previous iphone.

I had this problem after updating too. This is going to sound ridiculous but the workaround I figured out was:

1. Quit Photos (⌘ + Q) on Mac
2. Reopen Photos on Mac
3. Click your phone (keep it plugged in) in the sidebar and wait for it to either show all the photos or not
4. If not, repeat these steps until it does

It sounds odd, but after 5ish restarts of Photos, it does show all the photos to be imported.

-Bubba- wrote: … 4. If not, repeat these steps until it does

I love that!

What happens if you just wait for that time? or switch back and forth to another app? Or re-boot?

Photos is acting very slow for me. It just occurred to me that I should try turning off WiFi…

(doesn't help)