Photos not recognizing all pictures and videos from iPhone 16

Question

Level 1

9 points

Photos not recognizing all pictures and videos from iPhone 16

Hello. I am having a problem with Photos reading all of my pictures and videos from my iPhone 16. Photos recognizes about half of the pictures I have stored on the phone. It does not read any from the past 2 years. The phone is connect via cable to the Mac. My Mac is running OS 12.7.6 (the latest version it's able to) and Photos 7.0. My iPhone 16 is running OS is 26.5. I have to transfer my pictures/videos to flash drive and then import them into the Photos program. I do not store my picture/videos on iCloud. Why aren't all the pictures being recognized? Is there a way to fix this. Thanks.

Jack

Mac mini, macOS 12.7

Posted on Aug 25, 2026 9:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

203,913 points

Aug 26, 2026 5:46 AM in response to maxsham

Just a hunch, but have the more recent photos been synced to your iPhone from a computer? The syncing from a Mac or PC to the iPhone is one-way only. Synced photos are stored separately from your Photos Library and cannot be read back. You would have to save them to Photos on the iPhone to be able copy them back to the Mac.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 26, 2026 8:04 AM in response to maxsham

One thing to try is to use Mac's Image Capture app that's in the Applications folder. See if that helps.

Transferring to a fast SSD rather than to a much slower flash drive would be more satisfying. Does your iPhone have a USBc port?

Neither Image Capture nor drive-transfer copies all the information that might be in the iPhone's Photos database, so the Finder transfer is a better choice. (iCloud Photos is the best method, though.)

Do you use a VPN? How about Mac "Cleaners" or "Virus Catchers?" These are all known to interfere with database operations on the Mac, and they have also been found to corrupt Photos Libraries. If you have any of these things, you should remove them from your computer.

I do not store my picture/videos on iCloud.

Are you sure? What do you see at iCloud.com?

Reply

Answer 3

maxsham Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 26, 2026 4:23 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks for your thoughts. I am able to transfer the pics on my iPhone to Photos that Photos recognizes. My frustration is that Photos doesn't recognize all the pics stored in the library on my iPhone.

Reply