how do I transfer photos from my iPhone to my iMac?

If you can't import photos from your iPhone to your computer (whether Mac of PC), you might want to check to see if you have any photos in the camera roll on your iPhone that did not originate from the iPhone camera (i.e. someone emailed you, taken on another camera, received from your computer, copied from the internet, etc.). If you do then Apple disables your ability to import or sync ANY photos contained on your iPhone until the non-originating photos are removed from the iPhone camera roll. The only work around is to email those non-originating pictures to yourself and then delete them to re-enable your ability to import/sync the remaining photos. I know it's a pain. Of course you could let Apple know how unsatisfactory this is at: http://www.ipad-converters.org/transfer-photo-from-iphone-to-mac/

Tusharters: your statement is incorrect.

It is not true Apple disables your ability to import photos Camera Roll has a photo that did not come from the Camera app.

While malformed, damaged, or non-supported images may affect your ability to import photographs, this is not a typical case. I have moved (imported) hundreds of images from the camera roll to my computer that did not originate in the Camera app.

If you are having trouble importing photographs, you can look for a problem image by using Image Capture to bring in images bit-by-bit. Select part of your Camera Roll and try to import it. If it fails, one of the images in that group is likely damaged and is stopping a full import.

More on Image Capture:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083

From iPhone User Guide:

"Import photos from iPhone to your computer
Connect iPhone to your computer. Then:
- On a Mac: In iPhoto, click Import. iPhoto should open automatically.
- On a PC: Follow the instructions that came with your camera or photo application."

I think you need iPhoto version 4.0.3.

Also, I believe there is an application called Tansee iPhone Photo Transfer that is designed for this purpose.

1. Launch iTunes and go to “Edit > iTunes > Devices”, and check “Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically”.

2. Plug iPhone into computer via USB cable, and iTunes will start automatically. If not, you need to manually open it.

3. iTunes will recognize your iPhone and display the iPhone icon at the upper right corner. Click the iPhone icon and choose “Photos” in the summary panel. Check “Sync Photos from”, and choose “Selected folders”. Then select the folder on your Mac computer and click “Apply”.

4. iTunes will start syncing iPhone photos with the folder. You will get the unwanted photos erased when the sync is finished.

Also feel free to read this article for the full tutorial on "how to move photos from iPhone to Mac".

Another method is Dropbox. Go to their website and set up a free account.

Then install the Dropbox app on your phone. When you transfer photos from your phone to Dropbox, you just log in to your Dropbox account from your computer and download your photos.

The problem with your method is that a person does not want all their photos on there and when turning on for the first time it wipes the device photos. And I haven't seen great success when you have multiple phones for a multitude of reasons. In my case I have 10 devices and I have to modify each one separately on music, since iTunes decides to apply the same music to all the devices. Very annoying. I'm not very fond of my teenagers dub step.

The problem with the iPhoto solution is this requires to be signed in to the iCloud. I don't want my photos going through yet another room. At&t, Verizon, Comcast, Sprint, etc.., send all of your requests through 2 rooms to copy your data up and down ( tracert ), so you get the point. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

The best and horrible way, is to connect to a pc since it will see the photo folders. This is probably the most annoying factor, 1 I hate windows 8, 2 I have to actually spin off a virtual, or worse open up my alienware laptop just to get a photo. Apple should have stopped doing this in 2008, and 9 years later every other manufacturer lets you do this. Nothing is more frustrating when I find a bug with an iOS app i'm developing and I need to send a screenshot with the item, and since the phone has no email or internet access I have to spend 5 minutes grabbing when this should be as simple as bring up finder clicking on it and copying the photo.

So the only real way is to either access your phone through the phone system or spin up a vm fusion virtual. I have xCode and it's easy to get the path to the phone after clicking go, it's just rather annoying. I won't even go into how annoying getting a virtual USB to work in Yosemite is.

Don't get me wrong I love Apple products and I would never use any laptop other than a MacBook ever, but they make me suffer the same way Lucas has with moving star wars to be a kid show.

Ok, i'll step down from my soapbox now.

Nick

Thank you so much. this helped me and solved my problem. I was looking for a way to copy files in a specific directory. You were right on the target . Image capture did the job.

Mumooler wrote:

From iPhone User Guide:

"Import photos from iPhone to your computer
Connect iPhone to your computer. Then:
- On a Mac: In iPhoto, click Import. iPhoto should open automatically.
- On a PC: Follow the instructions that came with your camera or photo application."

I think you need iPhoto version 4.0.3.

Also, I believe there is an application called iPhone Photo Transfer to Mac that is designed for this purpose.

You can adopt iTunes which is really useful to transfer your photos from iPhone to Mac, and you can refer to Import photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or Windows PC - Apple Support which not only gives tips for transferring photos from iPhone to Mac but also to window PC. if you do not satisfy with iTunes, iCloud also offer some storage to backup your iPhone photos and then you can regain them with restoring which can accomplish your transferring process. Here is the way with iCloud.

1. Make sure that your iPhone is connecting with Wi-Fi.

2. Go to setting>iCloud>photos> Backup. And all photos is backup to iCloud. Of course you are required to log in your Apple account.

3.Log in Apple account again on your computer iCloud, and you can sync photos from the backup files. The other one is with iPhone Transfer to transfer data directly.

Perfect- thank you! so easy. i just upgraded to iPhone 6 and its a bit of an adjustment, but i love my new phone. Was freaking out about loosing photos and you 'saved the day'!

I'm generally a fan of Apple devices but it shouldn't be this difficult, all I want to do is copy photos and videos from my iPhone 6 to my Mac to free up storage.

When I try to start iPhoto I get a message that the version installed isn't compatible with Yosemite, I click the button to search the app store and guess what, there isn't any. I can't find an option in iTunes to copy them. But guess what, I can plug my iPhone into a Windows machine and copy the photos and videos with out any problems.