iPhone isn't transferring photos taken with built-in filters

iPhoto has been retired and is no longer being developed. As has Aperture. Photos is the current Apple app, and it works perfectly. And I've never had a problem with iCloud photos. I take a picture and it appears seconds later on my Mac and if I log into iCloud. Every time. As I said, Dropbox works also. And I've got a really great new app called Upthere, which saves my photos to their cloud server so I can delete them from my phone to save space, but still view them when I want to.

Photos does not work perfectly (it's pretty awful actually, compared with past Apple photo products), hence myself and many other people on this forum not fully adopting it. Photos has myriad issues and is a downgrade of facilities from Aperture certainly, and iPhoto is also better featured. I can't use it because it does not easily show file names (you can only view one t time by cumbersome clicking) - something I need in photo management.

I appreciate you use a cloud and some benefits of that, but quite frankly, nothing beats plugging in a camera or device and simply importing the files. These other methods you mention are esoteric and fiddly. I do appreciate they work for you, but they are not really very flexible or adequate for someone wishing to use a library or editor on their Mac. There is no longer a pro or semi pro offering.

It is worth pointing out the irony that any non-Apple device imports via USB perfectly, it's only with the iPhone this is an issue. The iPhoto problem looks
suspiciously deliberate. It did used to work and only failed when they brought in Photos.

Had the cloud service actually worked, I would not have added to this post today. The fact is, it doesn't actually work and I have lost filtered photos irretrievably due to Apple software failure/bad design - tick as applicable.

And does Image Capture preserve filtering? I haven't tried it, because I have a way that works perfectly that I've been using for months, with no glitches or issues. But it would be worth knowing if there are additional ways.

I just tried it. Image Capture does not preserve filtering, but it does import the .aae file that contains the filtering information. So you could still open the filtered image in a program that understands Extended Metadata Protocol (XMP). This does not include iPhoto, which has reached its end of life.

I have iCloud photo switched on. Sorry if I was not clear when mentioning this twice before. It does not work reliably. I am looking at the stream now and it is a mish mash of some filtered, some not, and some photos in the camera roll are not in the stream. This has always been the case. Also, what if you have no internet connection? Then you have no means of accessing your photos on your Mac at all. Hence, wishing to simply plug in the phone and import - which used to work. It's clearly a software fault/design issue. Perhaps we're sidelining this thread a little, but making it more specific - there is (currently) no means to reliably import photos from an iPhone into your Mac and retain filter information via tethered means. The software with which one used to be able to, has been broken by Apple.

I should also point out that photos on a cloud are a massive legal minefield over ownership, usage rights and privacy etc.

Are you using iCloud Photo or Photo Stream? iCloud Photo is not the same thing as Photo Stream. As I said, I've been using it for months, without a hiccup. I've given up all of the other ways I used to import photos.

Nathan Jones2 wrote:

I should also point out that photos on a cloud are a massive legal minefield over ownership, usage rights and privacy etc.

If you read Apple's privacy policy you will see that's not true. Any data you save in iCloud is yours, and is encrypted using your key. Apple has no way to access it. So even if the FBI asks them to they say "no, we have no way to do that." This is clearly not true for Facebook, which is why I don't use FB. Of course, if you leave your door unlocked by using a weak passcode and not using 2 factor authentication you can put your data at risk, but that's your responsibility, not Apple's.

I'll have to contradict you there, regarding access to content. I have read the T&C's, yes, and I cannot legally use iCloud for professional content due to its restrictions. However, it is an extraordinarily complex issue (and way off topic). You mention the FBI, but I'm not in the US. Why is my content under US jurisdiction? Again, I'll point out this legal quagmire is because Apple 'broke' the tethered import of photos.

As for basic privacy - you have seen the news, yes? Hundreds of 'celebrities' had their photos stolen from iCloud and put online. It is extremely naive to think any cloud content is 'safe', or private. It is best treated as a postcard - anyone can view the content in transit. Who's to say your photos were not also stolen too?

To reiterate the discussion question, has anyone figured out how to import filtered photos via tethered means? This did work until relatively recently, so it is not a technical improbability.

I just tried again, it is doing what happened to me back in Nov 2013, page one of this thread. To a clean library, because I don't use Photos, I imported a picture, with a filter, it didn't look like it was active, I tried another and same result.

Went back to the original and the filter was applied with an option when clicking edit to revert to original. Second photo no filter applied, third no filter. Trashed my test library and went back and imported the 3 photos to a fresh library and all three had filter after about 10 seconds of being in Photos. Tried another photo, no dice.

Its broken. Open bug report here: https://bugreport.apple.com/

I will in a bit.

I did report this, back in 2013 too (and possibly beyond this too). I also reported it to various camera app companies. They were all already aware of the issue, but there is no Apple tethered input device working with filters any more, nor has there been since late 2013 as far as I can tell. My prompt here was frustration as I lost (again) some really nice photos, due to a forced limitation of the Apple software and photo import function. I used to use Apple products to aid a creative process, now I just find I'm often fighting with the software and wholly ruining the creative endeavour. The loss of Aperture, and (a fully working) iPhoto is a great loss to photographers using Macs. I was just hoping that after over two years, there'd be a solution.

At the end of all this, there's still no way to import filtered photos via a tethered (i.e., the safest method) to a Mac. This seems positively bonkers to me. Actually, when I'm feeling frustrated due to the loss of nice work for no real reason, it feels like a positively fascist shift in policy from my 'favourite' hardware/software provider. 1984…

I am pleased, Lawrence that your method works for you, but it is only perhaps practical for 'amateur' photos. It does not function at all as a viable method for pro, or semi-pro photographers. The use of a cloud in another countries jurisdiction IS a legal minefield. The jurisdiction is liable to change, or be hacked. Both have happened in recent years and the pressure for further erosion of privacy on cloud servers is massive at present. Anyway, I just want to plug in my Apple device to my Apple device and copy of my photos as I shot them. It isn't much to ask, is it? It used to work!

Attempted this out of desperation. My phone shows 33 items on the iCloud drive, but the Mac only shows one item. I am aware there may be some sync time, but it's been an hour…

Cloud transfer is not the future. It is unstable, insecure and unreliable.

Do you read the news?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_%282001–07%29

That's just US, I'm in the UK where there are similar, but also some contradictory issues. This stuff is a massive legal minefield across geographical jurisdictions. Apple's own Steve Wozniak said this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/steve-wozniak-cloud_n_1748269.html

This also happened:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ICloud_leaks_of_celebrity_photos&redi rect=no

The above is known because they were people of apparent interest. They had normal iCloud accounts just like you and I. Which means… they can be exposed in the same way by interested parties. Legally or not.

Anyway, it's off topic. I'm posting as a courtesy to your naivete for your own (and others) online safety. It's fundamentally false to consider your online data 'safe' or private - and possibly breaching a law in the jurisdiction within which the service (cloud) is provided. I am not anti-cloud, but internet security is a professional field for me. It sometimes concerns me the lack of awareness of the issues of usage.

I'm just wondering if anyone has come up with a workaround for the import issue of filtered photos. Ideally via a cable as was basically always the case until Apple rather parsimoniously removed the feature.

I'm starting to wonder if can one purchase a floppy, or Zip drive to work with an iPhone?

That's still hacking, and rather off topic:

In the computer security context, a hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, challenge, enjoyment, or to evaluate those weaknesses to assist in removing them.

And we're still no closer to solving this retrograde issue of not being able to adequately bring images from one Apple device to another. It used to be a case of plug in the phone, hit import and it just did it. Easy, safe, uncomplicated. Now it is very complicated, unreliable, insecure, unnecessary wastage of bandwidth and disk space on the source, cloud and transfer devices. Not everyone wants or needs the same photos on all their devices. In fact that's a pretty low priority and niche requirement. It's a wasteful gimmick.

So, back to the question, how does one copy filtered photos to one's own Mac? More specifically, does anyone have a sensible answer about how to do this with a USB cable, as per the way we all could do it from c1996-2014.

1. Because this only works for the Apple camera, not other photo apps.

2. because it is insecure (as previously stated)

3. Because it is unreliable (as previously stated)

4. Because it takes up disk space on ALL your devices (as previously stated)

5. Because it consumes enormous bandwidth (as previously stated)

I'm just reiterating this for you. I and others have made these points previously. It isn't working properly the way you suggest. Not sure how to make that clear.

Emailing or Airdropping to oneself involves selecting images individually as there is no select all feature. Also, Airdropped files are not filtered. It's the same issue. This is mind numbingly time consuming and tedious when selecting a lot of photos. The feature is only useful as an ad hoc service for a small number or single images, not as part of any regular workflow. We've come to expect technology, especially Apple technology to improve our lives and create ease. The above issues are due to a seemingly built in retrograde step of disallowing simple tethered transfer any more - for no good reason. However, we are asking this as practical question, not as a philosophical one on this post. I have provided the reasons why as a courtesy to you. Some are practical, some are privacy based. It is, I agree an interesting and complex issue. I also appreciate that method works for you, but it does not copy all of my photos when I do it that way (notwithstanding the security and privacy as well as bandwidth and disk space usage issues) - hence the need for 100% reliability of a cable. I personally don't want or need images on a cloud either (again irrespective of the concerns above and I personally find the whole forced loop utterly counter productive and 'aggressive' and ungenerous by Apple in it's implementation). Ever.

The original question still stands, unfortunately so.

The current result is a complete mess of photo organisation and transfer. Some are in the photo stream, some are not. Some are in the camera roll, some are not. I also have a couple of stragglers shared to the iCloud drive for export. Some are in the last or recent imports in iPhoto (and now Photos in an attempt to try that method, which also does not boring over filtered images), so I have photos in five places. All these sources need to be checked so as not to accidentally delete an image that is not in the other library/location. This all occurs because one cannot transfer simply and easily via a cable any more.

1, 2 and 3 work 100% of the time for me. Perfectly every time. I use iCloud Photos on a daily basis. Ones I don't want on my phone I export to another app and delete them. There is no security issue with iCloud, unless you create a stupid password. iCloud is encrypted using your identity, and can only be accessed by Apple under court order. Of course, if you routinely take photos that might get you in trouble with the law this isn't a solution. But most of us don't have that problem.

Apple - we use the photo filters on the phone at the time of taking the photo, not as photo editing software to be applied retroactively. If we wanted to use photo editing software to edit the photos, we would do so on the computer. We need the filters to be kept when the photos are transferred to the computer, or at least the option to do it.