Photos app doesn't recognize my iphone when plugged in. how can i fix this problem?

Gail from maine obviously didn't actually read the original post. The OP had already tried her suggestion. The problem is that YOU CAN'T SELECT "IMPORT" WHEN YOU CONNECT YOUR DEVICE BECAUSE PHOTOS DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE ANY PICTURES TO IMPORT!

This is my experience with Photos, iPhoto, & Image Capture.

Thanks for playing though!

What finally worked for me is stupidly simple: I turned the lightning plug around 180˚. Just try flipping around the plug that enters the iPhone. Suddenly—go figure—all my pix appeared in the app on my laptop!

YMMV.

Here is the solution that worked for me. Like you my iPhone would not even appear in the Photos App :

1. I backed up my iPhone in iTunes, then archived the backup (iTunes > Preferences > Devices ..)
2. I Quit iTunes
3. I went to the System Preferences > iCloud > Options > and turned all the various iCloud settings for Photos off
4. I went to the System Preferences > iCloud > and turned the iCloud support for Photos off
5. I went to the Library folder in Finder and located the nsurlsessiond folder via search
6. I copied the folder to a backup folder, just in case
7. I deleted the nsurlsessiond folder
8. Optional: restart OSX (I didn't do this, but the instructions I followed recommended this)
9. I opened Photos App on my Mac
10. YAY - my iPhone now appears

It is based on a solution for an issue with iBooks - which also fixed my Photo App issues at the same time. The original post which I adapted this solution from is here: ios - Epubs from iBooks not showing up in iTunes on Mac OS X Sierra - Ask Different

Apple updates and changes their security settings from time to time, for connecting your devices to your laptop/PC or Mac via iTunes. Sometimes, there may be a pop-up on your device to "trust computer" and you have to select "Yes" in order for your device to be properly connected via the Lightning connector cable to your computer.

Elsewhere, someone suggested "re-setting" the phone and this allows iTunes on your computer to treat it as a new device. You have to remember to click "yes" to the "trust this computer" prompt.

Another method, depending on the iOS version you run on your device, is that I had to remember to pull down the menu on Photos to "import" and then unlock the iPhone, and it worked; this may be a different problem than what you posted of course.

This is what worked for me... soft restarts, restarts of phone, reseting privacy on phone--> none of that worked. Logged out of the other open act on the mac and bingo iPhone is recognized.

The quick pull out the USB, plug it back in did the trick, and for the first time it asked me to press something on my phone to make my phone a "trusted device" - I didn't actually end up pressing the so called option (I couldn't find it to press it!), but it just started working. Jiggery pokery!

Had the same problem and found that I was trying to connect my iPhone to a USB hub on my iMac using an after market cable that had a micro USB connector on the iPhone end that was needed to fit the micro USB connector in my mophie" brand iPhone case. When I connected my iPhone to the USB hub on my mac using a standard USB cable into the hub with a lightning connector directly into the iPhone, everything worked fine.

Thanks RobertF8! This worked for me with just a couple other steps: Photos still didn't "see" my phone, so after the above, I unplugged it and plugged it back in one more time. Nothing new happened, but when I went to the View menu and choose Import, there it was. This is the window that used to open automatically whenever I connected my phone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I found it from the View menu and went to it before trying this soft reset, but it was blank and I couldn't do anything.

5c 10.2.1/Sierra 10.12.3

zenomax wrote:

Gail from maine obviously didn't actually read the original post. The OP had already tried her suggestion. The problem is that YOU CAN'T SELECT "IMPORT" WHEN YOU CONNECT YOUR DEVICE BECAUSE PHOTOS DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE ANY PICTURES TO IMPORT!

This is my experience with Photos, iPhoto, & Image Capture.

Thanks for playing though!

What finally worked for me is stupidly simple: I turned the lightning plug around 180˚. Just try flipping around the plug that enters the iPhone. Suddenly—go figure—all my pix appeared in the app on my laptop!

YMMV.

You obviously didn't read the original post. The OP was posting about an issue where Photos was not automatically opening when they plugged their device in. My recommendation was to manually open Photos, then import. The particular post that you are commenting on was a first recommendation that I provided for the OP as well.

Also, that was written two years ago, and things have changed in the Photos app, so you are not really in a position from this vantage point to determine if the instructions I provided to the OP were correct or not at the time.

But thank you for playing....

GB

Thank you so much for your effort in replying in such detail - this is exactly why I have a love/hate relationship with Apple in stead of a love/love! Unfortunately this did not work for me. I am having the complaint at the moment with my iPad - not iPhone - I have an old one with LITTLE memory & am trying to upload photos to get them out of my memory! EEK!~

iSaffi

I get the message "This Mac has not yet been granted access to media on “____’s iPhone”. In order to import media to this Mac, tap “Trust” on “____’s iPhone”. You may need to unlock the device first"

Since my iPhone does not display a "trust" prompt (it works great with iTunes) the handy dandy prompt from Photos is totally useless.

Ever since OS X arrived every upgrade has trashed something. I really hate these guys.

Do you have another application that accesses your iPhone from your computer such as DropBox? That's what was causing my issue. Once I disabled DropBox from syncing photos on my iPhone I was able to see my phone in the photos app. Hope this helps!

Unfortunately it is hard to fix problems form people who give no details and just want to post invalid RANTS when the almost universal cause is simply user error from bad cables to incorrect settings - for people willing to read and correct their errors it is solvable - for RANTers it is not worth even trying to help

LN

Problem fixed for me! Bad USB connection.

I was running an iMac Retina 5K el Capitan, and connecting with an iPhone 5 / ios 11.01 via a new USB cable and a brand new atolla 3.0 USB hub. Nothing I tried could make the iPhone appear in the Photos app, or give an "import" option. My "photo stream" photos would eventually appear, but not my videos (which were larger). My only workaround was to email/message them to myself, or try to save them to dropbox on my iphone - which also failed for the larger videos.

When I tried a brand new USB cord, and plugged it directly into the iMac - the iPhone appeared in the Photos app! replicated the problem both ways. At least I know what works for me now. Good luck!

I know it's been two years since you asked this question, but I believe it will be good for anyone else who has this issue for future reference. I plugged my phone into my laptop, opened the Photos App and clicked on view on the top search menu. I then clicked import and it gave me the options to import new photos from my laptop to my phone.

i had the same problem but i finally found a solution that worked!!! on your iphone, go to settings > general > reset > then click reset location and privacy settings. this will reset all connectiions your phone had with your computer and will re connect! hope this helps other people