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

Try this:

1. Connect your device (iPhone, iPad, or digital camera) to your computer using the USB connector and open the Photos for OS X app.
2. Select "Import" from the list of tabs at the top of the screen in the app.
3. Select the images you wish to add to the Photos app, or select "Import All New Items" to add everything from your device.

Imported images will automatically be added to the "Last Import" album in Photos. You can see your photos using a number of different views, including the main Photos tab, which displays all pictures that you have added to the app and any pictures that you have taken using an iOS device that is connected using My Photo Stream.

Just like the Photos app on iOS, pictures in Photos for OS X are organized by Moments, Collections, and Years. To navigate between these timelines, click on the arrow buttons in the upper right corner of the app while in the main Photos view, or select a different view from the tabs at the top of the app.

Cheers,

GB

Have you tried rebooting your Mac and resetting your device and then trying again?

Cheers,

GB

Hi,

I have the same problem. I am running Photos on Yosemite 10.10.4 and iPhone 7 iOS 7.1.2.

After I set up Yosemite on my Mac the Photos app wasn´t there I had to manually install it via the app store.

iTunes recognizes my iPhone but I can´t transfer my pictures. Photos does not recognize my iPhone.

How can I get my pictures of my iPhone?! Can somebody please help.

I have the same issue. This thread has not really provided any answers so far.

I also have this issue.  When I contacted support they said the only option was to pay for an increased iCloud storage package and use that to sync all my photos from my phone to iCloud before then downloading them back onto the Photos app.  Recent updates to iPhone software still hasn't helped .  My husband has the exact same model phone, and is using a separate user name on the same computer and doesn't have this issue.

I ran into the same issue. Make sure that there are no other users logged into the Mac at the same time then try again. This solved it for me.

I was having the same problem. What solved it for me was to close iTunes and Photos apps, and then reopen just the Photos app. I was then able to see my photos.

I quit both iTunes and Photos, then unplugged my phone and plugged it back in. Both iTunes and Photos launched and I just quit iTunes once I saw that Photos was recognizing my phone.

This is a common complaint regarding Photos around here lately.  Report you problem to Apple via https://www.apple.com/feedback/photos.html.

Try this temporary workaround posted by jdooley:

jdooley

Oct 23, 2015 1:36 PM

Re: Photos on Mac is not detecting and importing photos on iPhone

in response to jdooley

Solved

the solution that works for me is I plug in my iPhone to my iMac and then do a soft reset(restart) on the iPhone hold the home button and top right lock button uuntil you se the apple logo. After this the photos show up in iPhoto with the import/(delete after import) buttons highlighted in blue.

This worked for me as well.  To be more specific.  Shut down your iPhone.  Then do a soft reset(restart) on the iPhone by pressing the power button and holding it until the Apple logo appears, then release the and let it start normally.  Then enter your passcode to unlock your phone.  Photos should now see your iPhone.  Just click on your phone under Import and take it from there.

I think I can help with this thread. This has been a frustrating issue for me, since I feel the photos app hasn't been the easiest to work with since transitioning from iPhoto. I contacted Apple support to shed some light on this and the support member did say this is a common issue, but also seemed as if they have several causes for this issue, depending on the individual user. I made the call while i was at work, so the agent was only able to give me suggestions, as i was not in front of my iMac. He asked if i had a dropbox account. I wasn't sure, so when i returned to the iMac, I searched for that application, but i did not have a dropbox account. This lead me to believe that I might have possibly downloaded a program that allows access to my photos. I downloaded the amazon photo app a few months back ( this amazon photo app was downloaded after my last successful photo backup). I deleted the app from my iPhone and plugged in my iPhone, only for the dreaded "white screen" to appear in the "import" tab with no photos to preview. I followed the procedure listed from user "Old Toad" and "RobertF8" from this same thread. After performing the soft reset and unlocking my iPhone, the "no photos" message appeared on the Import tab. I disconnected my iPhone and reconnected it right away. This brought up the imports tab again, recognizing my iPhone and sure enough, all of my photos appeared on my preview list and the "Import all" was finally clickable. This has been an ongoing issue for me for several months, as it recognized I had about 5,134 photos to back up from my last back up.

I think this might vary from user to user, depending on any non apple photo app that allows access to your photos. I feel this was a lousy way to go through these steps, as apple does not have a solid fix to this issue yet. If you have dropbox, I suggest closing the app from your iMac as well. Good luck.

iPhoto is able to detect my iPhone after following the soft restart. Problem is it will hang at downloading. Even after waiting for an hour, no photo appears. So I can't proceed with the import. No sure if anyone experiencing this. This happened around the same time after I did an iOS update in December 15. Issues also occurred for my iTunes backup. Intermittently, it will say that my iPhone disconnected. This is extremely frustrating.

I am having the same issue after trying everything that's been mentioned on this thread.  Photos does not even open when my iPhone 6s plus is plugged in, and iTunes does  and operates/syncs normally. When I open photos manually, no import options exist. If I select import from the pull down menu, it brings up a finder window and no iPhone is mounted as an option to import from.