photos app not upgrading

Question

photos app not upgrading

I am using a used iMac that I purchased at from a secondhand store, and am having difficulties updating the Photos app. Currently, the iMac has Version 1.5 (370.42.0) installed. There is an update to Photos 9.6.1 that the app store is waiting to install. However, whenever I attempt to update Photos, the update fails with the following message: "Update Unavailable with This Apple ID, This update is not available for this Apple ID either because it was bought by a different user or the item was refunded or cancelled.". Right now, as Photos is currently configured, I do not have access to all of the photos on my iPhone 6. There are 943 photos and 4 videos that Photos on my mac is apparently unable to see. Everything else on the mac and the iPhone are up to date. Any assistance would be appreciated.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), iMac (20-inch, Early 2008)

Posted on May 25, 2016 2:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

May 25, 2016 3:43 PM in response to AntonyFromWatertown

Photos is part of the OS and is upgraded when you upgrade your OS - Photos 1.5 comes with OS X 10.11.5

iPhoto which you also mention requires version 9.6.1 for OX 10.11.5 - you can not upgrade t it but if it is in your purchases list you can reinstall

YOu need to clearly explain wha tyou have and what you want to accomplish

LN

Reply

Answer 2

May 25, 2016 7:07 PM in response to LarryHN

You are right. I was confused by the changeover from iPhoto to Photos. I have iPhoto 9.1 installed on my iMac. It crashes when I try to run it, saying that it needs to be upgraded. However, the upgrade in the app store to iPhoto 9.61 does not work. It crashes with the error message that I listed above. Also, again, Photos can not access many of the photographs that are on my phone, but that might be a separate problem.

Reply

Answer 3

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

May 25, 2016 9:28 PM in response to AntonyFromWatertown

for iPhoto see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

For Photos post more details of the issue as Photos does work well

LN

Reply

Answer 4

May 26, 2016 4:02 AM in response to LarryHN

I attempted to follow the instructions for updating iPhoto. However, I was unable to do so because iPhoto was not on the list of purchased apps for this computer. I did have it on my original 2007 iMac, which is now in storage. However, when I purchased this computer, I performed a clean install of snow leopard, updated and patched, installed El Capitan, then restored from a time machine backup. I did not install iPhoto before upgrading to El Capitan. I suppose I will have to redo that entire process, installing the iLife suite from the snow leopard disk, before upgrading, in order to get iPhoto to work properly.

As far as Photos goes, under the import bar, when I select my iPhone, currently nothing is displayed. This is in contrast to my old iPod touch, where Photos tells me that there are "No Photos" to import. Meanwhile, the Photos app on my iPhone tells me that I have 646 photos in my photo stream. Photos is unable to see any of them, and I don't know how to remove them from my phone. All of the photos on my phone are archived by the Photos app on my iMac. A majority of them were from before I purchased the phone, so I assume they were automatically imported from my Photos (or iPhoto) archives. My main concern is freeing up space on my phone.

Reply

Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

May 26, 2016 4:43 AM in response to AntonyFromWatertown

I did not install iPhoto before upgrading to El Capitan. I suppose I will have to redo that entire process, installing the iLife suite from the snow leopard disk, before upgrading, in order to get iPhoto to work properly.

That will not help any longer, because only iPhoto 9.6.1 is running on El Capitan, and all updates newer tha iPhoto 9.4.3 have only been released at the AppStore. You cannot update your iLife installer DVDs to the newest AppStore versions. It is too late for that. When Mavericks came out and iPhoto was turned into an App Store Only application, it was possible to convert the iLife licence into an App Store licence. This window of opportunity has been closed now after Apple stopped the development of iPhoto and is no longer selling it from the App Store.

You can update your iLife versions to iPhoto 9.4.3, but that will only run on OS X 10.8.5, not on newer OS X versions.

Reply

Answer 6

May 26, 2016 5:33 AM in response to léonie

Are you saying that, if I were to wipe my 2008 iMac, reinstall Snow Leopard, install iLife for Snow Leopard from DVD, then upgrade to El Capitan, and restore from Time Machine, the iPhoto app store workaround that LarryHN mentioned earlier still won't work?

Reply

Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,861 points

May 26, 2016 5:36 AM in response to AntonyFromWatertown

Yes. You will not be able to update an early iPhoto '11 version to iPhoto 9.6.1.

When Apple stopped the development of iPhoto it stopped the ability to update older versions. Now we can only reinstall from the AppStore. Reinstalling will install the latest version. But to be able to reinstall from the App Store iPhoto needs to be showing in our Purchases at the AppStore.

If one of your family members owns an App Store iPhoto versions, they could help you out and install iPhoto on your Mac. But otherwise you cannot get a compatible iPhoto version.

You can open your iPhoto libraries in Photos for Mac. See these links:

Reply