JossieJo
Level 1 (8 points)
Photos for Mac

Q: Getting my photo library up to date on my phone and computer without itunes

       I'm trying to find the best way to have a tidy photo library on my computer and on my iPhone without using iCloud photo library. Since I expect to have more and more pictures with time, the ideal solution would enable me to have only a selection of the best photos on my phone.

 

     I understand that i should sort, delete and edit my pictures on my iPhone only before i import them to my mac, otherwise only on my iPhone, Am I right ?

 

     What i think i should do is  :

1) Import photos to my mac using photos and tick the "Delete imported photos" box

2) Synch some of them back to the iPhone using itunes (for instance the "Favourited" ones)

 

    It seems weird that i have to delete them all from my iPhone first, before putting (some of) them back. Is this the right solution ?

   But what will happen if I don't delete them upon importing ? Will I have duplicates : the original iPhone ones + the "synched through itunes ones" ?

 

     What's more, If I happen to think my iPhone before importing some pictures from iPhone to mac, will those last/not imported yet pictures be deleted ?

 

Thank you very much for your help,

 

Joss

Posted on Aug 23, 2016 3:07 AM

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JossieJo

Q: Getting my photo library up to date on my phone and computer without itunes

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 23, 2016 4:13 PM in response to JossieJo
    Level 10 (105,312 points)
    iLife
    Aug 23, 2016 4:13 PM in response to JossieJo

    The photos the photos you are taking with your iPhone are in the camera roll album. you can edit the, share them, etc.

    Photos you sync to your iPhone using iTunes are kept separately. You cannot edit them, unless you save a copy to the camera roll.  And you cannot import iTunes synced photos back to the mac easily. Also, it is not possibe to delete synced photos directly on the iPhone. You can only delete them by syncing again and omitting the photos you do not want on the iPhone.

     

    How you handle the photos on your iPhone best will depend on the amount of free storage on the iPhone. If you do not have much storage and and do not want to edit the photos on the iPhone, and just want to view your favorites there,  import them to Photos on your mac, check, if the import went well, then delete them from the iPhone and sync them back with iTunes.

    If storage on your iPhone is not an issue, delete photos from the iPhone whenever you need to free storage after saving them to the Mac.

     

    1) Import photos to my mac using photos and tick the "Delete imported photos" box

    The "Delete after Import" is risky. Avoid it. The problem is, if Photos crashes during the import for whatever reason, your photos may be lost. They will have been removed from the iPhone, but not appear in your Photos library. Or if some photos did not transfer correctly, you cannot repeat the import. I would wait until you checked the imported photos and made the first backup of your library, before deleting the imported photos from the iPhone or the card.