Photos forgot its already imported photos and keeps wanting to re-import a duplicate from iPhone.

My Photo Stream is described here:

• https://support.apple.com/kb/PH13692?locale=en_US
• https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203511

Basically it will stream all new photos you take on a device or import to a device to iCloud and then to your other synced devices. It is free and does not count against your iCloud storage.

This has just begun happening to me, too. Same exact situation. Photos had long recognized these photos as being imported, and now does not recognize them as imported at all. Suggesting that I sync through iCloud is not helpful as I am not paying to store all of my photos on iCloud. I bought a(n apple!) laptop with sufficient storage specifically to be able to store them locally and not in the cloud. I want to be able to connect my phone to my computer and sync my photos without having to either sync hundreds to thousands of duplicates every time (because every time I connect Photos thinks they are new again!) or having to try to scroll through all of the photos to find where the genuinely new photos begin and manually select those to be imported only.

Also, I would like a way to have photos eliminate the many duplicates it has now created for me in my Photos library the last handful of times that I have tried to sync!

"New" should mean new. Every photo is unique and the Photos app should be able to tell them apart quickly if there is an index of the photos.

When photos is testing for "new" it is comparing the file metadata, not the photo, to avoid duplicates. if a file needs to be converted or downsized, the converted copy will appear as a new file. If you sync a file from the iPhone to the iPad and then import to Mac, the file on the iPad may appear as a new file, because my Photo Stream may be downsizing the the photos:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201317

What resolution are My Photo Stream photos?

On a Mac or PC, your photos are downloaded and stored in full resolution. On iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV, your photos are delivered in a device-optimized resolution that speeds downloads and saves storage space.

Dimensions vary, but an optimized version of a photo taken by a standard point-and-shoot camera will have a 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution when pushed to your devices. Panoramic photos can be up to 5400 pixels wide.

This has just started happening to me, too.

My iPhone 7 had frozen (the touchscreen had become unresponsive, and though Siri opened it could not open other programs). The iPhone would also not turn off holding only the lock button.

After a soft restart I connected to my MBP to upload photos and backup, but after opening Photos it had over a thousand photos it wanted to import - there were actually about 40 'new' ones.

Am considering a restor from a backup of a couple of weeks ago - but don't now want to back up my phone in its current state if this is going to be a problem.

Any info would be gratefully received.

Did you use filters like Chrome or Instant in for the photos on your iPhone? The iOS 11 update replaced the set of filters by new filters and the old filters are no longer available. To save the filter effect, the iPhone creates new photos from the originals where you applied the old filters to save these older effects. If you previously used filters, some of your older photos will suddenly be new photos.

Hi Léonie,

It’s actually every photo from the end of September onwards, though not those which I manually imported when I discovered the issue.

I don’t use filters on my Photos or Camera apps generally.

I have had the same issue for quite some time. It has nothing to do with iOS 11 update. As was mentioned by some above, there is no longer the option to “delete after import”. This is very tedious. I have imported “new” photos (even though they are already imported) just to try to discover the issue. No solution found. Please Apple, come up with a fix in Photos link between the iPhone Photos app and Mac Photos app.

This is happening to me too. I am using Photostream to sync photos (not iCloud Photos Library), and as of a couple of weeks ago, all of my photos are showing up as not imported even though they are already in my Photos library. It is REALLY frustrating. Apple, please fix this!

I have this problem too. It has been happening since at least 2013 and happens on both my macbook Pro and now on my new iMac. I wonder about the algorithm, how does it determine if a photo is "new". It doesn't seem to be using information in the Apple Photos app. I would have thought the app would maintain an index of its photos and then check the index to preclude listing a photo as new if it would result in importing a duplicate. One thing I realized tonight on my new iMac was that I had imported today's photos first from my iPad. Later when I connected my iPhone to the iMac the photo app listed the same photos as new. To me that doesn't make sense. "New" should mean new. Every photo is unique and the Photos app should be able to tell them apart quickly if there is an index of the photos.

I should add that I use iCloud for my photos on my iPad and my iPhone, so pictures I take on my iPad are then available on my iPhone via iCloud and vice versa, but I don't use iCloud for my iMac. I do it that way purposely because I use my iMac to backup my iPad and iPhone and I use Time Machine on my iMac to back it up to an external drive. At this point in time I still want my own backUps. I'm not ready to rely just on the iCloud. I don't think Apple currently advises that either, though I am not sure what the Apple recommendation is. My current method seems safe and I have already used my Time Machine backup once to recover, so I feel comfortable with this method.

Léonie, thank you so much for your quick reply. Are you with Apple? There must be a solution to this. I cannot imagine that Apple cannot find a solution to this. This is certainly an issue that should and can be resolved.

No, I'm not with Apple, Eddie. This is a user-to-user forum. You may want to use feedback form to send a bug report to Apple.

right now, you have two options:

- use solely iCloud Photo Library to sync your photos between devices

- or use only My photo stream

- or only import by USB, but do not mix the import strategies.

as long as you are using only one method, you should not get any duplicates. But if you mix iCloud syncing with USB import, use it only as an emergency methods, if you could not connect to the Internet for a long time, and import selectively only photos that you recognize as new.

Okay Léonie, thank you for your help. I am familiar with iCloud and import by usb, but I have never used photo stream. I am currently not familiar with it. I will look into photo stream to at least become familiar with it.

Has anyone got this sorted yet. Chats to Apple have been a complete waste of time I just get responses like the OP did at the top of this thread. Its driving me crazy. I just wanted to import some pics I took this morning and its imported nearly 3000 pictures AGAIN. I have thousands of duplicated photos on my MacBook now its getting completely untenable. Also any one know how to get past the chat option an get a genius bar appt.

. it’s taking up time and data space in my MacBook! After so long still no fix from Apple!

For the time being, import only manually selected photos that you know are new.

And check, if you have accidentally enabled any cloud service to sync photos. If you are using iCloud Photo Library or my Photo Stream on your iPhone, you must not import photos any longer using a USB connection. Stick with one method of import.