Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: MadameDeLaGrandeBouche
MadameDeLaGrandeBouche Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

Some photos do not transfer from iPhone to MacBook

A seemingly random portion of the images stored in the "Photos" app on my iPhone will not transfer to the "Photos" application on my MacBook. When I plug my phone into my computer, Photos asks if I would like to import the new images from my phone, but it seemingly disregards months worth of images that are also new and do not already exist in the "Photos" section of my computer.


Could this have something to do with the age of the photos? e.g. that they are newer than the last time I transferred all of my photos from my phone to my computer but older than an arbitrary date (say the past 30 days)? If so, is there a way to do a forced backup of the entire Photos app on my phone to the Photos application on my MacBook?


Thanks for the help!

Posted on May 5, 2017 8:57 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
194,561 points

Posted on May 6, 2017 11:23 AM

On the phone, iCloud Drive is off but iCloud Photo Library is on.

Does your iPhone also use the Setting "Optimize iPhone Storage" for iCloud Photo Library? Then you will see many photos on your iPhone, that cannot be transferred using a USB connection, because they have been optimized - only a smaller preview for browsing is stored on the iPhone and will be downloaded, if you are viewing it enlarged or want to edit or share it. Optimized photos cannot be downloaded by USB to a computer. You would have to browse the photos enlarge to force the download to the iPhone, to be able to transfer them.


My Photo Stream will transfer the new photos from your iPhone to the Mac, but only the most recent 1000 photos, not older photos.

You can download photos from iCloud Photo Library by going to the web interface at www.icloud.com. Open the Photos.app there, select the missing photos by holding down the command key and tapping each photo you want to download, then use the download button. It will be a lot of work, if many photos need downloading.


Or enable iCloud Photo Library on your Mac as well. If you only want to download the photos from your iPhone, but not not upload all photos from your Mac to iCloud, create a new, empty library and make it your iCloud Library on your Mac. All photos from the iPhone will then download to this new library, and you can export them and import to your main library.

View in context
5 replies
Question marked as Best reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
194,561 points

May 6, 2017 11:23 AM in response to MadameDeLaGrandeBouche

On the phone, iCloud Drive is off but iCloud Photo Library is on.

Does your iPhone also use the Setting "Optimize iPhone Storage" for iCloud Photo Library? Then you will see many photos on your iPhone, that cannot be transferred using a USB connection, because they have been optimized - only a smaller preview for browsing is stored on the iPhone and will be downloaded, if you are viewing it enlarged or want to edit or share it. Optimized photos cannot be downloaded by USB to a computer. You would have to browse the photos enlarge to force the download to the iPhone, to be able to transfer them.


My Photo Stream will transfer the new photos from your iPhone to the Mac, but only the most recent 1000 photos, not older photos.

You can download photos from iCloud Photo Library by going to the web interface at www.icloud.com. Open the Photos.app there, select the missing photos by holding down the command key and tapping each photo you want to download, then use the download button. It will be a lot of work, if many photos need downloading.


Or enable iCloud Photo Library on your Mac as well. If you only want to download the photos from your iPhone, but not not upload all photos from your Mac to iCloud, create a new, empty library and make it your iCloud Library on your Mac. All photos from the iPhone will then download to this new library, and you can export them and import to your main library.

Reply
User profile for user: MadameDeLaGrandeBouche
MadameDeLaGrandeBouche Author
User level: Level 1
16 points

May 5, 2017 9:46 PM in response to LarryHN

My MacBook runs Sierra 10.12.4. I'm updating my iPhone to iOS 10.3.1 at the moment. On the computer, iCloud Drive is off but My Photo Stream is on. On the phone, iCloud Drive is off but iCloud Photo Library is on.


Is that helpful? Could (part or all of) the problem be that I have "My Photo Stream" turned on on my computer but not my phone and "iCloud Photo Library" turned on on my phone but not my computer?

Reply
User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
194,561 points

May 6, 2017 11:44 AM in response to MadameDeLaGrandeBouche

You're welcome 🙂


once I turned that off and viewed all of the pictures full-size on my phone, they showed up as being available on the Photos program on my computer when I plugged my phone into it.

Just be careful and watch the available storage on your iPhone. Without "Optimize" you may have more photos than will fit onto your iPhone.

Reply

Some photos do not transfer from iPhone to MacBook

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.
Learn more Sign up