Photos says unlock iPhone when trying import in Photos and then No Photos show

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Level 1

27 points

Photos says unlock iPhone when trying import in Photos and then No Photos show

Why is it so difficult to connect two Apple products easily? iPhone 6 plugged into MacBook Pro running High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102) and Photos shows Unlock iPhone or blank screen or No Photos when there loads of photos on the iPhone. iPhone is unlocked and trusted. Tried unplugging, trusting umpteen times and rebooted Mac with same result. It does not work. Why? iCloud is not an option and not enabled. Is this the reason Apple's have made it impossible to transfer using usb? Phone does not show in iTunes either. Help please.

iPhone 6, iOS 11.2.6

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 8:12 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Mar 3, 2018 2:28 PM in response to storycase

Hi storycase,

I understand that you're trying to import photos from your iPhone to Photos on your Mac, but aren't having much luck. In this case, the fact that iTunes doesn't recognize your iPhone indicates that there is a failure in communication between the two. The steps outlined below should help get both iTunes to recognize your iPhone as well as getting the device to appear as expected in Photos.

If you use a Mac

Hold down the Option key, click the Apple menu, and choose System Information or System Report.

From the list on the left, select USB.

If you see your iPhone, iPad, or iPod under USB Device Tree, uninstall third-party security software. If not, contact Apple Support.

If iTunes doesn‘t recognize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod

Let us know if this helps.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

storycase Author

Level 1

27 points

Mar 4, 2018 5:42 AM in response to léonie

Thanks for suggestion, guess the Mac's use of My Photo Stream in Photos is controlled by iCloud settings which are not enabled

our Macs are used for photo editing from SLRs and would fill the iPhone's storage if I understand you correctly with MyPhoto Stream doing a two way sync.

All I need is a way to copy the jpg photo files from iPhone to Mac which was working before recent Apple OS security upgrades. Is it not possible to connect Apple products now? Many others seem to be having this problem.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Mar 4, 2018 2:40 AM in response to storycase

iCloud is not an option and not enabled.

Have you checked if iCloud Photo Library us still disabled on your iPhone? The iOS 11 upgrade may have enabled it on the device without you noticing it. Have a look at the Settings > Your Name > iCloud, if iCloud Photo Library is still off.

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Answer 4

storycase Author

Level 1

27 points

Mar 3, 2018 2:28 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Hi Alex - thanks for your suggestion, yes it shows up under usb 3 so tried disabling the only security software Avira (realtime and firewall no usb scanner) but still shows up with same issue. The iPhone was working with Photos back in October before updating to 10.13.2 and Avira was in use then so what's changed? It's odd that Photos shows the phone with correct name and triggers the Trust popup on the iPhone so they are communicating but something is blocking file transfer. Uninstalling Avira is a pain and needed for IT policy.

Had to use Airdrop as others have suggested to transfer photos - but it's slow and just stopped when trying to move 900 images.

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Answer 5

storycase Author

Level 1

27 points

Mar 4, 2018 2:40 AM in response to léonie

Hi léonie - thanks, so iCloud photo library is off. But iCloud > My Photo Stream is enabled (not done knowingly). When trying to switch off this threatens to delete all photos from phone! Not a great user experience.

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Mar 4, 2018 3:21 AM in response to storycase

If My Photo Stream is enabled on your iPhone and also in Photos on your Mac, the new photos may already have been transferred by My Photo Stream. This can prevent them from showing as new photos in Photos, when you connect the iPhone to a USB port.

If your Mac is not using My Photo Stream, consider to enable it and solely use My Photo Stream to transfer the photos. You could use My Photo Stream to circumvent the problem with the security software you are forced to keep installed.

The only drawback would be, that Photos you import on your Mac would also appear on your iPhone, because My Photo stream cannot be used only one-way with Photos.

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Mar 4, 2018 5:53 AM in response to storycase

Is it not possible to connect Apple products now? Many others seem to be having this problem.

It is working for me. I can still import new photos using a USB connection, if no cloud services are enabled on the iPhone X and 5s, iPad 3, iPod Touch. And I am not using any Firewall software on my Mac that could be blocking connections.

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Answer 8

storycase Author

Level 1

27 points

Apr 13, 2018 5:48 AM in response to storycase

Found the problem in my case was the original USB cable supplied with the iPhone was faulty. It still charged the phone but failed to transfer data. Posting in case others have the same issue. A hardware problem that software failed to recognise so sent down lots of rabbit holes!

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Answer 9

storycase Author

Level 1

27 points

Apr 13, 2018 7:16 AM in response to léonie

Random in that the iPhone showed up as a USB device and sometimes showed with phone name in Photos but never any photos to download. A different cable and the photos showed up as expected. Thank you for the suggestions léonie

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Answer 10

léonie

Level 10

197,327 points

Apr 13, 2018 7:00 AM in response to storycase

If it was the cable, you should have gotten random results and different kinds of corruption when downloading the photos repeatedly. Has that been the case?

I'm glad that you could solve the mystery!

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Photos says unlock iPhone when trying import in Photos and then No Photos show

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