Cannot synchronize photos with iPhone (not using iCloud)

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Level 1

8 points

Cannot synchronize photos with iPhone (not using iCloud)

I have an iPhone 7 with the latest iOS (updated today), and Mac OS also updated today (High Sierra 10.13.3)

The story is, I believe, usual: A phone always originally setup from the previous phone (install form backup), same for the Mac.

Since some months, impossible to sychronize my photos. I don't want to use iCloud, I want to synchronize with the Photos application.

I suspect this has something to do with some kind of conflicts since the migration form iPhoto to Photos (can't remember if it was during the Sierra migration), because the photos on my phone are the one that are in iPhotos. I tried a hundred things found on this site or elsewhere with no succes. For example, I tried to uncheck "synchronize photos", to recheck, to change the System Photo Library in Photos, etc. etc.

Any idea will be very greatly appreciated

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 11.2.6, null

Posted on Mar 17, 2018 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

MoonJ.

Community Specialist

Mar 18, 2018 9:34 AM in response to ThibArg

Hey ThibArg,

I understand your photos aren't importing to your Mac the way they used to. I want to get your photos safe and stored on your Mac again.

First, let's review these steps here to transfer photos to your Mac:

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Specifically, let's look at the steps for Mac:

Import to your Mac

You can use the Photos app to import photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac without using iCloud Photo Library. These steps also work for importing images from digital cameras and SD cards.

Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes on your Mac. Importing photos to your Mac requires iTunes 12.5.1 or later.

Connect your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or digital camera to your Mac with a USB cable. If you're using an SD card, insert it into the SD slot on your Mac, or connect it using a card reader.

You might need to unlock your iOS device using your passcode. You might also see a prompt on the iOS device asking you to Trust This Computer. Tap Trust to continue.

On your Mac, the Photos app automatically opens. If it doesn't, open the Photos app.

The Photos app shows an Import screen with all the photos and videos that are on your connected device. If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the Import tab at the top of the Photos app, or click the device's name in the Photos sidebar.

To import a selection of photos, click the ones you want, then click Import Selected. To import all new photos, click Import All New Photos.

You can now disconnect your device from your Mac. If you imported photos from an SD card or other USB device, safely eject the device first.

In macOS High Sierra or later, imported photos appear in the Photos app's Import album. If you're using an earlier version of macOS, you'll find them in your Last Import album.

Photos and videos that you sync from your computer to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using iTunes can't be imported back to your computer.

Learn what to do if you can't import photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your computer.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

ThibArg Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 18, 2018 9:58 AM in response to MoonJ.

H, and thanks for the quick response,

But unfortunately this does not work. I did try it. Moving my photos from the iPhone to the Photos app aloways worked. What does not work is the reverse: I organize the photos in albums, tag them, add to "people", etc. etc.

The photos are in the Photos app. But when I synchronize with iTunes, I can see it says it synchronize but it does not: In th ePhotos app of the phone, I have the albums but they are all empty.

And yesterday I had an idea: Looking at the old iPhoto app. And I believe this is the problem: The photos I have on my phone are clearly the ones stored in iPhoto, not in Photos. Like iTunes/Photos/iPhone/Mac OS, who ever the guilty is ;-) has a problem and can't sync. with Photos, it is "locked" with the old iPhoto.

As this problem was lasting since too long (I _want_ my photos on my Phont), I decided to go bck to factory settings on my phone. This is a big pain as you probably know since once done, you have to spend hours re-entering all your account logins/pwd, it breaks the 2 factor authentication with Google Authenticator, etc. etc.

But, ultimately, it worked. I now have on my phone the photos from the Photos app, not the one form iPhotos.

So, I believe there is a bug there. I suspect it's not an easy one to reproduce and fix. But it is a very very frustrating one for the consumer, for sure.

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Cannot synchronize photos with iPhone (not using iCloud)

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