You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

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

Unable to Sync my iPhone 12 Pro Max photos with the Photos application in macOS Monterey

I'm nnable to Sync my iPhone 12 Pro Max photos with the Photos application in macOS Monterey.

This started happening some weeks ago. The photos app in the Mac detects automatically that the iPhone is connected. However, it show "forever" the message (translation from PT to EN: "Preparing to import from iPhone". And it stays like this, forever..

Can you please help?

Many thanks!

Guilherme.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Feb 7, 2022 1:19 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 8, 2022 1:05 PM

Welcome Gjncarvalho,


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Based on your post, you're having issues transferring photos from your iPhone to your Mac in the Photos app. We'll do our best to assist with this.


If you haven't yet, we'd quit the Photos app from the Photos menu > Quit Photos. Disconnect the cable from the iPhone and from the Mac. Then restart the Mac normally from the Apple menu > Restart. Once it boots back up, reconnect the iPhone to the cable and then connect the cable to the Mac. Try to transfer the photos again. If the issue persists, try another cable.


This walks through the steps to transfer photos from the iPhone to the Mac: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC


Should it persist, what happens if you try using Image Capture to import the photos to the Mac itself? Any errors or issues using Image Capture? (Note: If you take this path, you'll have to import these photos into the Photos app manually.)


Hoping to hear back, take care.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 8, 2022 1:05 PM in response to gjncarvalho

Welcome Gjncarvalho,


Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Based on your post, you're having issues transferring photos from your iPhone to your Mac in the Photos app. We'll do our best to assist with this.


If you haven't yet, we'd quit the Photos app from the Photos menu > Quit Photos. Disconnect the cable from the iPhone and from the Mac. Then restart the Mac normally from the Apple menu > Restart. Once it boots back up, reconnect the iPhone to the cable and then connect the cable to the Mac. Try to transfer the photos again. If the issue persists, try another cable.


This walks through the steps to transfer photos from the iPhone to the Mac: Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC


Should it persist, what happens if you try using Image Capture to import the photos to the Mac itself? Any errors or issues using Image Capture? (Note: If you take this path, you'll have to import these photos into the Photos app manually.)


Hoping to hear back, take care.

Feb 9, 2022 1:08 PM in response to destiny241

Hi, thanks for the instructions. I've follow up them exactly as you've described and it worked.

I can now transfer my iPhone photos to my Mac. Thanks for the support.

A curiosity, why just unpluging the cable at both sides together with the App closed and a restart solves the problem?

shouldn't this be considered as a "bug" to be solved in future App/OS releases?


Once again, many thanks.

Cheers,

Guilherme

Feb 10, 2022 6:50 AM in response to gjncarvalho

Hi Gjncarvalho,


It's hard to say what happened or why this has occurred. When in doubt, it's always a good idea to unplug accessories, restart the device, reconnect accessories and test it further. We wouldn't say it's a bug unless it continues to occur. In which case, further troubleshooting would be needed.


It sounds like these steps have resolved the issue, which is great news!


Have a lovely week, cheers.

Unable to Sync my iPhone 12 Pro Max photos with the Photos application in macOS Monterey

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.