Photos not syncing from iMac to iPhone

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Gulliver Author

Level 7

25,740 points

Photos not syncing from iMac to iPhone

Since almost 2 years I have massive problems syncing my photos from my iMac to my iPhone.

I get an error message that "393 Photos could not be synced and I should look into iTunes for details".

"iTunes"??? That was disbanded how many years ago????

Interesting enough, syncing works perfectly well with my iPad!

I moved from iPhone 14 Pro to 16 Pro a few months ago - problem persists,

I deleted all photos from iPhone, then re-synced - problem persists,

I upgraded to iOS 26.1 - problem persists.

What else can I do?

iMac 24″

Posted on Nov 15, 2025 8:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Gulliver Author

Level 7

25,740 points

Dec 5, 2025 4:43 AM in response to Gulliver

With the help from Apple Second-Level support the problem is solved now.

There obviously was a problem with the import of the photos. We exported all photos from that specific Album, deleted the old Album, set up a new album and re-imported all photos.

Problem solved. Thank YOU!

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Answer 2

Dec 4, 2025 6:46 AM in response to Gulliver

Does your iPad indicate the same number of pictures and videos as your Mac? as your iPhone?

Some pictures, particularly ones transferred by iTunes (!) aren't fully under the control of Photos. Those pictures can't be edited or deleted, for instance. Could the problem pictures also be un-deleteable?

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Answer 3

Dec 5, 2025 6:58 AM in response to Gulliver

Gulliver wrote: … There obviously was a problem with the import of the photos. We exported all photos from that specific Album, deleted the old Album, set up a new album and re-imported all photos.

Did you export/import the edited pictures, or the un-modified originals? Did you do this on the Mac or on the phone? So was the problem with pictures on the Mac or with pictures on the phone?

If it was the Mac, did you try re-building the Library first, and that didn't work?

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