Photos App on iMac Doesn't See Photos For Import on iPhone since iOS 26

iPhone 16 freshly upgraded to iOS 26, using Photos 8.0 (560.0.110) on 2019 iMac running 13.6.6 "Ventura". Not using iCloud in any way: this is a direct sync to Photos on iMac via USB cable.

I plug in my iPhone, and after the OS recognizes it, Photos says "No Photos" when in fact there are lots. Similar behavior using Image Capture: the iPhone is recognized but there are no photos listed for import.

When I Google this problem, there are LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of people throughout the years reporting the same problem. Very few posts yield a fix, and for the few that do it's never the same fix twice, and none of the scenarios apply to my specific use case.

I've rebooted the iMac and iPhone. I've tried other USB sync cables. I've tried booting to Safe Mode. Nothing has any impact on the problem. Any and all help appreciated.

iPhone 16, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 28, 2025 2:13 PM

Top-ranking reply

original_jeff Author

Level 1

40 points

Posted on Sep 28, 2025 2:44 PM

Some additional information...

I am able to reproduce this behavior using my wife's 2023 Mac Mini and her iPhone (same macOS, iOS, and Photos versions). This would seem to suggest it's yet another in a long list of bugs in Photos.

I may have found a quasi work-around. What seems to work for both of us is the following procedure. Start with iPhone unplugged and Photos not running.

1. Plug in iPhone.

2. Wait for macOS to recognize it (it appears in the sidebar of a Finder window)

3. Launch Photos

If you launch Photos first and then plug in the iPhone, it almost always says "No Photos". Also: most of the time, the first time through the procedure it will only cause about 50% of the new photos to be seen. If not all of your new photos are recognized, follow these additional steps.

4. Quit Photos

5. Eject iPhone from sidebar of Finder window

6. Unplug iPhone

7. Wait 3-5 seconds

8. Repeat steps 1-3 above

I've found on four separate occasions now that going through the procedure twice will cause all photos to eventually be recognized. Interestingly, the next time through (i.e., the third time) the procedure will return either "No Photos", or only a subnet of new photos. It seems that only after an even number of times through the procedure will you see all the new photos to sync.

If anyone has a better workaround--or better still, a FIX--please do share.

[Edited by Moderator]

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19 replies

Dec 5, 2025 2:22 PM in response to tritoniaexsulans

Genius! Thank you!

Dec 5, 2025 2:23 PM in response to tritoniaexsulans

2nd Genius ;-)

J_R_D

Level 1

70 points

Oct 30, 2025 5:39 AM in response to original_jeff

I have this same problem and I have just come off a call with Apple support. They are blaming it on my Mac software being old. I am running Ventura 13.7.8, and as such he said it isnt worth him raising this as an issue as it probably wont get fixed!!

HOWEVER, we did seem to come across a work around which has workd 100% since my call.... fingers crosed it continues to work.

I had notived that very occasionally the photos app worked and I could see the iphone pics, but 99.99999% of the time it deisplayed 'No Photos'.

While on the call with Apple support I was doing a screen share with them and I was contiunually unplugging and plugging in the phone to the iMac so they could see what was happening. And once or twice it did actually work.

we noticed that on the odd occasion when it worked, the Photos app was asking me to 'Unlock the iPhone' prior to 'Preparing to import'. On the occasions that it DIDNT work, we noticed the app just went straight to 'Preparing to Import' and then 'No Photos'.

So the work around is to ensure the iphone is LOCKED prior to plugging into the mac. Choose your iphone in the photos app device list, and then unlock the phone when it asks you to.

Be aware that if you gave 'Face ID' set on.. it is soooo easy for the phone to unlock too early in the process if you accidentally look at it :-). so ensure you dont look at it until photos app tells you to unlock.

This has worked 100% for me. I had the same problem on iPad too, and this works also.

Dec 19, 2025 1:05 AM in response to tritoniaexsulans

Okay, I was trying all these suggestions, and was having no luck, but after the last time, I quit photos with phone connected, and then restarted photos, and finally it showed the new photos so I could import them! I haven't been able to do that since the end of September! Thank you, fellow users. And Apple, don't be evil.

MacBook Pro 15-in 2016 running Monterey 12.7.6, I can't run any more recent OS on this machine.

Photos App on iMac Doesn't See Photos For Import on iPhone since iOS 26