Clicking on thumbnails in map doesn't open the photo

Often when I'm trying to open a photo in the Map view in Photos by clicking on a thumbnail, the photo doesn't open. I can see the drag pointer flash very quickly, which suggests that Photos is assuming I'm trying to drag the map instead of clicking on the thumbnail. However, this happens even when clicking normally, without moving the mouse or holding down the mouse button.


  • I cannot reproduce the issue reliably. Sometimes the photo opens as it should, sometimes not.
  • No other app has this issue, which suggests that it's not mouse-related, but rather app-related.
  • This is not a recent issue, because I remember having been dealing with this years ago.


Does anyone else experience this?


Is it a bug, and if so, how do I report it?


Please see the video capture.


https://youtu.be/kQX4xS1AwlY


Photos 10.0

Sequoia 15.3




MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 14, 2025 12:49 PM

Reply
1 reply

Feb 15, 2025 08:11 AM in response to Julius N

Weird-- mine works OK. Have you tried these things?

  • Restart the computer (of course)
  • Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 


Those are the easiest things to try first. Then try these:

  • Use another library if you have one, or make a small test Library with a few pictures in it and see if the same thing happens. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.
  • Make a new user and see if the same problem recurs with it
  • Rebuild your Photos Library--close Photos and re-launch by option-command-clicking the app icon.


The idea is to find out if the problem is with the Library, with your account, or with caches and login items, and stuff like that. One of these steps may fix the problem, but their failure to work also helps figure out what's happening.


Try these out and let us know what happens…

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Clicking on thumbnails in map doesn't open the photo

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