My iPhone 14 is connected via USB cable to my 2017 iMac running Ventura; it appears in my Finder sidebar but not my photos sidebar.

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Level 1

9 points

My iPhone 14 is connected via USB cable to my 2017 iMac running Ventura; it appears in my Finder sidebar but not my photos sidebar.

Pretty much what it says on the tin. When I connect my phone to my Mac via a USB cable, the phone shows up as a location in the finder (JT14):

But not in the Photos app sidebar:

In the past as soon as I plugged in the phone with the Photos app open, it automatically went to the import screen. I haven't imported my photos in a while, but when I went to do so tonight, I ran into this problem.

Any suggestions?

[Edited by Moderator]

iMac 27″ 5K

Posted on Jul 8, 2025 10:12 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 9, 2025 6:53 AM in response to JeremyTrabue

I would try the following:

On the Mac, 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

Do a forced restart on the iPhone

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

This is different from a simple Power Off. I had to continue holding the button down past the "slide to power off" message, and then I released the button only after the Apple Logo appeared indicating a re-start.

If that fails, I would try using the Apple app Image Capture-- that often works when Finder doesn't.

Let us know how it goes…

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

214,386 points

Jul 9, 2025 9:56 AM in response to JeremyTrabue

What system and Photos versions are you running?

In Sequoia it under the Devices section in the library's sidebar:

It should be the same since Ventura.

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