Photos 'preparing to import from iPhone' message....

[mdwsta4]

Got back from a isolated road trip and plugged my iPhone 12 Pro into my M1 Mac mini to dump the photos I took into Photos. When I plug my phone in, photos simply says 'preparing to import from my iPhone'. I've seen this before for maybe a second or two, but now it's stuck on this message. I've restarted both devices, tried numerous cables and ports, and the issue still persists. I've let it sit for an hour and the message doesn't change.

What is going on and how can I fix it? Had zero issues with offloading photos the day before I left. No changes were made to either device from when I left to when I returned that would explain why I'm now running into this problem. Any help?

 

[illadee]

Same here...

m1 mbp
ip12 mini

no photo sync..

no even the "photostream" is not working anymore (tried restarts, and deactivate/activate on both devices)


Its such a joke, what is apple doing? i always think what these thing costs, but this must be a joke, so frustrated..

 

[mdwsta4]

Glad I'm not the only one with the issue. Can't believe more people aren't having a problem.

I have been able to sync once by deleting photos I took and did not edit in Snapseed (which I do with nearly every single photo I take). My only thought at that time was that the Photos app on my Mac was having a problem reading the HEIC files (Snapseed exports as JPEG), which of course makes zero sense since HEIC is Apple's push for image type.

Of course, I've since tried to sync my phone with only JPEG, not HEIC images and it won't connect again so I can reproduce what caused my phone to sync/not sync

 

[mdwsta4]

Bumping this up in hopes that SOMEONE else has this problem and knows of a solution. Is it an M1 issue? ios14? Something else?

 

[emmone]

I had the same issue. Brand new Mac mini M1 2021. When I connected my iPhone, the import screen hung indefinitely on "Preparing to import from X's iPhone". I tried this a couple of times, leaving it for hours in case it just needed time. Eventually I checked the phone and noticed it was asking me to trust the computer. Once I entered my passcode to trust the computer, Photos continued to the next screen showing thumbnails, etc.

I forgot about the trust-computer step, which isn't new. I just rarely plug my phone into my computer and haven't had a new computer in years, so it didn't occur to me to check the phone for this problem. Hope this helps someone.

 

[mdwsta4]

I had the same issue. Brand new Mac mini M1 2021. When I connected my iPhone, the import screen hung indefinitely on "Preparing to import from X's iPhone". I tried this a couple of times, leaving it for hours in case it just needed time. Eventually I checked the phone and noticed it was asking me to trust the computer. Once I entered my passcode to trust the computer, Photos continued to the next screen showing thumbnails, etc.

I forgot about the trust-computer step, which isn't new. I just rarely plug my phone into my computer and haven't had a new computer in years, so it didn't occur to me to check the phone for this problem. Hope this helps someone.

Unfortunately, my iPhone 12 Pro is already trusted to my computer. Double checked to ensure the device is showing present under system preferences and that my computer is authorized. Both were already done

 

[AMessy]

I just encountered this exact issue today, and stumbled upon this post in looking for a fix. I plug my iPhone 12 Pro Max into my M1 Mbp every few days to upload photos to my Photos library. Same issue with the hung “preparing to import” screen. Been messing around but no solutions yet.
Luckily I was able to use iMazing to export the photos so I have a backup in case something were to happen to my iPhone.

 

[AMessy]

For what it's worth, after updating my phone to iOS 14.4 this evening the Mac OS Photos app was able to import all my new photos instantly after connecting my phone to my Mac this evening. So it worked just as expected, and had been previously.

No clue if it was from the iOS update, or just a fluke. I had tried it numerous times since my initial post to this thread on Sunday.

Hopefully it's working for everyone else experiencing the issue. It was frustrating.

 

[mdwsta4]

For what it's worth, after updating my phone to iOS 14.4 this evening the Mac OS Photos app was able to import all my new photos instantly after connecting my phone to my Mac this evening.

Was hopeful that might be the case, and I too updated to iOS 14.4 and my M1 Mac Mini to 11.2, restarted both devices, but same result. Couldn't import photos through either the Photos app or the Image Capture app. Only way to get them onto my computer from my phone is to use air drop. The phone otherwise syncs as it should

 

[AMessy]

Was hopeful that might be the case, and I too updated to iOS 14.4 and my M1 Mac Mini to 11.2, restarted both devices, but same result. Couldn't import photos through either the Photos app or the Image Capture app. Only way to get them onto my computer from my phone is to use air drop. The phone otherwise syncs as it should

So after working as expected twice, the problem has resurfaced. Been stuck on "Preparing to Import" for hours now. Tried the usual combinations of reconnecting, restarting, etc. to no avail.

 

[MacbookM1&12Pro]

Glad I’m not alone. I have MacBook Pro M1 and iPhone 12 Pro. Running Big Sur 11.2 and iPhone 14.4 iOS. This is unacceptable. Any definitive fix? Apples dropped the ball on this one.

 

[mikeiow]

Get exactly the same with my older Catalina & iPhone 8.
Apple and photo movement drives me up the wall.
I want to manage my own photos - a folder per year, subfolders for activities or months. Apple make it difficult, and now I find I have a whole load on my phone that I cannot seem to get at.
Infuriating.
& about ready to look closer at alternatives.
*sigh*

 

[HDFan]

I have a whole load on my phone that I cannot seem to get at.

Have you tried downloading them to disk with Image Capture? You should then be able to import them into Photos from your disk.

 

[AMessy]

So this is definitely in the "bug" category. I tired to import from my phone, got the "preparing to import" screen for like 30 minutes. Came back, closed Photos on my Mac, restarted just for fun, then opened the Photos app and it instantly brought up all the iPhone photos and allowed me to import as expected.

There is no pattern I can find, because I've definitely tried that sequence of events before without any luck.

So my issue is definitely intermittent as I've been able to import a few times since I first experienced the issue.

 

[mdwsta4]

So I was able to import photos a few times by putting my phone into airplane mode, then plugging it into my computer. It doesn't work every time, but it's the only pattern I've found that has worked on more than two occasions. I'd be curious if this works for anyone else with the problem

 

[mrmiagi]

So I was able to import photos a few times by putting my phone into airplane mode, then plugging it into my computer. It doesn't work every time, but it's the only pattern I've found that has worked on more than two occasions. I'd be curious if this works for anyone else with the problem

I believe you have found the answer!!! I was having zero luck getting my Photos app on my M1 MacBook Pro and my iPhone 12 Pro Max to work together. Either it was the "unlock iPhone" message or the "preparing to import" message but nothing happened. As soon as I put my phone into airplane mode (as you suggested), everything immediately began to work properly. As soon as I took the phone out of airplane mode, it went back to the same old problem.

This is the fix for now. Thank you!

 

[mdwsta4]

Glad it worked for someone else. I'd be curious to know if it works for you every time. For me it doesn't, but it works *most* of the time

 

[mbpiphoneipaduser]

Airplane mode worked for me. I got all of the same errors as the original poster, rebooted, updated, etc. Then airplane mode solved issue in 30 seconds. Thanks.

 

[Laneylad]

Hi, I'm having this same issue, it happened on my iPhoneX and now it is happening again on my iPhone 12 Pro Max.
I have tried the reboot, updated and airplane mode.. nothing has worked.
I know I have been having this issue for over a year and in that time I think the phone has connected to my MBA 2 out of about 1000 attempts, on those times I managed to get some of the photos off but Photos also errored on the import once so now I am stuck with 26,000 photos which I need to get off my phone.
I hoped an M1 Mini would be the solution but that has not managed to connect to photos once so far... I'm very disappointed and really want a fix... please help if you another way to get this fixed!

 

[harriska2]

*sigh* Apple. They probably don’t have it as a priority to fix because they want you to use icloud.

 

[Laneylad]

It's always the way but after I write and complain about it... I manage to find the solution. On the iPhone, go to Settings -> Photos, at the bottom of the options there is a section called "Transfer to Mac or PC", it defaults to Automatic, I changed it Keep Originals and then only had to wait for about 5 mins on the preparing to import screen before all the 27,000 photos appeared.
I believe that the checking of all the photos for compatibility was slowing the process soo much it just seemed unresponsive. I think Apple should really change this default or disable automatic once you are above a certain number of photos!

 

[AndreRoberge]

An example of this scenario and the suggestion from Laneylad is described in more detail on How can I troubleshoot or fix when macOS Photos app import from a connected iPhone gets stuck on “Preparing to import from…”?

 

[mdwsta4]

It's always the way but after I write and complain about it... I manage to find the solution. On the iPhone, go to Settings -> Photos, at the bottom of the options there is a section called "Transfer to Mac or PC", it defaults to Automatic, I changed it Keep Originals and then only had to wait for about 5 mins on the preparing to import screen before all the 27,000 photos appeared.
I believe that the checking of all the photos for compatibility was slowing the process soo much it just seemed unresponsive. I think Apple should really change this default or disable automatic once you are above a certain number of photos!

An example of this scenario and the suggestion from Laneylad is described in more detail on How can I troubleshoot or fix when macOS Photos app import from a connected iPhone gets stuck on “Preparing to import from…”?

FWIW, I have the 'keep originals' selected in the settings portion of my phone and still have the sync issue. I'd say I'm able to sync photos properly 20% of the time when toggling on/off airplane mode. Usually that's after multiple plug/unplug, airplane/cellular, lock/unlock, and restart attempts

 

[tgreenwood]

I have found something that worked for me. I usually got the "unlock iPhone" or "preparing transfer" messages. So, I thought since it kept asking me to unlock even when unlocked I just simply removed passcode and Face ID from my phone and that instantly started showing all my pictures to upload hope it helps!!!

 

[marijaholt]

So I've tried all of these, but the only thing that worked for me is opening my iPhone in locations part in Finder and pressing the Sync button at the bottom. Once I pressed sync, immediately the photos started appearing. And since I had over 50,000 photos, I had to select the Keep originals in Photos in settings. Hope this helps someone.