Why is it so hard to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac?

[uacd]

I know it has always been a painful experience to send photos from iPhone to Mac. Ever since 2007 you connected it, launched Photo Transfer app and hoped for the best.

It was more or less okay back in the days when we didn’t shoot lots of photos and had 8 or 16gb of memory + no trash that we needed to sort out like screenshots or images from the web, or photos received from messenger apps.

As iPhone evolved you would naturally expect it to offer more streamlined process of sorting out photos, copying them, receiving them on Mac. But there is none such possibility, it looks about as outdated as if it still was 2007.

But now there is a Files app. And when you connect iPhone to Mac, it still only shows app folders.

Sure, workaround is “simple”: you sort out, select and copy photos from Photos app to folder inside Files app, then you copy that folder inside one of the application folders, such as GarageBand or Pixelmator or anything. But then when you copy bare folders, process might abort itself: turns out it doesn’t want to copy large folders (8gb+), you gotta pack it to zip first and only then it will copy.

So, why is it still so complicated in 2025?

Step-by-step literally looks like:
- sort photos
- copy them into folders you create
- zip them
- move to random app folder
- copy

Apple also gives another way: AirDrop. But it seems to fail 50% of the times, as well as when it works it is very slow.

On newer USB-C iPhones you can also connect flash drive/SSD directly to iPhone and copy, still no “eject” option though so it might be a VERY expensive way if drive fails for some reason or you lose data.

There is also option to use utterly complicated and cumbersome iPhoto Photos app, where it can also be complicated to offload photos.

But I wonder, why it is still so unreasonably outdated on Mac? So many steps…

I mean, isn’t it supposed to be more seamless and streamlined and part of ecosystem? If Apple treats iPhone as a modern camera, it should at least be able to connect and copy photos in one or two clicks.

And when I say “photos” I mean making backups of large libraries that are 16GB+. Obviously, it needs hard work: manual sorting, clearing and so on. While you cannot currently skip these steps, it would have been good if Apple’s Files app worked same way when connected to Mac, so it would have been possible to drag-and-drop photos in an instant. Maybe something like iPhone mirroring but wired for best transfer speeds.

Cloud is not an option for this same reason: it is very slow compared even to ancient USB 2.0 that Apple still packs with all low-tier iPhones (and even Air!!).

Comparing to Android it is a night and day experience. Android treats filesystem differently and so when you create a collection it would automatically treat it as folder throughout whole filesystem, not just Photos application, so when you manually sort out photos into collections your only job is to copy “DCIM” to computer and that’s it, unfortunately Macs poorly communicate with Android phones and rarely treat them as usual plug-and-play devices.

Currently it seems like Photos>Files>App Folder>Finder (Mac) is the best way. But maybe I am wrong and overcomplicating all of this, and that’s not Apple’s fault? After all we all do make mistakes.

I wonder how do you transfer photos? What is your go-to method to get footage off the iPhone?

 

[jz0309]

I know it has always been a painful experience to send photos from iPhone to Mac. Ever since 2007 you connected it, launched Photo Transfer app and hoped for the best.

It was more or less okay back in the days when we didn’t shoot lots of photos and had 8 or 16gb of memory + no trash that we needed to sort out like screenshots or images from the web, or photos received from messenger apps.

As iPhone evolved you would naturally expect it to offer more streamlined process of sorting out photos, copying them, receiving them on Mac. But there is none such possibility, it looks about as outdated as if it still was 2007.

But now there is a Files app. And when you connect iPhone to Mac, it still only shows app folders.

Sure, workaround is “simple”: you sort out, select and copy photos from Photos app to folder inside Files app, then you copy that folder inside one of the application folders, such as GarageBand or Pixelmator or anything. But then when you copy bare folders, process might abort itself: turns out it doesn’t want to copy large folders (8gb+), you gotta pack it to zip first and only then it will copy.

So, why is it still so complicated in 2025?

Step-by-step literally looks like:
- sort photos
- copy them into folders you create
- zip them
- move to random app folder
- copy

Apple also gives another way: AirDrop. But it seems to fail 50% of the times, as well as when it works it is very slow.

On newer USB-C iPhones you can also connect flash drive/SSD directly to iPhone and copy, still no “eject” option though so it might be a VERY expensive way if drive fails for some reason or you lose data.

There is also option to use utterly complicated and cumbersome iPhoto Photos app, where it can also be complicated to offload photos.

But I wonder, why it is still so unreasonably outdated on Mac? So many steps…

I mean, isn’t it supposed to be more seamless and streamlined and part of ecosystem? If Apple treats iPhone as a modern camera, it should at least be able to connect and copy photos in one or two clicks.

And when I say “photos” I mean making backups of large libraries that are 16GB+. Obviously, it needs hard work: manual sorting, clearing and so on. While you cannot currently skip these steps, it would have been good if Apple’s Files app worked same way when connected to Mac, so it would have been possible to drag-and-drop photos in an instant. Maybe something like iPhone mirroring but wired for best transfer speeds.

Cloud is not an option for this same reason: it is very slow compared even to ancient USB 2.0 that Apple still packs with all low-tier iPhones (and even Air!!).

Comparing to Android it is a night and day experience. Android treats filesystem differently and so when you create a collection it would automatically treat it as folder throughout whole filesystem, not just Photos application, so when you manually sort out photos into collections your only job is to copy “DCIM” to computer and that’s it, unfortunately Macs poorly communicate with Android phones and rarely treat them as usual plug-and-play devices.

Currently it seems like Photos>Files>App Folder>Finder (Mac) is the best way. But maybe I am wrong and overcomplicating all of this, and that’s not Apple’s fault? After all we all do make mistakes.

I wonder how do you transfer photos? What is your go-to method to get footage off the iPhone?

My Mac is where my photos live in LRC, both my DSLR as well as iPhone.
have been using airdrop for many many years, yes, it had its faults, I had to limit it to like 50 or so photos at a time. They go to the downloads folder and then I move them into my folder structure (basically year/month). Takes the same effort as plugging the SD card from my dslr into the Mac ...
Since I got a 17PM Airdrop reliability has improved, just the other day I selected like 150 or so photos (most were 48MP ones) and transferred to Mac via Airdrop, no issues, don't know whether it's the 17PM or OS 26.
I see no reason to change my flow

 

[eyoungren]

I've never had a problem. But then, I'm not using the Apple ecosystem and apps to do this.

Take a picture (or pictures). Open Dropbox. Camera Uploads setting triggers, scans for new photos, uploads the one(s) I just took to the Camera Uploads folder on Dropbox. Dropbox, installed on all my Macs/PCs that can run it, syncs the Camera Uploads folder.

Result? Photo(s) just taken end up on every Mac/PC running Dropbox.

Google Photos does this too, but I've used Dropbox for this since around 2009.

 

[Furman]

I've never had a problem because my photos are synced via iCloud.

 

[tonmischa]

So, why is it still so complicated in 2025?

Applications --> Image capture
Select photos from connected iPhone.
Click Import.
Not complicated at all.

EDIT:
But it seems you are talking about "TRANSFER" when you basically mean "ORGANIZE".

Here is how I am doing it since my iPhone 4S.
I use the Mac Photos App.
All photos I take are imported directly into the Photos App, then deleted from iPhone (Can be done during Import)
Then I sort, edit, delete.
Then I sync the Photos library (the parts I want/need) back to iPhone.
No iCloud needed. Huge Master Photo library on my Mac gets backupped locally.
Works great for me.

 

[Nermal]

Applications --> Image capture

Select photos from connected iPhone.
Click Import.

Not complicated at all.

Unless you took the photo just a moment ago and Image Capture refuses to show it yet. And bear in mind that a few years ago we could take a photo and have it automatically copy to the Mac as part of Photo Stream, but that's gone now.

It's more complicated than it should be.

 

[zenmacx]

It's more complicated than it should be.

Very true.

As much as I rely on and appreciate the Apple ecosystem it’s not quite as wonderful as they would have you believe.

 

[tonmischa]

Unless you took the photo just a moment ago and Image Capture refuses to show it yet.

I have never seen that happening for me. I use that method quite often for work photos, that I dont need in my personal library.
I take the pic, I connect the phone, I transmit the file. All in 30 seconds.
Never knew that this could be a problem?

 

[uacd]

I have never seen that happening for me. I use that method quite often for work photos, that I dont need in my personal library.
I take the pic, I connect the phone, I transmit the file. All in 30 seconds.
Never knew that this could be a problem?

I often had problems with Image Capture on newer macOS versions, especially weird “unlock iPhone” messages at times when it is already unlocked, as well as other bugs.

Another issue with Image Capture is that it would sometimes ignore file preferences like crop or edits and would give duplicate files, ghost files and so on. Organizing into folders in Files app has been more or less reliable for me but unfortunately not so straightforward to copy

 

[sarcasticgamer]

The Photos app on the Mac makes this seamless now

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I generally hate how photos are handled on the iPhone and on the Mac. Seems like someone somewhere thinks organization is the enemy? At least on Mac, Smart Albums are a thing, and I can automatically sort stuff based on a few criteria, but there's no such functionality on iPhone! To add insult to injury, any Smart Albums you set up on Mac just don't show up on the phone side.

 

[jz0309]

It's more complicated than it should be.

I don't know, it's no more complicated that having a dedicated camera (DSLR, mirrorless, P&S) with a SD card. With those, you have to insert the SD card into your Mac and then either put it in a folder structure or use your favorite photo SW to import. when you plug the iPhone into your Mac, I kn ow for a fact that LRC recognized it and offers to import photos, I got to believe that the Photos app would do the same but I have not tried that.
My choice to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac is Airdrop as I mentioned above.

And I suppose the "simplest" way would be iCloud sync, but that of course costs $$

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Well, in reality being locked in iCloud, specially if you take a lot of photos, is that in time you will have an enormous number of photos in iCloud you would have for. But what is worst, at least for me, is that the photos in my iPhone's Photos Folder aren't the original full-size photos I have taken with this cellphone, since these "originals" don't reside in my iPhone, but is iCloud.

Getting trapped in iCloud does not work for me, so I decided a few years ago to turn the iCloud Drive off for all the apps in my phones, Mac's, and iPads at home (Music, Message, Mail, Photos, and so on). Please keep in mind that this a choice I have made, one that the great majority of people don't even need to do.

Other posters in this thread have provided good advise relating to how capturing photos and moving them to the computer or external devices. You can use iMage Capture to accomplish such things.

By the way a few years ago I could manually move songs, photos, and so on, in and out of my still working 32MG iPod, I could in fact erase the iPod's internal HD and use the iPod as an external HD

 

[weaztek]

Applications --> Image capture
Select photos from connected iPhone.
Click Import.
Not complicated at all.

After that, I delete the photos from the iPhone preserving my SSD drive for the next batch of photos. Rinse/repeat.

 

[Nermal]

My choice to transfer photos from iPhone to Mac is Airdrop as I mentioned above.

You mean it actually works for someone?! I find that it fails maybe two thirds of the time.

 

[jz0309]

You mean it actually works for someone?! I find that it fails maybe two thirds of the time.

before I had my 17PM, actually a 13PM I had to limit the # of photos to like 50 and it worked fine then, somewhat of a pita but manageable.
With my 17PM, last week I transferred about 150 photos with no issue at all, either the 17PM or OS 26 brought improvements. Mac Studio M1 Max on Tahoe

 

[Jumpthesnark]

I have two methods to transfer photos from my phone to my Mac: wired and wireless.

• Wired: Attach phone to Mac. Launch Image Capture and maximize the app's window. Sort by date taken (most recent will be at the top of the window) and tag all photos I want to transfer. Transfer to a folder of my choosing (I create a new "iPhone photos" folder every year). Once that's done I delete most of them from my phone, unless I want to keep them on my phone for some reason.
• Wireless: Open Photos app on phone. Single-click a photo so control panel shows up on the bottom of the screen (it has transfer, heart, info, edit and trash icons). Click the transfer icon (bottom left). Select all images I want to transfer, then click AirDrop icon (bottom left), navigate to my Mac and send. It works fast and reliably.

Generally, I use AirDrop to send just a few photos, and the wired method to send many.

NOTE: When sending via AirDrop, it sends a copy. So the original is still on your phone.

Hope that helps.

 

[HarryMudd]

I use Lightroom Classic. I plug the phone in and Lightroom automatically finds all the photos and I can copy them into any folder I create. Pretty easy. If it’s just a few I add them to a Lightroom mobile album right on the phone, then they are synced to the Lightroom catalog on the Mac automatically. But for me, going the route without Lightroom in the middle is torture. And I feel your pain, I keep almost no photos on the phone, they’re all on the Mac or Lightroom cloud. But I have over 12TB of photos, there’s no way I can afford cloud storage for all that.

 

[Honza1]

Since you are talking about iPhone and Mac, not sure why are you complaining... Sync cannot be simpler - if you choose to use Photos.app and iCloud syncing, obviously. Apple iCloud is reasonably cost efficient storage service (200GB for $3/month) and it works really well for me. Occasional problems are rare. This is one of the setups which actually works, there are other issues in Apple garden which I consider lot more problem.
Now, for photos from other sources, well, it may not be as trivial. If you have much larger volumes of photos, I guess also non trivial (cannot say). But in these cases you are outside of consumer system and need professional services/setups.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

You mean it actually works for someone?! I find that it fails maybe two thirds of the time.

Your experience is the exception. In rare cases where I want a photo just taken on my phone on my Mac (personal or work), I airdrop it instantly with no issues.

 

[stephenschimpf]

I used to transfer photos from my Android phone and later iPhone to my Windows computer years ago, but when I switched to an iMac I simply started using the Photos app and everything became seamless.

No matter where I am in the world, when I take a photo on my iPhone, the full-size version goes to iCloud and the optimized version stays on my iPhone. Another optimized version downloads to my iPad Pro. The full-size version downloads to my iMac, which is backed up on an external SSD drive.

Initially I was a bit uncomfortable with this, as I was so used to the idea of transferring photos to my computer and only keeping ones I "needed" on my phone, but it didn't take long for me to love being able to access my entire library of photos from all my Apple devices, even Apple TV.

I guess your needs are very different than mine, but I honestly never think about transferring photos. It's all seamless and works beautifully for me.

 

[Sami13496]

What do you mean? They appear there automatically: when you take photos with your iPhone, they upload to iCloud and then they’re immediately available on your Mac.

 

[TLewis]

We happen to use iCloud but dropbox and google photos (and others?) also work.

 

[JoeSilver]

And when I say “photos” I mean making backups of large libraries that are 16GB+.

I wonder how do you transfer photos? What is your go-to method to get footage off the iPhone?

I think that 50GB of iCloud storage for £0.99* a month is a fair price, after all, and should eliminate all the pain you're having.

*in UK

 

[uacd]

I think that 50GB of iCloud storage for £0.99* a month is a fair price, after all, and should eliminate all the pain you're having.

*in UK

50GB is not enough for some people out there. Considering people would shoot 4K it can eat gigabytes of storage space + iCloud is very inconvenient too, it replaces photos on device with low-res copies and also syncing doesn’t always work as expected.

Another thing is that “cold” backup on real storage is still a must. Servers fail, Internet may too, the storage only needs a computer and electricity.

60-80GB of photos is not something out of place these days.

But again, the issue is not only the price but convenience - it would take ages to dump those 50GB off ultra slow iCloud servers, unless you rely on daily sync which can be inconvenient - sometimes you may have photos that you didn’t even take and they would land on iCloud automatically since it doesn’t know what to backup and whatnot, I often had lots of trash I received from WhatsApp on my free iCloud account, and it even took ages to delete these photos. That’s without saying that iCloud is a huge privacy compromise that would not let you delete photos completely for 90 days