Cannot see last pictures I've taken

[mollyc]

Thanks for the suggestion.

How reliable is Airdrop?

Will Airdrop end up dropping my files like Image Capture seems to do?

I've never had trouble with airdrop and send stuff to myself all the time that way. I probably wouldn't try to do 100s of images at once but maybe in batches of 10-20 at a time

 

[jz0309]

Maybe I can start another thread to get help with that. (I actually tried using AirDrop a couple months ago but couldn't get it working.)

As far as Image Capture goes, it is still hit-or-miss.

Downloaded make 150GB of video and photos from the weekend, and there were two files missing when I reconciled my two download attempts, so that proves it is still randomly dropping files.

Do you shoot photos or video on your iPhone?

If so, how do you get them safely off your iPhone?

I've been using airdrop for years to copy images/videos from iPhone to my Mac, can't recall any issues, and I've done batches of a couple hundred several times, its surprisingly fast (to me) and reliable

 

[Ambrosia7177]

I've never had trouble with airdrop and send stuff to myself all the time that way. I probably wouldn't try to do 100s of images at once but maybe in batches of 10-20 at a time

Presumably using AirDrop is a "copy", right?

 

[Ambrosia7177]

I've been using airdrop for years to copy images/videos from iPhone to my Mac, can't recall any issues, and I've done batches of a couple hundred several times, its surprisingly fast (to me) and reliable

Will it work if you are moving large files (e.g. hour-long video that is maybe 50GB)?

 

[jz0309]

Will it work if you are moving large files (e.g. hour-long video that is maybe 50GB)?

I don't have anything that big, I think ~ 2GB at most which is not a problem

 

[mollyc]

AirDrop just copies stuff from one device to another. You won't lose any data on the original device, even if the transfer fails.

Really you should just try it yourself, rather than wait for responses; only you can tell if it works for your needs and how quickly.

 

[jz0309]

Presumably using AirDrop is a "copy", right?

yes, you select the ones you want to copy in the Photos app and they will remain "selected" throughout the airdrop process, so presumably when done you could just delete them at that point

 

[Saturn007]

@Saturn007,

Waiting to hear your comments to my response...

Sorry for the delay — and to see that things still aren't working for you. I check this forum irregularly. As to details about the camera card reader attachment, you'd have to do some searching here or on the net. I simply recall seeing various posts about those.

I've used Air Drop, which works well for document and web page transfers, but it's not that speedy. It sends a copy to the other device.

Yet, alas, you'd still have to confirm each photo went through.

 

[HDFan]

Do you shoot photos or video on your iPhone?

both.

If so, how do you get them safely off your iPhone?

iCloud Photos or image capture on my Mac.

 

[gudaev]

Old post, but I decided to up this thread as I started experiencing exactly the same issues w/ Image Capture. I relied on it for for years (I have automated scripts that sort images / videos after i drop them into a landing folder with Image Capture.) So the issue that I see is exactly as @ovbacon described - initial load of Image Capture shows some photos (making it feel like you have it all) but in reality a good chunk is missing. When you open the image on the iphone, Image Capture catches it and displays it... very unreliable. I'm currently running Sequoia 15.7.2 (24G325) and iphone is on iOS 26, so i'm planning to update macOS to Tahoe and see if it helps.. in a meantime my workaround is to select all photos in a library on the phone itself and manually "Export Unmodified Originals" to a SSD which I then copy to a landing folder for automated processing. Certainly not ideal.
and as may highlighted ... this is an example of unnecessary dev. complication - just let users access photos via Finder.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@gudaev

Hello. Lucky for you in finding this old thread, because I was the "sacrificial lamb" for you!

There is a really easy solution... (Assuming you have a fairly modern and similar setup to mine.)

iMazing | iPhone, iPad & iPod Manager for Mac & PC

iMazing lets you transfer music, files, messages, apps and more from any iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a computer, Mac or PC. Manage and backup your iOS device simply without iTunes. (was DiskAid)

imazing.com

This has been one of the best applications I have ever purchased. Solved all of my problems!


(To be clear... My use-case is shooting photos and video on my iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro Max in either iOS Camera app or Cinema P3 Pro app and then trying to download the media onto my MacBook Pro M3 Max or an older MacBook Pro.)

Only issue I have had is that apparently the USB connection on my Mac "expires" or something, and so a handful of times I had to re-boot my Mac and iPhone before doing a download. But out of downloading Terabytes of video, only had to do that a few times if the initial connection acted up.

This startup business is super responsive when it comes to tech support, and you can't beat the price.

I use iMazing to...

1.) Download photos/video from my iPhones to my MacBook Pro.
2.) Upload music/videos to my iPhones from my MacBook Pro
3.) Upload music/videos to my iPad from my MacBook Pro

It allows me to NOT have to store my life on "The Cloud" - which makes me cringe, and will never happen in my life!!

I think there is a free-trial.

This solved my problem, and should solve your problem too as long as you have a modern OS and your hardware is functioning.

Good luck!!