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How to Import Photos from iPhone to Mac?

Want to import photos from iPhone to Mac? Are you looking for the easiest and simplest solution to import photos from iPhone to Mac? Then this post if just for you. Although there are a number of ways to import all your iPhone photos to your Mac computer, we believe that using the Photos app to import all your photos from the iOS device is easy and simple. So, in this post, we will show how you can import Photos from iPhone to Mac using the Photos app.

Import Photos from iPhone to Mac Using Photos App

You can use the Photos app to import photos from iPhone to Mac without using iCloud Photo Library. The process given below also works pretty well if you wish to import photos from a digital camera or from an SD card. While importing photos from your device, you will also be prompted to either keep the imported items or delete them from your device. If you choose to delete the imported items, you can free-up some storage space as well. And if you decide to keep those items, you’ll have to delete them manually.

  1. Before we begin, make sure that your Mac has the latest version of iTunes installed. It needs to be iTunes 12.5.1 or later. If not, please update it and proceed to the next step.
  2. Now, connect your iPhone to your Mac with the USB cable that came with your device. In case you are following this process to import photos from an SD card, please insert it into the SD slot on your Mac, or connect it using a card reader.
  3. The next is to unlock your iPhone with the passcode. You might also see a prompt on the iOS device asking you to ‘Trust This Computer’. Tap ‘Trust’ to continue.
  4. By default, the Photos app automatically opens on your Mac. But if it doesn’t, open the Photos app manually.
  5. The Photos app shows an ‘Import’ screen with all the photos and videos that are stored on your iPhone. If, somehow, the Import screen doesn’t automatically appear, click the Import tab at the top of the ‘Photos’ app, or click the device’s name in the ‘Photos’ sidebar. Both these will lead you to a screen where you can see all the photos and videos stored on your iPhone
  6. Now, in order to import a selection of photos, click the ones you want, then click ‘Import Selected’. or if you want to import all new photos, click ‘Import All New Photos’. Doing so will begin the importing process.
  7. When the import is complete, a message box asks if you want to delete or keep the photos on your iPhone. Click ‘Delete Items’ to remove the photos and free up some storage space, or click ‘Keep Items’ to keep them on your iPhone.
  8. If you select ‘Keep Items’, you’ll have to manually delete them from your iPhone when you want to remove them.
  9. After You are finished importing the images and the next step to either keep the items or delete, you can now disconnect your iPhone from your Mac. If you imported photos from an SD card or other USB devices, safely eject the device first.

Note: Imported photos appear in the Photos app’s Last Import album.

253+ Reviews & Counting

Kip Roof testimonial Kip Roofgoogle photos flickr
PicBackMan does exactly what it's supposed to. It's quick and efficient. It runs unobtrusively in the background and has done an excellent job of uploading more than 300GB of photos to 2 different services. After having lost a lot of personal memories to a hard drive crash, it's nice to know that my photos are safe in 2 different places.
Julia Alyea Farella testimonialJulia Alyea Farella smugmug
LOVE this program! Works better than ANY other program out there that I have found to upload thousands of pictures WITH SUB-FOLDERS to SmugMug! Thank you so much for what you do! :) #happycustomer
Pausing Motion testimonialPausingMotionsmugmug
I pointed PicBackMan at a directory structure, and next time I looked - all the photos had uploaded! Pretty cool. I use SmugMug and while I really like it, the process of creating directories in is pretty laborious when you need to make 80+ at a time. This was a breeze. Thank you!
Gavin Whitham testimonialGavin Whithamflickr
PicBackMan was really easy to setup and has been running for 3 days now backing up all my locally saved photos to Flickr. My photos are really valuable to me so it's great to be able to have them easily backed up to a secure location.
 Jim Griffin testimonialJim Griffinsmugmug
It's AWESOME!! I have tens of thousands of pictures...and they are now successfully uploaded to SmugMug, where they are safely backed up, and I can edit and organize them. If you are hesitating about using PicBackMan, hesitate no longer...try it...and you'll be glad you did!!
Robert testimonialRobertonedrive
I started with the basic plan, went to premium and now on their platinum plan and it's more than worth the price for me. PicBackMan has saved me many tedious hours of effort moving many files between my various cloud and photo site services and my local computers.
Pausing Motion testimonialVladdropbox
I am very satisfied and surprised at the same time with Pic BackMan. The service is very good and useful. I used it to transfer my photos from Dropbox to my Flickr accound. I highly recomment it.
Dave testimonialDavesmugmug
PicBackMan was an answer to many a prayer. How can I get this MASSIVE collection of photos onto a service that cripples uploading? PicBackMan. I uploaded approximately 85,000 photos in less than a month. It would have taken me close to a year to get all of those photos where they needed to go. Nothing short of brilliant.
Barry Graham testimonialBarry Grahamflickr
Great tool for enduring your photos are always safely backed up. I backed up tens of thousands of photos and dozens of videos to Flickr in my 1st couple of months using PicBackMan. Would unreservedly recommend as it works seamlessly and copies your photos to Flickr in sets which reflect your folders.
Achal Gupta testimonialAchal Guptaflickr
This is a fantastic piece of software! I wanted to backup 100+ gigs worth of original sized photos to Flickr and after trying many many tools, PickBacMan was the one that finally worked. It worked flawlessly for 10 straight days uploading all my photos without a single error/ timeout/ crash. Absolutely amazing! I didn't try the other premium features but the ability to replicate stuff across multiple...