P: Photo import from iPhone fails after updating on iOS 10.2

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Photo import from iphone to Lightroom 6 fails after updating on iOS 10.2. I'm using Lightroom 6 for Mac running on Macbook Pro/El Capitan. Photo import from iphone to Lightroom did work properly until the last iOS update. Now photos are not listed to choose them for import when I choose my iphone as source in the import dialogue. It's funny but when I switch off and then switch on the iphone while it is connected to the macbook, photos will appear listed in the import dialogue. But: when I start to import the picture files, Lightroom will freeze.

I found a forum post on the apple help page, describing similar problems with Image Capture. I contacted apple and they told me I have to wait for the next lightroom update.

this is the apple forum link: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7786461?start=0&tstart=0

Please, Adobe, guys, help me, make me happy again. Release a Lightroom Update fixing this bug as soon as possible. I'm just a hobby photographer but nevertheless I'm taking my photography quite serious. And this is really an inconvience. Just imagine I was Gursky using Lightroom and all of the sudden I could not get my inspirational snapshots out of my iphone 😞

Thanky you.

[ragrawal]

Thanks for contacting Adobe.

While we figure out what the problem is , you can try the workaround given on the forum link :
"The way I can import photos is to shut my iPhone down and restart it, while connected."

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

Markus,
Could you please let us know the Lightroom version you use? Is it 6.8?
We are not able to reproduce the issue internally. Also, please let us know the iPhone model you use.
Thanks for the forum link.
To confirm: does locking/unlocking the phone make a difference?

Thanks,
Sunil

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hey "ragrawal" and Sunil - thank you for your replies.

Yes, it is Lightroom Version 6.8.

I am using an iphone 6S

Locking/Unlocking does not make a difference.

Shutting down and restarting the iphone while it is connected to the Macbook enables me to find and choose photos on the iphone via the Lightroom import dialogue (image files appear in the import dialogue window). But, as mentioned above, if I choose a photo and start the import, even when I choose only one single file, Lightroom won't import but freeze and I have to shut it down via activity manager.

To go a bit more into detail: I found out that it is not necessary to really shut down and restart the iphone. I just have to press the right sided button of my iphone until the 'swish to shut down' screen appears. This is enough to make the images appear in the Lightroom import dialogue. I don't understand this but I tried it several times. It is enough to 'start shutting down' the iphone and Lightroom will find the image files. But then it is again the same: I try to import one single or a few files and Lightroom freezes. It is impossible to really import the chosen files.

Hope this helps.

Markus

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

Thanks for the detailed info, Markus.
Could you please open the Photos app and see if you see the same behavior?
I am trying to see if this is the case with all apps in your machine.

Thanks,
Sunil

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Sunil -

thank you very much for your support.

I was fiddling around now for a while and I think the problem is solved. It seems that it was an apple security settings issue. First I followed your advice and tried to start an import using the photos app and this was only possible after unlocking the iphone. I tried to import into Lightroom then and it took several minutes for one jpg file, i don't know why, but the import into lightroom was successful. I finally did a reset of the iphone security settings and now I still have to unlock the iphone every single time before I start an import into lightroom (which wasn't necessary before the iOS update) and it takes more time than I would expect but it works. I never had such a problem after an iOS update but it seems that the iOS 10.2 update did something about the security settings or the 'trust this computer' processes respectively and this seems to affect file exchange/import.

So let's see if there will be further development but for now I think it's ok. I will be grateful for any additional advice from you.

Again, thank you very much. I will post further insights if there will be any.

Markus

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Sunil -

i'm sorry, it's still strange somehow. I can start to import into Lightroom after unlocking the iphone. But the import will freeze if I don't start the photos app. As soon as the photo app starts and begins to list the jpg-files from the iphone in its own import dialogue, the import in Lightroom will proceed and finish. As if the photos app would remove some kind of barrier, you know? So my workaround at the moment is as follows: 1. connect iphone to the MacBook. 2. Start Lightroom and open Import Dialogue. 3. Unlock iphone: Photos will be listed in the import dialogue window. 4. Choose image files to import, start import, Lightroom says it is importing image files but there is no process (no imported pictures shown and no progress in the progress bar). 5. start photos app and open import tab in photos app. Import of image files in Lightroom starts, proceeds and finishes without any further action.

Hope this helps

Markus

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

Thanks for the detailed info, Markus.
It's strange. The Photos app shouldn't have any dependency on Lightroom import.
Does this problem persist?

Thanks,
Sunil

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Yes, import from the iphone is still not working. Sometimes the mentioned workaround helps. Sometimes Lightroom just freezes and I can't do anything but shut it down. It's frustrating 😞

Markus

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hey Sunil -

good news. Today's El Capitan update (additional update 10.11.6) fixed the problem. Apple labelled it a "Kernel problem" making apps freeze sometimes.

I only found a german news text on this, released ca 1h ago:

http://www.macgadget.de/News/2017/01/17/Apple-Update-f%C3%BCr-OS-X-El-Capitan-behebt-Kernel-Problem

The news text says the security update 2016-003, released in Dec 2016, introduced a bug, which made the system freeze under certain conditions. This should be fixed with the above mentioned additional update. I don't know if the problem was only occuring in "german releases" of El Capitan (if there is something like a german OS release).  At least I found no english link or corresponding site, which made me wonder..

So it seems, that the problem was not a specific Lightroom/El Capitan/iOS-interaction problem but rather Lightroom (after updating the iphone on the latest iOS) in this case was just the only app which made an unspecific Kernel problem occur when starting an import from the iphone.

The current update should fix the problem and as far as I can evaluate this - it did. No problems with the photo import any more. Very happy. Nevertheless thanks a lot.

Markus

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hey Sunil,

it seems, others had similar problems:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/cannot-import-into-lightroom-6-8?topic-reply-...

I posted the link to our communication into their forum and I hope the latest El Capitan security update will be the solution for everyone affected by this problem.

Markus

[Hullray]

For what it's worth at this stage of the discussion: I have just started to have the same problem described in attempting to import iPhone (6) photos to LR CC 2015.8 since the most recent iOs update (iOS 10.2.1)  in that LR "sees" the iPhone photos fine in the Import module but hangs after starting the import process. I also have the latest El Capitan security update installed (my OS is 10.11.6), so for me, that update ("Security Update 2016-003 Supplemental Update") does not fix the problem. The easiest workaround for me has been using the Image Capture app to download my selected iPhone photos to a folder on my desktop; from there, LR can import them fine. I do not use the Apple Photos app and don't want to start, so the workaround described that involves importing to Photos is not appealing. 

[ByteSkater]

+1 Same issue here, photo import from iPhone 7+ with iOS 10.2.1 on macOS 10.12.3 fails or is extremely slow in Lightroom 2015.8 (using only latest available versions). Sometimes preview rendering already fails when viewing the import selection before starting the import, reconnecting and unlocking iPhone sometimes helps, then after starting the import it sometimes takes forever until something actually happens. I already switched the lightning cable, same issue. I also have the impression that opening apples "photos" app helps somehow, no idea why. The whole thing is not reliable anymore, especially with the still existing issue that Lightroom still has no idea how to handle my live photos correctly, ... hopefully this will be fixed very soon.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

+1 for the same problem with LR "hanging" on trying to import directly from my iPhone 5S onto my Macbook Pro 2016 Touch bar or another 2 year old macbook pro without Touch bar. No photos get imported.
I have tried various options with no success. I would like it to work as before. Somehow something broke in a software upgrade.
I prefer not to import photos to a folder onto the laptop's hard disk before importing to LR as this clunky and I would like to see which ones are duplicates before importing 

Apoogies, I had started a similar thread myself, not knowing that this thread was already running.
https://forums.adobe.com/message/9443310#9443310

Did anyone solve this problem? 

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

Thanks a lot, Markus.

[Sunil_Bhaskaran]

Kunwar, are you using Mac 10.12 or 10.11?
Christopher, how many images are you trying to import? 

We have handled the Live photo issue in the latest version of Lightroom. You should be able to see both the image and mov files.

We are working on the hang issue, which is more prominent on Mac 10.11.

Thanks,
Sunil

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I am currently using mac OS X 10.12.4 and LR hangs on this, even if I try to import 1 photo. Kunwar

[FMPVince67]

10.12.5 ß 5, LR10, out of may 14490 images it got stuck at 9900
still stuck
super annoying

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I still have both problems of 'green movies' and hanging iPhone downloads. This seems to have been going on for well over a year. When will Lightroom resolve these fundamental issues?

[Smit K]

Hi,

Are you still facing this crash with iOS 10.3.3, macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and Lightroom 2015.12(6.12)?

Thanks,
Smit Keniya

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I completely gave up on LR for the last 5 months and was using other applications including Photo Mechanic and Photos instead. Just recently I upgraded my iphone firmware to ios11 and just tried an import (Sierra 10.12.06 and Lightroom 2015.12 (6.12) to my MacBook Pro touch bar. The import worked fine both of my first 2 attempts. Not sure what precisely what broken before but hopefully will it stay fixed. If it keeps working on different times in the next week or so, I may go back to LR.