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Import pictures from iphone on Widows 7

Anonymous
2017-11-04T20:30:24+00:00

Used to work fine on this computer but now I am getting a message pop up saying "there are no new pitcures or videos to import".  BUT THERE ARE!  I spoke to technical support at my phone carrier and APPLE...they both thought this was a Windows 7 issue...maybe windows 7 needs an update to catch up to iphone updates.  Any suggestions or advice?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

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  1. LemP 74,925 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-11-05T18:24:38+00:00

    When Windows detects a USB "storage" device connected to the computer, the default action is to open the "AutoPlay" window, like this:

    As I wrote earlier, if I clicked "Open device to view files," I used to be able to actually see photos stored on the iPhone (all the files on the iPhone were never visible to Windows) and manually copy them to my computer.  If I do that now, however, I just see an empty Windows Explorer window -- no files.

    At some time in the past, you probably selected "Import pictures and videos using Windows" and checked the box to "Always do this for this device."  Thus, when your iPhone is detected, the AutoPlay window doesn't open and the "import" operation starts ... but doesn't find any files to import and thus shows you the message. 

    You have (at least) two options:

    1.  Do nothing.  You'll get the warning about "nothing to import" each time your phone is connected, but perhaps with some future iOS update, the files will become visible again and the import will work again.

    2.  Stop the message from appearing. 

    • Click Start, type autoplay into the Search box, and press Enter.
    • Scroll to the bottom of the window and you should see a list of the devices that Windows has recognized at some point, including your current iPhone.
    • Use the drop-down list next to your iPhone to select "Take no action" and then click the Save button.

    If you take this option, you may want to check after an iOS update to see if files are visible in your iPhone when it is connected.  Press the Windows Logo key together with the E key to open Windows Explorer to "Computer."  You should see your iPhone under "Portable Devices" and you can double-click to open it just like any other storage device.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-11-05T16:36:41+00:00

    Thank you.  Very helpful.  Still wondering tho why the message box pops up saying no new photos when I know that there are...very strange.

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  3. LemP 74,925 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-11-04T23:00:07+00:00

    This is an Apple issue. 

    Although at one time it was pretty straightforward to connect an iPhone to a Windows computer and access the photos saved on the iPhone, that seems (to me at least) to have become more and more difficult with updates to the iPhone operating system.

    Apple really wants you to upload all your photos (and other data) from your iPhone to iCloud.  Once photos are in iCloud, you can access them on all of your iDevices and download them.

    On your iPhone, go to Settings > Photos.  Is the switch for "iCloud Photo Library" on (showing green)?  If so, all of your photos are being uploaded to your iCloud account.  There's also a setting to "Optimize iPhone Storage," which replaces full-resolution photos on your iPhone with "optimized" versions to save space.

    Both of those settings are turned on in my iPhone because I have one with only 16 GB of storage.  I don't know if that's the reason, but when I just checked, although Windows sees my iPhone and reports that most of its storage is occupied, when I open the iPhone in Windows Explorer, nothing is there.

    I have two suggestions for you:

    1. Download iCloud for Windows (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283), set up your iCloud account and configure your phone to sync photos to your iCloud account.  You'll then be able to download any or all of your photos to your computer.
    2. If you don't like that approach, ask for assistance in the Apple user forums (rather than from an "official" Apple "tech"):  https://discussions.apple.com/community/iphone/using_iphone
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