Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

You may be right. I couldn't tell which was needed, but I intended to re-import everything anyway because the app previously also couldn't discriminate between prior imports and current. Now, that works, too.

Not sure if my solution will work for Iphone users but it should work for Android and SD carda and cameras.

Rather than going into the photos app, after trying all of the potential foxes on this thread, I made sure my phome was set to transfer image files, and them opened my "My computer" , then under Devices and drivers right-click on whatever your phone is called (e.g Galaxy Note9) and select Import pictures and videos - from there you get a few options to import, I chose new images and it worked.

Hopefully this works for iphone as well!

Thanks, but that is already what I've tried to do: Using the usual Windows Explorer files view to drag (right-click, Copy or Move) the image files from the phone to a folder on my computer.  Performance has consistently been inconsistent and unreliable.

The native camera on an iPhone 7 is not an "app"; it does not appear as an app in iTunes, so it cannot be "synched" with the computer. 

Having changed the mode from Automatic (as described by others) does not make the process reliable. The file extension seems to be irrelevant.  As as far as I can see, the number or total size of files being transferred is also irrelevant.  Thinking maybe that the phone timed out, I transfered in very small batches, even one-at-a-time, no better luck.  I typically Move files rather than Copy, so that I can easily see any files that have not been transferred, and so I don't inadvertently delete unsuccessful files from the source folder.  However, after my many unfinished transfers, I wound up with a lot of duplicate files on the target.  Usually I choose to skip all files with identical dates and names, but I even skipped each one at a time -- again, thinking that the iPhone saw the batch skip as a timeout.  Still unreliable.  Finally, I examined the lists of hundreds of files and after an hour of this nonsense and some manual deletions, got my photos off the phone.

All this is the same for videos, which are similarly stored on the phone in a different folder. For them, I've given up for now.

Microsoft, Apple, this is no way to compute.

I can only speak from Android experience, Galaxy S8+ running Android 9. I suspect from reading many of the comments in this thread that IPhone issues are somewhat more involved than those I've seen.

Good evening everyone, 

I found the solution to the problem, all you have to do is click on the file icon navigate to Apple Iphone (if your on iphone, and make sure to have iTunes installed for the drivers) right click and click import pictures and videos and from there you can import without it freezing.

thank you, oce