Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

Greg,

So here is the problem. My iPhone has started storing photos in HEIC format - High Efficiency Image Coding/Format - which requires its own codec which Microsoft fails to supply; it appears to be part of/include the MPEG-H HVEC video codec for which Microsoft charges 99 cents plus tax.

I spent all day looking at what photos had not transferred to me PC since mid-October, and the first one that gave problems was a .heic  Not only did the Photo app cheke on the file, but so did Explorer when I attempted to drag and drop it onto my PC. No nice error message, but an assortment of Catastrophic Hardware Failure messages! I deleted that one file after screen-shotting the image, and then could drag everything else over. I launched the Photo app, which showed blank boxes for the heics, but a link to MS to buy the missing codec. I installed it, and then the images are shown in Photo.

Does this stop the Photo app hanging during imports? No, or at least not yet. It appears that MS were totally unaware of this new format and what they need to include in their updates to handle it, At least now I can drag and drop all my new photos as I wait in hope that someone will fix this issue.

Please forward these details to anyone at MS you are in contact with.

Thank you

This has been happening here since whatever was updated mid-November. I have tried all the "fixes" with no success -- counts the photos, freezes, and eventually just closes. Many people have complained -- come on, Microsoft, fix this app!

Hey RoronoaZoro3, repeatedly doing the steps suggested, some how it worked for me. Thanks for giving relief at least for now.

Mine is doing the same thing UGHHH. Im trying to import videos and it does the same thing where it freezes on the pop up right after it shows how many photos and videos I have. Looking at all the comments this seems to be a real issue.

Hello, I was trying to import photos from my iPhone via charging cable and upon import the photo app freezes. I reset my phone and tried again and it worked for the first import but another problem is that I can only upload 3-4 videos at a time before the photos app says something went wrong and I have to start the whole process all over again. Because of this, when I go to import again it just freezes once it hits my total photo and video count. This problem has been persistent ever since I started uploading photos and videos this past year or two and it really hinders my progress. Thanks for any help.

-Gabriela

I found some success by making a change to settings for photos. 

1. Go to settings on iPhone 
2. Scroll down to photos
3. Click on photos and scroll to the bottom. 
4. Switch from automatic to keep originals.
5. Restart phone and computer.