Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

The problem is with the April 2020 "update" MS did to the app. 

This thread was started in September 2019, so clearly not.

It seems to have been the September 2019 Windows 10 update that did the damage, and no subsequent update has fixed it.

Some iPhone users seems to have found ways to get around it, but for Android phone and camera users the only workaround seems to be to use File Explorer to manually transfer photos onto your computer. Once there, the Photos app will at least display them.

  I am on Android, and the Photos App has worked fine for me all this time - it was only the April update that killed the functionality. 

Maybe I was just "lucky" or maybe the longer issue (9/19) is iPhone related?

Either way, MS should just do proper QA before releasing an app with their name on it.

Was this with an iPhone XR? Did you  hard power off the phone or just pressed the "off" button on the side?  I'm curious which way it worked for you because I tried it both ways and neither way worked for me. Thanks anyway.

I tried the #4 on this website and it worked for me. I hope it could help to solve this issue for everyone!

https://thegeekpage.com/fix-photos-app-on-iphone-is-freezing-upon-importing-photos-from-windows-10/

Same problem here. Reading the thread it's clear there are two things happen here:

1. a bug in the Photos import feature which I believe is a failure in its error handling for unsupported file formats. This effects both iPhone and Android users  the latter will typically have a few items in the sync that have been shared with the by Apple users, that mess up the sync and...

2  Apples decision to store files in their own special way.

The solution below works better for Android users because error handling works as it should - it allows you to skip images in the wrong format instead of getting  an app freeze.

I found that using the Windows import wizard works. You can access this by opening file explorer, clicking on "This PC", then right click on your connected device and select Import Pictures and Videos.

There's a guide here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/apps_windows_10-photos/complete-guide-to-importing-your-photos-in-windows/d8258fff-729e-45df-8afd-1f1195d7b6c5

Same problem here. Reading the thread it's clear there's a bug in the Photos import feature.

I found that using the Windows import wizard works. You can access this by opening file explorer, clicking on "This PC", then right click on your connected device and select Import Pictures and Videos.

There's a guide here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/apps_windows_10-photos/complete-guide-to-importing-your-photos-in-windows/d8258fff-729e-45df-8afd-1f1195d7b6c5

I tried this but I got a lot of errors at first. Finally got somewhat of a download, but the majority of the pictures were in HEIC format which won't display in Windows 10. And, the .MOV movies are in HEVC format for which Microsoft wants you to buy an app for $.99. Really?! That's insulting, to say the least. 

So many people have had the Photos App problem for so long and Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!! I have WASTED way too much time trying all the "fixes" and suggestions, and I and many other people still have not found a solution that works!  Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!  Let me repeat!!!! -->

Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!

Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!

Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!

Microsoft needs to FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!