Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

SOLUTION!

Hey everyone. I have this problem since September. I tried everything and every time my Photos App freezes while it scans for import from my iPhone. 

First of all I tried the process to a new PC with the exact same windows (and photos)  version only to find out it works normally and it is not an iOS issue.

What I did is this:

Press import as normal while you remember the number that your scan freezes and press "Cancel" once, before it reaches this number. Basically, dont let it freeze and press cancel in time. If it freezes, kill the task and launch again. Just a random number before the one it freezes works. After that, press import again and you will notice that the scan number continues from the one you pressed "cancel". But this time it will reach the max number and you will get to the "choose what to import" screen. 

I tried the process  10 times exactly and it worked all times. This looks like a good workaround until the App gets fixed (maybe in November update?). Please try this and post. 

This works for me but with multiple reboots of the iPhone to get all the photos.  I had over 2500 photos to download.

My systems: Windows 10 Pro Version 1903 OS build 18362.449.  Photo App 2019.19071.17920.0.  iPhone 8 Plus with iOS 13.2.

Below are the things I have tried until I came across your solution!

1.       Updated Windows program and apps (to update apps go to MS Store and update all apps there)

2.       In Windows Apps and Features setting for Microsoft Photo and under Advanced settings, tried repair and reset the app.  It didn’t work.

3.       Updated iTunes to the latest revision

4.       Updated iPhone to the latest revision

5.       Tried different USB ports

6.       Tried to download photos from another phone (iPhone 8), with a lot fewer photos, around 700 photos) and it worked.

7.       Tried using the Windows Administrator account but still didn’t work

8.       Tried download photos using Windows Explorer and using the Import Pictures and Video right-click context menu.  This seems to work ok but had multiple errors about files not available or something like that (but doesn’t tell you which files!).

9.       Switched on iPhone Photo app settings from "Automatic" to "Keep Originals" (this will download .heic files from iPhone).  Still didn’t work.

10.   At this point, tried your solution and it worked!  Btw, using the Esc key is the same as using the Cancel button on the popup.  After the cancel, tried to download again and the Photo app was able to move on to the next step – which is to allow one to choose which photos to download.  

11.   During the download process there were numerous errors with the “Something went wrong” and to try again popup.  I had to shut down and reboot iPhone numerous times to get all the photos out. 

Yes, I have been doing the above, downloading 0 to 50 photos / videos at a time. Switching off the iPhone & iPad to do some more. About to spend a second day trying to download my holiday photos. I have better things to do than this all day and night. It wasn't a problem for me before Windows 10, so what has changed.

I think we all show just buy a Apple computer (MacBook or other) so we don't have this trouble that Windows refuses to admit to and fix so we can use computers they way they should work, that is be a time saver!

Yep! I get the same error message. I tried yesterday and today this method and it did actually end up working, but I was able to import one video at a time, two at the MAX. Then, after I repeated the process, I could only do it about two times more until the app would stop working completely and I’d have to try again tomorrow (because for some reason having some hours in between makes it magically work again?)

I believe there is supposed to be an update this coming up Tuesday that I’m praying fixes the app. Hopefully we can all live in peace after that, haha!

The only workaround I’ve found is setting my camera in the camera settings on iPhone to record in H.264, that way its compatible with Adobe Premiere CC 2018. I then would drag the videos directly from my Apple Drive (connected via USB) to my photos folder. Unfortunately, my other videos are doomed for now because they were recorded in HEVC/HEIC, a format not compatible with Adobe Premiere CC 2018. The Windows Photo app was the one that did the conversion, making the HEVC/HEIC videos compatible with Premiere BUT that’s not an option now, so I’ll just have to wait it out.

Again, thank you to everyone who has posted replies and shared ideas! 

-Gabriela

Hi Gabriela

Yes, totally happy its just not me and my leads causing the problem. I do hope this is fixed soon as I know my wife's phone is full and I tried without success to copy her photos a few weeks ago, so I have about 4000 photos still to go.  I did transfer some of my photos by using windows explorer and selecting them from the iPhone say 10-20 at a time and copied them to my PC folder, however this would still have problems and when the Windows App worked, copied the same ones again, so now I will have to go through the photos and delete the doubles. So more work.

So fingers crossed that Windows has this all covered with their next update and its out sooner rather than later!

This is working for me right now! It's in the process of importing as I type.

THANK YOU!

Hi, I am having exactly the same problem.  The app is freezing on trying to upload from SD card from my Canon camera, and using the leads from two Galaxy A3 phones, one version 2016 and one version 2017.  With the camera I am having to go into the SD card and copy and paste to a folder.  With the phones I'm having to remove the micro SD and do the same.

This is becoming a real pain as I am an amateur photographer and take a lot of photographs.  I admit I've not read the whole discussion here and will go back and read through to see if a solution is here.  If not, I would appreciate your help.

Very many thanks

Elaine