Photos app freezes upon import / photo importing problems

Hello everyone again!

So unfortunately, the November update did not help as I’m sure most of you know. The only thing that it allowed me to do is to get one SINGLE video through every day. For some reason, if at least one video gets through, to upload another one I have to shut down my computer and try again the next day. This obviously isn’t very efficient and makes no sense!

Aside from that, I really don’t have any more updates or possible solutions. It’s only a waiting game now. 

Regardless, have a nice day everyone! (and Happy early Thanksgiving to those who celebrate)

-Gabriela

I've done a lot of messing around with this problem. I'm a Windows programmer, so to see this issue persist for such a long time makes my blood boil - Microsoft will say it is a problem with the Apple driver that connects with the iPhone, and Apple will say it is a problem with the Windows software. I say it is both.

The thing is, it appears that the driver attempts to convert the images and videos on the iPhone to a form acceptable to the PC - like converting .heic photos to .jpg, or converting movies. I believe this is where the problem begins - a think particular images or movies are failing the conversion, and the driver either faults and stops in its tracks without detecting the problem gracefully, or Windows Photos does not handle the fault in a graceful manner and just blocks or crashes

I've found that...

• set the phone to download the images in original format. Windows 10 can now handle .heic images.
• movies that have been slo-moed or timelapsed may cause problems.
• images that originate from sources other than the camera can cause problems.

Going through and deleting those on the phone may work.

In the end, with 9,000+ photos and movies on my phone, I gave up. I tried iCloud photos - unbelievably slow - would have taken months to upload. In the end I just paid for Google Photos space - took a few days to upload but it worked and now I have a backup.

I reckon it is about time for a class action against Apple and Microsoft for blatantly ignoring this issue for so long, treating people with contempt by not acknowledging the value of our personal photos and movies, and providing pathetic solutions to the problem over and over again, like - have you updated iTunes and Windows - of course we have - we are not bloody stupid!

Come on Microsoft - pull your bloody fingers out of your holes and get together with the Apple engineers and solve this problem ASAP!

This happens with my Galaxy Note 8 also, so my money is on Microsoft....

I too have the issue with the photos app freezing when trying to import pics from my iphone.  The problems started when I purchased my iPhone 8 and needed to import a large number of pics.  I am always able to eventually get the photos over but it is not easy.  The pattern I notice is if there are a large number to import (hundreds-thousands) or large (a.k.a long) videos.  The only way I am able to do it is by rebooting Windows 10 PC (seems to act the same no matter what build I am on - currently on 1903) and restarting my iPhone 8.  I have to work in small batches.  If I imported 50-80 photos, sometimes I get a second shot at importing more pics before having to reboot both devices.  If I try over, 100 I always have to reboot both.  I import videos separately.  This has been a problem for me for 2 years.  Hope this helps diagnosis problem.

Thanks for that. Think I am just going to use a card reader - RJ 

Please can you tell me how that works - a card reader.  I am having the same problem as everyone else but nothing else has helped.  I don't understand what a card reader is.  Duh, I know. Sorry.

Under "this PC or my computer", right click on "Apple iPhone" and click on "Import Pictures and Videos", this will bypass the "windows photos" app problem and will import your photos from the iphone.

Does not work - gets a little way though then gets an error with a file. Skip the file and I get an error with the next file. It does not recover.