photographer new to iphone really struggling with photos

[imwjl]

thank you.

this morning after speaking with apple i tried again. in an hour i think 244 of the 2000 photos and videos i put into photos on my mac had shown up on my iphone. there are an additional 6000 photos and videos i would want access to on my device.

i don't think icloud and photos is the approach for me. i want to be able to control what i keep on my phone vs what i keep on my macbook. syncing across all devices really does not appeal to me. i don't want or need all my phone pics on my laptop. i just want to dump all of my previous phones' photos onto my new phone...

i was not expecting it to be so difficult. i thought i had figured it out days ago when i added photos using the finder. but then i couldn't delete them from my phone. the garbage can was greyed out. for a lifelong mac user this system is baffling to me.

I think you are making it more difficult than it is and not realizing how much the platforms and products are the same.

Sorry to sound harsh, but I know this stuff from our having near 1000 employees, having to know and use different platforms, and we have a lot of support to staff personal use. We have around 200 Apple device users and many in those 1000 who get personal support.

I've been through Adobe, Google, Microsoft and Apple migrations. Common cognitive bias issues get to people but the reality is it's not much different than ours and the fleet cars just have buttons in different places. If you are using a system that keeps originals or let's you revert to originals and offers the files on demand you will always have times of sync, processing and delay.

A few giants won here - photos and cloud. They are Adobe, Microsoft, Google and Alphabet. They're more alike than people and those firms would like to admit. I get the impression you might be like many tilting windmills here.

If you value those 6000 photos sync them to cloud, to multiple devices, and to another form of media. If you're not going to use photo management system features just use file sync but that will be its own mess with thousands of files.

 

[walterkurtz]

I think you are making it more difficult than it is and not realizing how much the platforms and products are the same.

Sorry to sound harsh, but I know this stuff from our having near 1000 employees, having to know and use different platforms, and we have a lot of support to staff personal use. We have around 200 Apple device users and many in those 1000 who get personal support.

I've been through Adobe, Google, Microsoft and Apple migrations. Common cognitive bias issues get to people but the reality is it's not much different than ours and the fleet cars just have buttons in different places. If you are using a system that keeps originals or let's you revert to originals and offers the files on demand you will always have times of sync, processing and delay.

A few giants won here - photos and cloud. They are Adobe, Microsoft, Google and Alphabet. They're more alike than people and those firms would like to admit. I get the impression you might be like many tilting windmills here.

If you value those 6000 photos sync them to cloud, to multiple devices, and to another form of media. If you're not going to use photo management system features just use file sync but that will be its own mess with thousands of files.

i agree. had lunch with a mate the other day. like literally everyone else in the film industry, he's an iphone user. i told him about my woes and he said 'you're over thinking it'...iphones are meant to be simple.

that being said i tried again last night. i ticked on icloud and photos on my new macbook, on my iphone and even logged into icloud on the web. i put photos into the photos app on my macbook. nothing happened anywhere else. i looked and it said 'unable to upload'. i searched the web for that error apparently it's fairly common. i tried a fix that seemed to work. i went to bed. i am up now and checked the iphone. photos is empty. just checked photos at icloud.com, also empty. i don't know what else to do. i'll probably walk to the apple store today. i think that will be my 6th time there this week? or i can use google. or use google's phone.

i'm going to try uploading directly to icloud.com but there may legitimately be a problem somewhere. and i absolutely agree it may be me. but i've used macs my entire life so apple's way of doing things isn't entirely foreign to me.

EDIT wow it seems to be working. bypassing photos on my MB and uploading directly to icloud.com. what a pain.

 

[imwjl]

i agree. had lunch with a mate the other day. like literally everyone else in the film industry, he's an iphone user. i told him about my woes and he said 'you're over thinking it'...iphones are meant to be simple.

that being said i tried again last night. i ticked on icloud and photos on my new macbook, on my iphone and even logged into icloud on the web. i put photos into the photos app on my macbook. nothing happened anywhere else. i looked and it said 'unable to upload'. i searched the web for that error apparently it's fairly common. i tried a fix that seemed to work. i went to bed. i am up now and checked the iphone. photos is empty. just checked photos at icloud.com, also empty. i don't know what else to do. i'll probably walk to the apple store today. i think that will be my 6th time there this week? or i can use google. or use google's phone.

i'm going to try uploading directly to icloud.com but there may legitimately be a problem somewhere. and i absolutely agree it may be me. but i've used macs my entire life so apple's way of doing things isn't entirely foreign to me.

Maybe you have a problem with your ISP and office or home office networking? I'm at well over 10,000 photos move to Apple now. All the background processing and AI takes a while but previews are there in a hurry.

At times when I help staff I find they don't even have 1 Mbps upload and crappy cheap home WiFi or crappy gear for free or rented from their ISP. This stuff also works better where I use Cisco and Ubiquiti. The mass marketers do sell a good Ubiquiti Amplify brand that works very well.

Even with network quality, when I batched a few hundred or near 2000 images it takes a while and that's same for all the platforms. You might just need to start and then leave alone what you're trying.

Something is an outlier here because you are having problems with what at scale I usually find an easy and reliable thing for our hundreds of staff members. Apple, Microsoft and Google have hundreds of millions of people doing this. It would be front page news if say 100-400 million people had something that didn't work or worked poorly.

 

[walterkurtz]

Maybe you have a problem with your ISP and office or home office networking? I'm at well over 10,000 photos move to Apple now. All the background processing and AI takes a while but previews are there in a hurry.

At times when I help staff I find they don't even have 1 Mbps upload and crappy cheap home WiFi or crappy gear for free or rented from their ISP. This stuff also works better where I use Cisco and Ubiquiti. The mass marketers do sell a good Ubiquiti Amplify brand that works very well.

Even with network quality, when I batched a few hundred or near 2000 images it takes a while and that's same for all the platforms. You might just need to start and then leave alone what you're trying.

Something is an outlier here because you are having problems with what at scale I usually find an easy and reliable thing for our hundreds of staff members. Apple, Microsoft and Google have hundreds of millions of people doing this. It would be front page news if say 100-400 million people had something that didn't work or worked poorly.

totally agree. i'm not even a digital photographer. i shoot film. and i imagine millions of others have had no problem moving photos on to their devices. and...update: it works!

after half an hour with apple support, i am currently syncing albums/photos from my MBA to my 13pro. i don't know what fixed it, logging out of apple ID or quitting or restarting for the umpteenth time, but it currently works. now i just have to decide if i want everything synced through icloud or if i should go back to manual syncing through finder. i think i would prefer the ability to delete from my phone without deleting anywhere else. and if i have to plug it in to do so that may be the cost of the additional level of control.

thanks for your advice!

 

[Lee_Bo]

i think this will be a one time pain and get easier after this initial transfer of thousands of photos.

As a photographer, it is a “one time pain” but that pain lasts a while. I went through the same issues when I moved from Android to Apple several years ago.

I’m about a 50/50 photographer (50% Canon and 50% iPhone) so I know then PITA you are going through. You’ll just have to figure out something that works for you and go with it. All my Canon photos are backed up to an external drive which is being backed up to a cloud service. I just let Photos handle my iPhone photos and move/edit/delete whatever I need to.

You’ll get there.

 

[imwjl]

As a photographer, it is a “one time pain” but that pain lasts a while. I went through the same issues when I moved from Android to Apple several years ago.

I’m about a 50/50 photographer (50% Canon and 50% iPhone) so I know then PITA you are going through. You’ll just have to figure out something that works for you and go with it. All my Canon photos are backed up to an external drive which is being backed up to a cloud service. I just let Photos handle my iPhone photos and move/edit/delete whatever I need to.

You’ll get there.

It it wasn't explicit in all this, I'm very happy with the way Lightroom keywords written to .jpg exports are kept in the Apple Photos move. I have thousands more to go in my reducing size of what's in Lightroom. I've always kept the operating systems's directories (folders) for anything in Lightroom structured by year and month so that's easy to keep copied to backup drives or cloud storage.

Also in all this, printing has become so much less of a thing that I've been happy writing out RAW to .jpg in the Lightroom exports to Apple Photos.

 

[walterkurtz]

i appreciate this. i can see it works well for you. and maybe i simply received a lemon. after using iphone all day yesterday i've come to conclude that iphone will likely make my life harder. it isn't even the photo management anymore, it's a host of other things. i love the camera interface on iphone. and of course the size of the actual device. but i am currently leaning android. i have to decide in the next few days.

 

[imwjl]

i appreciate this. i can see it works well for you. and maybe i simply received a lemon. after using iphone all day yesterday i've come to conclude that iphone will likely make my life harder. it isn't even the photo management anymore, it's a host of other things. i love the camera interface on iphone. and of course the size of the actual device. but i am currently leaning android. i have to decide in the next few days.

I'm not sure what you mean by a lemon. If you think that's the case Apple support will do extensive diagnosis remotely.

Have you set up and used the features known as handoff and continuity? Does your vehicle have Car Play?

As one who has to use and know all the popular platforms I get curious and sometimes mystified when a Mac user doesn't use or value those features. I know lens apps capture text with both platforms but another tremendous feature I don't think I could live without now is lasso text from images.

Apple Watch is another where I find the platform to be superior.

 

[Ed7789]

i appreciate this. i can see it works well for you. and maybe i simply received a lemon. after using iphone all day yesterday i've come to conclude that iphone will likely make my life harder. it isn't even the photo management anymore, it's a host of other things. i love the camera interface on iphone. and of course the size of the actual device. but i am currently leaning android. i have to decide in the next few days.

It is okay that the iPhone does not meet all your needs. Not every device meets everyone's needs, and that's normal.

As long as you gave it a fair shot

it isn't even the photo management anymore, it's a host of other things.

Just curious, what are those other things?

 

[walterkurtz]

It is okay that the iPhone does not meet all your needs. Not every device meets everyone's needs, and that's normal.

As long as you gave it a fair shot



Just curious, what are those other things?

always on display (AOD) is a big one. i like not having to pick up my phone to see if i have missed anything. also the notifications: with iphone they're either really intrusive (constantly waking the screen or dipping into the screen) or turned off completely. the sounds: i spent an hour yesterday trying to turn off the swooshing sent message sound in imessage. it can't be done unless you also turn off the incoming message sound. i can't turn off the annoying camera shutter sound unless i silence the phone entirely.

it just feels like i have to work for the phone instead of making the phone work for me. i love the cameras and the size of the 13 pro. but i am not sure it's worth sacrificing everything i prefer about android's way which is basically my way.

 

[walterkurtz]

I'm not sure what you mean by a lemon. If you think that's the case Apple support will do extensive diagnosis remotely.

Have you set up and used the features known as handoff and continuity? Does your vehicle have Car Play?

As one who has to use and know all the popular platforms I get curious and sometimes mystified when a Mac user doesn't use or value those features. I know lens apps capture text with both platforms but another tremendous feature I don't think I could live without now is lasso text from images.

Apple Watch is another where I find the platform to be superior.

i guess i'm old school. i want my phone to be separate from my macbook and my ipad. they each serve their own individual purposes. on the flipside of the apple integration you mention is google. coming from android i am accustomed to having a google search bar on my phone's home screen. i am also used to using "okay google", google maps not apple maps and google translate not apple's. i have been alternating between both devices (pixel 6 and iphone 13 pro) for a week and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. i am sure either one will be an excellent choice. i just have to decide now if the size and camera of the 13 is worth giving up every other phone convenience i adore on android. it's just so easy to change things you don't like. on iphone i have to change me.

 

[FFR]

i guess i'm old school. i want my phone to be separate from my macbook and my ipad. they each serve their own individual purposes. on the flipside of the apple integration you mention is google. coming from android i am accustomed to having a google search bar on my phone's home screen. i am also used to using "okay google", google maps not apple maps and google translate not apple's. i have been alternating between both devices (pixel 6 and iphone 13 pro) for a week and they both have their strengths and weaknesses. i am sure either one will be an excellent choice. i just have to decide now if the size and camera of the 13 is worth giving up every other phone convenience i adore on android. it's just so easy to change things you don't like. on iphone i have to change me.

That’s pretty weird that you want your phone to be separate from your iPad and MacBook .

on iphone i have to change me.

But if believe your identify is based on the phone you are using then perhaps you should stick with the pixel, instead of trying to turn iOS into android.

 

[walterkurtz]

That’s pretty weird that you want your phone to be separate from your iPad and MacBook .




But if believe your identify is based on the phone you are using then perhaps you should stick with the pixel, instead of trying to turn iOS into android.

haha no not my identity. but i like doing things my way, making the phone work for me not the other way around. i still haven't decided. but the fact the every grandparent i know uses iphone might be the best endorsement for android.

 

[FFR]

but the fact the every grandparent i know uses iphone might be the best endorsement for android.

Technically around 60% of every phone sold globally above $400 is an iPhone… so .

I won’t even bring up the market share for device above $800 ….. grandparents, teens, and everyone in between .

 

[imwjl]

haha no not my identity. but i like doing things my way, making the phone work for me not the other way around. i still haven't decided. but the fact the every grandparent i know uses iphone might be the best endorsement for android.

You don't really get to do this stuff "your way" but you can choose what you are used to or like. I was in our MDM earlier and it makes no difference if I'm managing a few dozen Androids or Apples - the platforms determine how it works and what I can do.

My guess here is you are not aware of or don't know the handoff and continuity features. Maybe your work flow or job is one where the phone and a desktop computer are so vital or part of it. I take the time or make the effort for people to be aware because they're among the few true productivity boosters in recent years. That with M1 Air pricing is fundamentally changing what our users request.

My guess in all this is you know what's familiar and that's fine for lots of things.

 

[walterkurtz]

You don't really get to do this stuff "your way" but you can choose what you are used to or like. I was in our MDM earlier and it makes no difference if I'm managing a few dozen Androids or Apples - the platforms determine how it works and what I can do.

My guess here is you are not aware of or don't know the handoff and continuity features. Maybe your work flow or job is one where the phone and a desktop computer are so vital or part of it. I take the time or make the effort for people to be aware because they're among the few true productivity boosters in recent years. That with M1 Air pricing is fundamentally changing what our users request.

My guess in all this is you know what's familiar and that's fine for lots of things.

nooo i'm not familiar with the handoff or continuity features. i don't work in a typical office and try to spend less time on screens overall. but to your bigger point? i am simply unfamiliar with iOS. i'm sure i will learn more about it the longer i use it. and undoubtedly there are tips tricks and solutions to discover along the way. just yesterday i learned i could open google by tapping twice on the back of the phone. that's great. but having to keep my entire phone silent to disable the shutter sound and sent message swoosh along with no AOD might be a deal breaker. i really am trying to keep this iphone, but i'm running out of time before i have to return one of these phones to their respective maker.

 

[imwjl]

nooo i'm not familiar with the handoff or continuity features. i don't work in a typical office and try to spend less time on screens overall. but to your bigger point? i am simply unfamiliar with iOS. i'm sure i will learn more about it the longer i use it. and undoubtedly there are tips tricks and solutions to discover along the way. just yesterday i learned i could open google by tapping twice on the back of the phone. that's great. but having to keep my entire phone silent to disable the shutter sound and sent message swoosh along with no AOD might be a deal breaker. i really am trying to keep this iphone, but i'm running out of time before i have to return one of these phones to their respective maker.

I don't think I can help you. I supervise and do this at scale for around 1000 people. We manage near 200 Androids and Apples. The differences are in some ways not that much, and where they are very significant and productivity boosters I perceive you have common cognitive biases that make user support and training difficult.

You said trying to spend less time at screens overall. That is the #1 reason I use my MacBook/iPhone combo over having top shelf versions of about everything available. Nothing else puts all I have to do in once place, with that much battery life, and performance. This is not like my work place where my team is competent in all you've mentioned and where I have authority over willful ignorance but I tried to help you.

Good luck.

 

[FFR]

I perceive you have common cognitive biases that make user support and training difficult.

Good luck.