Image Capture Not Working? I Finally Solved This With 1 Amazing App [iMazing Review]

Is your Image Capture not working? Neither is mine! It has been full of glitches on and off for over a year.

The main problems I had with Image Capture on Mac is that 1) it wouldn’t recognize my phone no matter which fixes I tried 2) it would give me some error message halfway into an upload and 3) it would freeze.

I probably look up this issue online at least every other month trying to figure out different solutions but none has worked permanently.

As a result, I looked up a better Image Capture alternative because I could not deal with my maxed out phone. And before you say it, I don’t like having my photos on iCloud. I prefer to manually download them into an external hard drive so I can better sort through them.

If you’re having issues with your Image Capture not working like me, read on for:

• some fixes that might work for you (but didn’t for me)
• and a much better alternative to Image Capture that won’t have any issues.

I tested it out myself transferring 1000s of photos and will show you screenshots!

Please note that this is a reader-supported site.
Purchases made through genuinely recommended links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

---

Is Your Image Capture Not Working? Here’s What Finally Worked For Me

Too lazy to read this whole post and just want to find a better alternative to your Image Capture not working?

Get iMazing, which not only transfers your images without a problem.

It converts your HEIC files to JPG in the process and can handle multiple transfers at once (see image above).

If you don’t want to resort to getting a new program, then continue reading this post to learn more about Image Capture and solutions to fixing it before seeking another option.

---

What is Image Capture?

Image Capture is a Mac app that allows you to transfer photos from your iPhone or scanner to your Mac without iTunes or the Photos app.

It allows you to bulk delete photos and view the images as files.

It’s simply a tool for transferring and deleting images and does not sort them like the Photos app.

---

Why use Image Capture over iCloud?

Everyone has their own reason for using Image Capture over iCloud or Photos to sort photos, but personally, I don’t like all my images in the cloud.

I have so many screenshots and random pictures I don’t need to fill up my cloud space with and a specific method of organization. Thus, I like to manually sort my photos into folders and delete any I don’t need in the future.

Call me cheap… or practical… but I also don’t like paying an increasing amount of money for iCloud space to store all the hundreds of photos I take a month (for my travel blog and Instagram).

Using Image Capture ultimately saves money and helps me with organizing photos the way that I want.

---

My Issue With Image Capture Not Working

When Image Capture did work, I did not like how it would transfer over each Live Photo from my iPhoto as both .HEIC file and video. It took up so much space on my external hard drive. iMazing solved this.

However, I was lucky if Image Capture worked.

I’ve had several issues with Image Capture not working but these are the main ones I experienced. Image Capture:

1. Didn’t recognize my phone even with it unlocked and after restarting my computer and the app
2. Said it had deleted my photos but it didn’t. When I checked my phone, they were still there
3. Would freeze in the middle of a transfer
4. Would have some error pop up when opening up the app immediately

As you can see, using Image Capture was frustrating. As a result, I would ignore the photos on my phone for months, which would max out the storage space I had.

Then because I’d run out of space, I’d try Image Capture again, which would only result in some type of issue and force me to try the same solutions over and over that didn’t work.

In the next section, I’ll share some of the solutions I tried but didn’t work for me. I hope they work for me!

---

Solutions for Image Capture Not Working

If your Image Capture isn’t working, here are a handful of supposedly easy fixes for Image Capture. Here’s a summary of them from Tenorshare.com.

1. Error 9912 – Make sure the connection between your iPhone and Mac is properly working. Check your USB cable.
2. Error 9937 – Your picture formatting is compatible with your Mac so you need to change your Camera settings from High Efficiency photo capture to Most Compatible. This is under Settings -> Camera -> Formats.
3. Error 9956 – A security feature might be preventing your photos from being imported. Add Image Capture to allowed apps under System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Full Disk Access and select Image Capture.
4. Error 9934 and 28 – The folder you’re trying to add photos doesn’t allow you to add pictures into it. Update its permission to both Read & Write.
5. Error 21355 – There is an issue with Catalina being incompatible with Image Capture so you can try to restart your laptop or try an Image Capture alternative.

If you’re like me and you’ve tried all these ways to fix Image Capture but still have no luck, then you’ll want to use this super relivable Image Capture alternative I found just days ago but already love and had to write about.

I was able to clear out 1000s of photos from my phone with no problem.

---

Reliable Image Capture Alternative With .HEIC to .JPG Conversion

Love a phone with tons of storage!

If you’ve tried all of the above solutions or just want to skip the hassle of figuring out why your Image Capture isn’t working, I recommend getting iMazing, an Image Capture alternative. It’s what helped me free of a ton of storage on my iPhone.

Fed up with all the times Image Capture didn’t work, I downloaded the free version of iMazing, which to be honest didn’t work well with the image transfer.

Although that would be usually be a clear sign not to buy the program, since I really needed space on my phone, I went ahead and bought the paid version hoping that it would work better.

The paid version of iMazing worked so much better than the free version, and I was over the moon!

Download your iCloud photos without a problem with iMazing here.

I was able to clearly see which photos I had on my phone, deleted the ones I didn’t want and moved the rest to my external hard drive quickly. I was even really aggressive with the app as I did multiple transfers to various locations on my Mac at once with no issues (see image above).

Even better, I was even able to convert the .HEIC files to .JPG as they transferred over and also solved the annoying issue that Image Capture had of having a photo + video file of every Live Photo I took.

Within an hour, my 1000s of photos dating back to over a year ago were all transferred to my Mac and external hard drive with no issues. FINALLY!

---

iMazing Review for Transferring Photos From iPhone to Mac

If you need to move your photos from your phone safely onto your laptop (Mac or PC), I would definitely recommend iMazing.

Here’s a mini iMazing review on why you should or should not get this app.

iMazing Review- Pros

When it comes to transferring photos from your iPhone to your Mac, iMazing does this all without a problem. Here’s what I enjoyed about the app based on the issues I had with Image Capture.

• It recognized my phone without a problem.
• All the image files transferred smoothly.
• It deleted photos on my iPhone in one go.
• I ran multiple transfers to various locations on my Mac and external hard drive without an issue.

In the midst of getting screenshots from the app for my blog post, I also noticed that my phone was connected to my app wirelessly!

This means you can back up your iPhone, photos, etc. without even needing to connect your phone to your Mac with a USB cable.

Lastly, I didn’t use iMazing for this purpose, but there are so many components of your phone that you can use it for. You can do an overall backup, or you can export certain parts of your phone such as Music or Whatsapp conversations.

iMazing Review- Con

The only reason you might not want to get it is because iMazing costs $34.99 for lifetime use.

There is a free version that allows you 50 photos (per month maybe?) but I found that the free version didn’t work well and the paid version worked as it should.

Nonetheless, I wish I had found iMazing sooner. It definitely would’ve saved me $34.99 in time.

---

Save yourself the headache of trying to fix your Image Capture not working and get iMazing.

---

---

Was this helpful? Please share the wealth on:

Image Capture Not Working (iMazing Review)