Slow photo transfer from iPhone 17 Pro Max to Mac Mini Photos.

I am transferring photos from my iPhone 17 Pro Max to the Photos app on my Mac Mini. I have done this a zillion times before with my previous phone and previous MacOS, but this time the transfer is positively glacial. It has literally taken 15 minutes to transfer 15 (out of 179) photos. Are there some new settings that I need to add? I'm doing everything that has always worked very well before, but it's not working this time. Some suggestions, please.

Posted on Oct 31, 2026 11:56 AM

1 reply

OldToad

Level 4 (1,299 points)

Oct 31, 2026 4:05 PM in response to Camping Doc

Give the a try:

1 - disconnect your iPhone from the Mac and do a forced reboot: Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

2 - boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac , connect your iPhone via USB cable and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot the Mac normally and text again.

Note: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.