Apple Photos App Corrupts Images: A Debugging Odyssey
2025-09-17
The author experienced significant image corruption (up to 30%) when importing photos from their OM System camera into Apple Photos. Initially suspecting hardware issues, they systematically replaced cables, SD cards, laptops, and even cameras, yet the problem persisted. The culprit turned out to be Apple Photos itself, specifically the simultaneous deletion and import of photos. To resolve this, the author switched to Darktable for photo management, culling and processing images before importing them into Apple Photos. This lengthy debugging process, while frustrating, resulted in a solution and the bonus of redundant hardware.