Import iPhone Photos without iPhoto

Recently I was asked how to import your photo collection on your iPhone if you don't have iPhoto install on your Mac. You would think it would be as simple as selecting the photos you want to import through iTunes, right? Unfortunately this is not the case and iTunes for Mac uses iPhoto (part of iLife) to handle importing of photos. This feature works great unless you dont have iPhoto installed (like me).

Thankfully there is another option built right into Mac OS X, and it is just as simple as iTunes/iPhoto. You need to connect your iPhone (or iPad/iPod) and open the application "Image Capture" from your "Applications" folder or Spotlight.

This is a simple application that allows you to import images from any connected device, such as cameras or scanners. Once loaded you should see your connected devices listed on the left.

From here you can highlight the photos you want to import and click "Import" in the bottom right. Image Capture also has a host of additional features, such as displaying meta information for the photos (including geo-location).