Fujifilm Cam Remote App Not Transferring Photos?
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For the past several months I've been - to put it politely - pissed that I haven't been able to transfer photos from my Fujifilm X cameras over to my phone (iPhone) using the Fujifilm Cam Remote App. It was working fine one day then just stopped.
Since I always strive for perfect JPEGs now and often get them, I love sharing photos right after I capture them. Capture, play back, start transfer, share. Or I can just transfer them over to the phone for a quick crop or straighten and my processing is complete.
Lately, the Cam Remote App has been hanging up when I try to transfer photos. I could connect my phone and my camera, but image transfer was impossible. It'd forever get stuck on "trying to connect" no matter which order of things I tried doing. The Bluetooth connection was fine but WiFi was out to lunch.
But I really wanted to get this figured out before heading to Peru since electricity is limited and I wouldn't always have my laptop with me.
So I went over to the App Store to see who else was having these problems. The app was last updated 11 months ago and has a rating of 1.4 stars. Not promising. I started going through the reviews.
Then I found one review with help that made the app work flawlessly.
NOTE (3/31/2023): These problems have all been solved with the new Fujifilm XApp! If you have a Bluetooth-capable camera and have not started using the new app yet, read how to use Fujifilm XApp.
Update your iPhone recently?
In this review, the user mentions that he could no longer transfer images after updating his iPhone.
Bluetooth was still working but no WiFi after the phone update. Must be a software incompatibility after the iOS update. Though I couldn't remember if my problems started after a phone update, it sounded very similar.
This user thankfully noticed something wasn't right.
The back of the camera said it was connecting to iPhone-5002 (or whatever number), but the app said his phone was called iPhone-5003 (a different number). The camera will never make a WiFi connection if it thinks it's supposed to connect to a different device. Bluetooth will work, but WiFi not so much.
When you're connecting a camera to your phone via WiFi, you have the option of pressing OK on the camera to connect to a different device than the one it's currently trying to connect to. Pressing OK allowed him select the new number, iPhone-5003, and it worked.
So that's exactly what I did too. I tried starting the connection as I've been unsuccessfully able to do for months now. Looking at the back of the camera screen, I noticed that it was trying to connect to a different named phone than the name on the Fujifilm Cam Remote App. I pressed OK on the camera, selected the "new" phone, and voila, image transfer works.
An easy fix
I don't know how or why this happened. Did the iOS update rename the phone in the app? I sure as hell didn't rename the phone. A mystery.
That's not important.
What's important is knowing that this is the cause for many people's frustrations, and there's a fix to it that only requires you to hit one button.
I could have sworn that I also tried deleting the pairing registration and then starting over with a new pairing registration and still couldn't get it to work. You could try that too, but just pressing OK to fix the phone's number is a quick guaranteed fix.
If any Android users are having similar problems, I'm afraid I don't have any specific experience with that. But you may want to look to see if the name of your phone is the same on both the camera connection screen and the Fujifilm Cam Remote App screen.
Ever since doing this fix I've been able to transfer images from my camera to my phone with lightning speed and a 100% success rate over the past ten days while on this trip.
One other thing to make sure you always do is to initiate image transfer from the camera playback screen. While reviewing an image, press the Function button (usually the little one next to the shutter button) to start the connection. Then once it connects, on the app, select either "Import images selected on camera" to select the currently displayed photos for transfer, or "Import images selected on app" to select from a grid displayed on the app. I find it easier and faster to "Import images selected on camera."
I hope that helps!
I haven't transferred in a while, but good to know this for the next time I try! Thanks for another informative post.
Thought I'd point something out I picked up on a Fuji forum somewhere, since so many people have frustration with the app. This is foolproof for me, but sounds a little different from your method.
1) Turn on "wireless communication" (by clicking on it) on the camera. (I have an X100V, so this info is for that camera. I haven't ever used any other Fuji models, so... grain of salt.) This, I think, is a key source of confusion. "Wireless Communication" is the last item in the "Shooting menu" (the one with the little camera icon). Fuji should really put this item in the "Connection Setting" (which is under the "tools" menu) to make logical sense. Turning on "Wireless Communication" causes the camera to create a wi-fi network called "Fuji (something or other...)".
2) Now, on your iDevice (once again, I have done this with an iPhone and an iPad; I have no idea how things work on Android though I assume it's similar), go to the "Settings" (the iOS settings, that is, forget the Fuji app for a moment) and connect your device to the new "Fuji..." wifi network.
3) Now that you're connected to the Fuji wi-fi, GO BACK to the actual Fuji "Cam Remote" app and open it. You should now be able to click on "Import images selected on app" and the device will show you what's on the camera. You can also choose live view on the phone if you want.
It seems like the key problem is if you do this the usual way -- turn on the app, let it try to talk to the camera, create a wifi network, then have the device talk to the camera -- something gets screwed up in the camera trying to control the device. By starting the wifi yourself, then connecting the device to the Fuji wifi yourself, you avoid the problems created by the camera trying to control your device.
I have also found -- as in your explanation -- that if I previously connected to my phone, and then want to connect to my iPad, I have to hit the "ok" button (as in your description) to tell the camera it's okay to connect to this "new" device. (It's "new" in the sense that the last device I connected to was the phone, although I have connected to the iPad many times in the past).
So far as I know, I have no "pairing registration"s at all; I deleted them all at some point while trying to get the app to work. It seems that by using the above method, you don't need any "pairing registration". In fact, I have bluetooth turned off to save battery life. Once again, I have no idea if this will work with other cameras, or just with mine.
Anyway, in my experience this is the simplest and most reliable connection method and someone really oughta make a youtube video explaining this... 🙂
Yeah I had tried all combinations of connecting but it just wasn't working - that's because I had assumed that a connection I had already created (and I only use one device) wouldn't randomly be changed by the phone one day. Didn't think I'd have to press the "OK" button because I only used one device 🙂
That said, before this problem and after fixing this problem I've never had any issues transferring images by simply pressing the Fn button in Playback mode. Easy and seems faster than creating the network in the camera menus, going to the settings on my phone and joining the network, back to the app...
It does sound like a good idea for a video 🙂
@Paul Duke, this worked for me - thank you SO much. so glad I found your comment within this post.
Thanks a bunch, this helped me out! Even though I didn't update my iPhone recently, re-affirming the connection with my phone (even though the number has remained unchanged) got the file transfer up and running again.
I get your preference for "import images selected on camera," but if you use the option to select the images in the app, don't be deterred by the grid view. You can select individual images and swipe between them to see them on your phone screen. It's true that the in-camera option is faster though, as the individual images in the app may take a few fractions of a second to load. 🙂
Yeah, if you're importing a lot of photos, doing it from the phone might be faster. I usually just import a couple and doing it from the camera seems to be faster 🙂
I was having the same problem. After a few experiments I realized the camera will only transfer JPEG files, and not RAW. If I have a card with photos in both formats, my new X-T4 only transfers the JPEGs. Maybe that behavior will change, but for now, that's the way it works.
Mark
Yeah sorry I didn't mention that, it's in the camera manual, it will only transfer JPGs. RAWs would be too unwieldy. You'll need to either use the in-camera RAW converter to create a JPG or record JPGs also. The only way to transfer a RAW file to a smartphone or tablet is via a card reader.
Thank you! XT20 and Android here. I started the Fuji app, started the XT20 transfer mode, and pressed Ok to change the device. Phone was listed, ok to select it, and everything worked again!
Quick tip to get the XT20 camera into the Transfer mode:
Press Play to see your photos
Press Fn button
Done!
Thanks again
Thanks for posting this. This was working for me for awhile, but for some reason in the last week or so, this stopped working for me. I tried clearing all past setting in my X100V and reinstalling the app several times, and now the X100V is not even giving me the screen that confirms the phone name and gives you the "OK Change" button - it basically goes straight to the screen that usually appeared after pressing the "OK Change" button. Any new thoughts on getting the app to work? Not sure how else to get my photos to my phone, other than going the long way around through downloading from the card, to the computer, to the phone.
Have you tried adding the camera as a new camera through the app? Start with a fresh "camera list" (the icon in the upper-left); remove any cameras that might be there. Then go through the procedures to Add Camera from the app.
I've found this to fix many problems when initiating the connection through the camera isn't working properly.
I have tried this as well. Just doesn’t work. Occasionally it connects but mostly not.
Some Fujifilm reps have recently advised not to use the app since they're coming out with an entirely new app. It just takes persistence and luck, from what I can tell, with the old app. My X-T4 works most of the time. My X-T5 works all of the time so far. My X100V and X-T30II hardly work at all. I don't get it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks. I am currently unable to transfer my photographs from my new XT-5 camera by WiFi to my Android Smartphone..I was able to do this with all my previous XT series cameras. I've even uninstalled and re-installed the App. The App still defaults to my XT-2 (not XT-3!) and for some reason does not read my XT-5. The XT-5 WiFi transfer information on the screen is correctly displayed. Frankly, the Fujifilm App is a disgrace.
Yeah the app is embarrassing for sure. I've heard through the grapevine that they'll be releasing an entirely redesigned app soon - and I hope it works!
Funnily enough, my X-T5 performs the best with the app (iOS) out of all of my other Fujifilm cameras.
Have you tried removing all cameras from the app and starting fresh, rather than just uninstalling and reinstalling?
Genius. I have been struggling with the same issue fo a while and now fixed. Thanks!
Finally this works ????
Thank you so much!!