Utility script for downloading photos/images from the iPhone. Optionally converts HEIC files to JPG with `heif-convert` util. Meant for Linux but could work elsewhere. `heif-convert` is available through the `libheif-examples` package on Ubuntu, for example.

fetch-iphone-photos.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

# HEIC image conversion depends on the heif-convert cmd utility,
# available through the `libheif-examples` package on Ubuntu, for example.

import os
import glob
import argparse
import datetime
import shutil
import subprocess


def fetch_iphone_photos(
        source_dir, target_dir,
        from_date=None, to_date=None,
        include=tuple(), exclude=tuple(),
        convert_heic=False):
    '''
    from_date and to_date are formated as 'YYYY-MM-DD' or None
    include and exclude are a list of extensions, i.e. ('png', 'jpg', 'mov')
    '''
    if from_date is not None:
        from_date = datetime.date.fromisoformat(from_date)
    if to_date is not None:
        to_date = datetime.date.fromisoformat(to_date)

    if include:
        include = [ext.upper() for ext in include]
    if exclude:
        exclude = [ext.upper() for ext in exclude]

    for path in glob.iglob(os.path.join(source_dir, '**'), recursive=True):
        file_basename = os.path.basename(path)
        file_name, file_ext = os.path.splitext(file_basename)
        path_date = datetime.date.fromtimestamp(os.path.getmtime(path))

        if os.path.isdir(path):
            continue
        if from_date and path_date < from_date:
            continue
        if to_date and to_date > to_date:
            continue

        file_ext = file_ext[1:].upper()
        if include:
            if file_ext not in include:
                continue
        elif exclude:
            if file_ext in exclude:
                continue

        target_subdir = os.path.join(target_dir, path_date.strftime('%Y/%m/%d'))
        os.makedirs(target_subdir, exist_ok=True)

        if file_ext == 'HEIC' and convert_heic:
            target_path = os.path.join(target_subdir, '%s.JPG' % file_name)
            subprocess.run(['heif-convert', '-q', '100', path, target_path], check=True)
            shutil.copystat(path, target_path)
        else:
            target_path = os.path.join(target_subdir, file_basename)
            shutil.copy2(path, target_path)

        print('%s --> %s' % (path, target_path))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=(
            'Fetch photos from iPhone, optionally convert HEIC. '
            'Uses [TARGET-DIR]/YYYY/MM/DD/<file> directory format. '
            'This is a utility script meant to help get photos into Shotwell.'
        ))

    parser.add_argument(
        metavar='SOURCE-DIR', dest='src_dir',
        help='DCIM folder on iPhone')

    parser.add_argument(
        metavar='TARGET-DIR', dest='dst_dir',
        help='Location to copy photos to')

    parser.add_argument(
        '--from', dest='from_date', default=None,
        help='Optional start date cutoff for the copy. Format is YYYY-MM-DD.')

    parser.add_argument(
        '--to', dest='to_date', default=None,
        help='Optional end date cutoff for the copy. Format is YYYY-MM-DD.')

    parser.add_argument(
        '--include', dest='include', action='append',
        help='Only include the given file extension. Option can be used multiple times.')

    parser.add_argument(
        '--exclude', dest='exclude', action='append',
        help='Exclude the given file extension. Option can be used multiple times.')

    parser.add_argument(
        '--convert-heic', dest='convert_heic', default=False, action='store_true',
        help='Convert source HEIC to JPG in target dir. Requires the heif-convert util.')

    args = parser.parse_args()

    fetch_iphone_photos(
        args.src_dir, args.dst_dir,
        from_date=args.from_date, to_date=args.to_date,
        include=args.include, exclude=args.exclude,
        convert_heic=args.convert_heic)