"Syncing" Photos from iTunes into Camera Roll

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Last modified: Feb 24, 2017 7:11 PM
11 36505 Last modified Feb 24, 2017 7:11 PM

I have come across various users who would like to copy or sync photos from their computer into the iPhone's Camera Roll. These users do not have iCloud Photo Library enabled nor any of the other iCloud options, Photostream or Photo Sharing. The normal method of syncing using iTunes forces the photos into a separate album(s), not into Camera Roll. These photos cannot be deleted directly from iOS devices. To delete the album(s) one must do a new sync through iTunes with no photos selected.


The following workaround will place photos from a computer into Camera Roll as some users prefer, and would allow any of the photos to be deleted directly from the iPhone in the future.


First perform a normal manual sync as described in the lower section of this article under "Sync your photos manually with iTunes". Keep your photos safely stored and up to date on all your devices - Apple Support


On the iPhone, open the Photos App, select Albums, then on the newly created synced album(s), click on Select > Select All > then click on the box with the up arrow on the lower left, then on Duplicate. This will place a copy of all the photos into Camera Roll. Then perform a new sync through iTunes with no photos selected to delete the album that was synced originally. The duplicated photos will remain in Camera Roll (they are not pointers) while the synced album will be erased. The only drawback I have encountered with this method is that the user has no control regarding the order of photos in Camera Roll. The photos will be sorted by "date created" (not date taken) and the created date will be based on the order iOS chooses to duplicate the photos above. One can duplicate one photo at a time thus choosing the desired order but this would be time consuming for large albums.

The duplicated photos can be deleted directly from the iPhone if desired and they can also be imported and/or copied / pasted back to the computer since they reside in Camera Roll.


This User Tips is based on the following thread and should work on iPads as well.

Re: Save photos from computer directly into camera roll or similar?


Also, in regards to the order of photos in iOS, a previous User Tip may be of interest.

Order of Photos in iOS

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