Removing iPod Photo Cache

I could use help in this area too. Removing the iPod photo cache doesn't eliminate the bloated photo-storage-space on my iPhone. Plus, it just gets created again after syncing.

I also tried deleting the iPod Photo Cache folder, then unchecking the photo syncing on the iPhone photo tab, then syncing again. It did not sync the photos again and it did not create the Photo cache, but the extra, completely unnecessary (yellow/photo) storage space it takes up on my iPhone is still there.

anyone? if not, i wonder if i should drive to the apple store. maybe a genius (:D) would know

LenBerisha,

This article gives a bit more information on iPod Photo Cache from Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1314

And yes, the size can become larger than the original folder you are syncing from. This is expected, and there is really no way around this other than trashing and recreating the folder. You can submit feedback to Apple on this at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Hope this helps,

Raleigh

Hi Raleigh,
Thanks for posting. Would you know about the more pressing problem? It's not the iPod Photo Cache on our computer's hard drive which can just be deleted, but the enormous space on the iPhone that these "optimized" photos take up. The iPod Photo Cache thing is part of the process of syncing, but the frustration comes from the fact that syncing photos from computer to iPhone takes up valuable memory on the iPhone. In fact, it takes up about FIFTY TIMES the space (on the iPhone) that the actual photos should use! This is really horrible.

burnspammers,

In your previous post I see you've noted that you deselected "Sync Photos" and applied, which should erase the photos from the iPhone therefore no "yellow" space should be indicated in iTunes.

Since doing this did not erase the space dedicated for photos on your iPhone, it seems you may be experiencing a software issue on the iPhone itself (since it's not behaving as expected). In cases like this, I've found the best resolution is to restore the iPhone, setting it up as new and re-syncing the photos back.

Backing Up, updating, and restoring your iPhone and iPod touch software
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414

I personally just deleted the iPod Photo Cache, synced over a groups of photos 10.3MB in size (as shown on my computer), which re-created the iPod Photo Cache folder at 4KB and took up 6.5MB on my iPhone. This particular group of photos were originally taken with my iPhone, so I did the test again only this time syncing over a larger amount of photos originally taken with my Canon camera. This group of photos shows up as 138.7MB in size on my computer, created the same amount of iPod Photo Cache as before (4KB), and only took up 52.9 MB of space on my iPhone.

I did test syncing a few more times in an attempt to "bloat" the size of iPod Photo Cache and the amount of space taken on the iPhone, however the sizes didn't really change, even though iTunes displayed it was optimizing the photos, then synced them.

Hope this helps,

Raleigh

LenBerisha,

Yes, you're correct. Since I last posted my iPod Photo Cache has expanded to 59.7MB total (with each file at 656KB each), with still 60.2MB of space taken on my iPhone for photos. However, I'm not sure how you could work around this process. The photos on your computer, which may be of varying size are not all optimized to display reasonably on your iPhone. Your iPhone's display is much smaller than your computer and utilizes a different resolution, so most of the time the images are far too large to fit properly. For this reason the image may have to be compressed, or in some cases made larger if the image on your computer is smaller. This is done for aesthetic purposes.

With that said, you can always send Apple feedback on this at http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html . I'm just trying to convey that the differences in size you notice between what's on your computer and how those photos are be interpreted to your iPhone is expected behavior.

Hope this helps,

Raleigh

Thanks! While your files are being optimized to take up less space, mine are being optimized to take up more. My photos are definitely larger than an iPhone's screen, so this shouldn't happen.

So I will try Restore.