Photos in iMessage disappeared after ios13 update

When you say you got a new phone and did a fresh restore.

explain that.

do you mean you restored the 13.2.2 software or you just restored your backup on the new phone?

its imperative that you do a system restore to 13.2.2 before restoring your backup.

the system restore will format the device and install 13.2.2 which is different than the over the air update which only patches files.

even then, after you restore your backup to the device it will take 24 hours for the images to start to show up.

At this point guys I don’t think Apple support is going to offer any further support unless you restore your phone with the latest software.

something was not working right in one of the past updates and you need to wipe the OS and then restore your backup.

if you have messages in the cloud enabled you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. The messages are kept separate from the iCloud backup.

I did so many restores that apple finally game me a new phone. I brought it home and I think it was 13.1 or one of the initial updates but did a restore from the cloud. The only restore I have not tried was from a computer backup. I tried multiple variations of restores with a work spare phone with no luck. It also took 4 days for the original photos downloaded to my phone which is another hesitation as to why I don’t want to do yet another test and then have to tweak all the settings that don’t come back the way i like them.

I had issues with 13.1 syncing photos as well. 13.2 resolved that for me. Seems like 13.2.2 resolved the indexing sort of. I guess you can sit around and wait.... but I didn’t have any luck after doing over the air updates, what wasn’t working continued not to work, it wasn’t until I did the restore on 13.2.2 kicked indexing and faster sync of iCloud photos.

if you are afraid to restore I don’t think this will get resolved for you...

Wow. I am calling back in a week or so. I was just told to “wait” and that’s it. Very disappointing. Doesn’t look like they care or know how to fix the issue even though it’s someone’s fault. Never an issue before with iOS. I am afraid of making things worse. I don’t want to lose what I do have.

unless you are willing to try the recommended fix by doing a full restore on the latest 13.2.2 there’s no point sitting here humming and hawing about a future fix.

this is the fix.

restore your phone to 13.2.2 and try again.

the fix is a a restore. There won’t be any future fix from Apple as the fix has already been provided.

you do not have a leg to stand on running an old version of iOS complaining about a bug that most likely has been addressed.

once again:

YOU MUST RESTORE TO 13.2.2 NOT OVER THE AIR UPDATE.

you people keep saying you are worried about losing your cloud data and the data is in the cloud. It needs to be re downloaded it’s simple as that.

the fact of it being a new phone is irrelevant. If it’s a new phone with a bad version of iOS 13 it’s the software, needs to be restored.

Amen!! I put off doing a full restore in hopes for a fix that never came. The restore IS the fix. The fact that I was able to restore from a local backup and my pictures indexed properly, confirms I had some sort of problem with an OTA update when I set up my 11 Pro Max as new.

Everyone is entitled to complain but why complain when the fix is available. You’re likely not going to see it magically correct itself with more iOS updates because it’s only building upon the bug without a full restore being completed.

The data is not lost and will not be lost. Look at your iCloud Messages storage if you are concerned. If you have multiple GBs...the data is there and safe.

I am running 13.2.2

There’s no need for an attitude. I do have 13.2.2. However, it was an over the air update. My new phone was also an OTA update as well when the problem started. I never said I wouldn’t do a restore. However, I have the right to be concerned about losing further things that did actually download. I’ve read another thread where this issue happened in 2018 and a restore actually made someone’s problem worse.

As far as the inaccurate storage display goes, is Apple aware of this issue? I do have to wonder how much data is actually on the phone and how much isn’t, since there are inaccurate readings. Not only that, my phone does not show all photos/videos when hooked up to a computer, meaning, the photos app on the phone isn’t properly storing photos and videos on my phone either, even though I can see them all on my phone’s app. Indexing isn’t the only issue. Do I want it fixed? Of course, but these other things are concerning as well.

Thanks for all of the info though on the fix you provided. Hopefully it helps everyone on here reading about this.

The data is in the cloud, unless you have specifically deleted any data from your phone it will be in the cloud.

new phone, old phone, doesn’t matter. A format of the system partition is required.

properly restore your device and this will solve your issue.

cant keep repeating it over and over... the incorrect storage display is only the messages however the messages are indeed there.

I can promise you that you are not going to get a resolution or patch unless you restore your device and no one at Apple will guarantee your data is going to be safe or compensate you for the inconvenience of this.

it is what it is.

I said it before and I’ll say it again:

the cloud is not a “backup”. You always need a offsite/offline backup of the backup. This is standard and many people don’t follow it until they run into a disaster situation and it’s just to late.

itunes back up on a external HDD if you have to. If you ever accidentally delete a message at least you can revert to something if you have to.

Hello, I posted earlier about my situation on this. I do NOT use iCloud for anything, can I still maintain all my texts and images/videos if I restore with a backup? Will the restore fix the indexing issue? I just don't want to lose any data.

if you have an already existing recent backup I would move it to a secure place for now. (You can find this location on google depending if your on pc or Mac.)

then run a new full backup...

however I don’t think you will lose the data either way as the indexing is just for display of the info tab.

always good to be better safe than sorry.

Google drive and flash drive bad idea. Especially for large amounts of data. Get an external hard drive if you’re that paranoid.

you can check if your data is in the cloud

settings - click your name - manage storage

it will break down exactly what you have in the cloud

Brother I want to sincerely thank you for your insistence that the only way to solve this problem is to follow your steps. I have had no less than a months worth of obsessively searching the internet for a workaround, have had at least 15 hours of Sr Level Apple Techs, sent in diagnostics multiple times, videos, etc and not one of those experts had a clue. I had previously done 9 separate restore downloads OTA, and finally today bit the bullet and followed your directions and I am over half the way back to where it is supposed to be. I honestly won't know what to do with myself now that this nightmare has ended. I do have a question or two that maybe you can help me with: I did a hard reset during the restore as my email was loading slowly which caused the counter in my photo app to go from showing me exactly how many more photos needed to be downloaded from the cloud, (even though they already were downloaded full version from the backup from the mac) but now it says restoring from iCloud instead of the counter. I don't want to keep doing hard resets so maybe that is just synching everything. I will give it overnight but all of my photos all 54000 are on the phone in full originals so not understanding why it says restoring from iCloud. Lastly, I noticed this on a few threads in the photos back in messages some messages in the "I" info tab show photos with a timer on them like they are a video but they are a still photo. Aside from that, I just wanted to say thank you very much!

Any clue who it says restoring from iCloud in photos vs showing the counter of the photos being downloaded?

Also any idea why in messages some photos in "I" have a time stamp on them when they are not live or a video?

They did index, thank you again. Still waiting for photos to restore from iCloud. Been 30 hours so far. Also have weird time stamp on some index photos like they are videos or live photos but they are not