Photos in iMessage disappeared after ios13 update

The problem is indexing and for me indexing + not fully downloading all messages. There’s 87.3GB in messages on my iCloud but my phone only has 30 something GB in messages. My other iPhone 7 Plus was 13.2 and didn’t have this issue. It happened when I got a new iPhone 7 Plus and tried to back it up from iCloud. My iCloud still says it has 166.3 GB. I really hope some kind of solution comes up.

Something I don’t understand though is it says I have 166.3 GB of 2TB in iCloud but it says I have 14.8 gb of backups (when I click manage storage on iCloud). I’m not big on the details of this so I don’t know the difference or if that is normal.

I’m happy to hear that finally this thread is getting vocal. I have been on with Sr Level Techs for over a month. Sent in 4 diagnostic reports and still waiting for a resolution. I really think

most people don’t know this is an issue but based on the increased activity hopefully they will finally solve this unreal pain. I have been obsessed with every workaround and have not been successful. 9 restores and two new phones and setting up different scenarios on a spare phone. Seems like something somewhere is not playing nice. My pictures are all there in the thread but no indexing except the photos taken and sent since my last restore. Wish I had better news but my tech wants to run more diagnostics

On the cloud it says I have 87 GB in the iMessage portion. But on my iPhone storage I only have 30 something of GB in iMessage (it says). BUT my iPhone storage has been bonkers, and jumps up and down. One day it said I was running out of storage, yesterday it said I only had 26 GB of my storage used (which is false, I have more than that in photos and videos alone) then it jumped to saying I had 170 GB used later that day. It is just not reflecting things properly. I toggle the iMessage in iCloud on and off and “This phone hasn’t finished downloading messages from iCloud. Disable and download messages” pops up every time. After I toggle it off and then back on my iMessage app says “downloading messages from iCloud” but this can go on for 10+ hours and even after long periods of time it shows NO change in my iMessage storage on my iPhone storage part of my phone yet the cloud still shows the same amount of GB. I don’t know anymore. I’ve talked to 3 senior advisors and sent off analytics data to engineering and will be hearing back. Not too positive anything will come of it though. This issue only happened when I set up a new iPhone 7 Plus.

Hi,

I am going to try and perform another restore again this evening. This time a full restore on 12.2.2.

I had only performed a restore on 12.2 which seems to have fixed the indexing/the attachments not showing but I still see the full data has not downloaded to the phone.

I then did a over-the-air update from 12.2 to 12.2.2

"Messages have not been fully downloaded to this iPhone." when I disable cloud messages. It seems they are getting stuck somewhere.

When I check Settings > General > iPhone Storage:

I see: Messages: 3.55 GB but I have 13 GB in the cloud.

If I click Messages then Top Conversations the numbers are all over the place with non-nonsensical numbers.

Why aren’t you on iOS 13? iOS 13 is where I have the issue. They’ve now got it up to 13.2.2. And yes, I’ve got the same issue with nonsensical displaying of storage usage. It makes no sense. My phone storage goes from 26GB to 180. I only have 166 in the iCloud. It is just bonkers. I wish they would fix this.

I am not sure how many people are calling in. However, I do know engineering is aware of the issue and is doing nothing (at least from how I was talked to).

My phone won’t fully download messages or videos/photos from the cloud. Won’t index. Shows crazy storage measurements. Not minor issues.

I don’t have much more to add other than that I have lost significant amounts of data. My problem seems to be the iCloud/iOS13 link, but my sibling is also having trouble with the photo indexing and she does not use iCloud, use multiple devices simultaneously, nor anything I have been thinking is causing this issue. She uses an iPhone 7+. I use two iPhone 11 Pro Max devices (as well as older devices). My only device that seems to have been spared this iOS13 issue is my previous iPhone 7+, but I do not know why that device is fine while my 6+ got data wiped, my 8+ can’t load a single photo from an iMessage chat, etc. Fortunately, my iPhone 4 & iPhone 5 didn’t update past a previous iOS when I updated for the “GPS update” - those are the only devices with several message chains from before 2017 despite diligent backups and booting all new devices from current backups on my iMac.

I do not believe that I will be provided with any solutions during my follow-up call with Apple tomorrow. I have explained that I do not want to be a guinea pig attempting data restoration & that I can’t/won’t lose anymore data by intentionally wiping my device. I’ve also explained that my latest computer backups for all devices occurred AFTER this update. I still need to let them know about several of the issues I’ve noticed (6+ losing its own photos & messages while gaining all messages/photos currently on the primary 11 pro max, for example) since setting this appointment.

I apologize for my response being all over the place with subject changes making it harder to follow, but I’ve had several work tasks to accomplish this evening while still trying to provide my thoughts to this thread. Long story short, my issues and data loss/corruption due to the iOS13/iCloud VIRUS are extensive. I only wish I actually knew how much data I’ve truly lost. It’s hard to know exactly which photo & messages are missing when you’re dealing with 150gb of data spread over photos & messages (tens of thousands of photos & millions of text messages). I don’t have a photographic memory.... that’s why I pay for data backups.

ive always loved Apple for its interconnectivity & more. I have a huge movie collection on Apple. I have apple everything - TV, computer, iPhones, Apple Watch, etc. This entire experience of data loss has been an emotional upheaval, to say the least. I would be putting it mildly by saying that it’s made me seriously lose faith in this corporation. I’ve found myself auditing my movie counts, emails, photo counts, & messages. I shouldn’t have to do that. I don’t have time for that either - Nobody does. I do not want to transition from Apple, but if I’m just going to keep losing my data, and I’m paying a ridiculous amount of money to this company for that to not happen, why should I stick with them? Again, I’ll give them a chance to figure out what is going on.... but the responses others have received in this thread is disheartening & gives me little faith in their software engineers. I just don’t understand why they made these changes. The apps worked fine before.... why fix something that isn’t broken?

I’m having this same issue when I don’t eve use iCloud for anything. I just updated to iOS 13.2.2 this morning (2hrs) ago from iOS 12.1.2 on my iPhone 8 Plus. I have all my messages and photos/videos, but I have to scroll up through the text messages to see them. They do not appear in the “i” icon menu where all the attachments should be at. It takes SO much time to scroll through text messages to find the photo or video I want to see. Anyone here have a fix for this? I contacted Apple Support and they told me to wait for my photos to finish indexing, whatever that even means, and that they would call me back about it in 6hrs. I don’t understand why I’m having this issue if I do not use iCloud whatsoever.

Hmm, so perhaps this is mainly a software issue? Those of us with iCloud are finding that our phones won’t fully download messages. It’s been weeks and mine have still not indexed or fully downloaded. They told me the same exact thing, to wait, which is absurd because this is NOT a time issue for many of us. Some people on here have had the issue over a month. Apple is clueless.

I have not done a restore like you (I am going to wait to call again) but I also have the same storage display problem. My phone shows I have 36 GB or so in messages, but the cloud shows 87 GB of messages. My iPhone also doesn’t show the correct number of photos and videos when plugged up to my laptop, meaning, they haven’t fully downloaded to the phone, yet I can access them on the phone’s app. I noticed when I hook my iPhone flash drive in that the flash drive tells me that many photos/videos are in the cloud but not on my phone. When I try to transfer stuff that way it ends up being an error on that flash drive. So for those of us having cloud issues I think it’s both the cloud and the software. Something is majorly wrong. I never had this issue with iOS. I have always LOVED apple and apple products since I was young but I am starting to head in the other direction. Apple Support has been of no real help and said to “wait”, which is a lazy response - I thought I would receive better help. Incredibly disappointed. My messages still won’t fully download or index.

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.

Who ever is the bozo that selected “click the download button” at the bottom of the info window and made this a “Apple Recommended” solution needs to be fired.

It’s like a kindergarten answer that solves nothing. Anyone who didn’t see their photos populate and saw a “DOWNLOAD” button where they should be obviously clicked the download button first before scouring the internet for reasons why their photos didn’t show up which led them here.

My proper answer should be made as the resolution to this whole entire thread of headache:

RESTORE 12.2.3

WAIT 24 HOURS.

STILL NOTHING? REBOOT.

IF STILL NOTHING? WAIT ANOTHER 24 HOURS

STILL NOTHING? FACTORY RESET TO DEFAULTS AND START OVER.

Okay so yesterday I re-downloaded messages from icloud and everything for the first time cleanly got indexed and throughout the entire all my message attachments were there. But today when I received a new photo everything is gone again :(

From what I have been told from the senior advisor I been in touch with over the last weeks is that nothing we do like signing out and signing in resetting all settings or whatever will not work. They took a diagnostic of my phone with screen shots and screen recordings. They are still working on an update.

I was contacted today by the SA since dec 20 for my same case #

i was asked to do the update and told for “some” the photos are indexing

does anyone have good news!? Did 13.3.1 work and index all the photos back?

I talked on the phone to my SA last night - who was amaaaazing by the way - and she is forwarding to engineering. I am waiting til I hear back from her, but all I know is everything was fine before 13.3.1. She had no solutions, said she had quite a few people with the same issue..but no solution yet. I’m telling people to avoid 13.3.1 based on my experience.