iOS 13 Photos sync through iTunes causes duplicate photos on iOS devices

A quick check, just for the record: no one who's experiencing the duplicate photos issue is using iCloud Photos, correct? We're all just using PhotoStream and/or direct sync from a Mac? One thing I've noticed about Photo Stream: it almost seems like iOS13 is setting up the problem from the very instant a photo is taken on an iOS device; for example, on my iPhoneX I just now snapped a photo, which as usual ended up in two places in the "My Albums" section of my iPhone's Photos app: "Recents" and "My Photo Stream." In the "Recents" version of the photo, I see a very specific location shown on the top line of the photo's info (name of my town and even the neighborhood), and then the time and date on the second line. But in the "My Photo Stream" version of the same photo I already see a difference in the info. There, the top line just says "Today," and the second line just has the time, but not the date. This discrepancy in the info title of a photo is exactly what I see in duplicated photos, after sequential syncing from my Mac; namely, location-based differences. Originally I was blaming my Mac and syncing for causing the issue but now it seems self-contained in iOS13 and begins the moment a photo is snapped. My hunch is that the "Recents" version is the one Apple would now consider correct, and that it's the Photo Stream version that's incorrect. Which brings up the possibility that Apple might not be fully updating Photo Stream any more, to keep up with iOS changes. Photo Stream is, after all, a "legacy" technology from earlier iOS days. If the Powers That Be at Apple are preferring that users switch to iCloud Photos (with the additional revenue generated from buying storage space for large photo libraries), then it may be that Photo Stream is eventually discontinued without ever being fixed.

Just to add to this, I sync my iOS 13 device with a Windows PC, not a Mac, and I have been having the same problems - duplicating of some photos, with one containing location info and the other not, iTunes deleting and then re-adding during a sync, etc. I have just tried another programme to copy photos across -if you view the photos in the 3rd party app everything looks correct, but if you view in the Apple app the photos are duplicated and some are missing. Definitely seems to be an iOS 13 issue. How do we report this to Apple?

The number of photos in Photo Stream isn’t important... or even if it’s completely empty. I suspect that just the fact that it’s turned on (in Photos preferences) may be a contributing factor to the issue.

I ran through your exact attempt with another Level 2 Apple Tech. There are NO file types which create this issue. I can ONLY conjecture that is SOMETHING the engineers did ... especially in iOS 13.3.1! I'm using OSX 10.14.6. The Level 2 folks are saying "Try updating your OSX to Catalina and see if THAT helps. I I CAN'T do that until I can find a GOOD substitute for QuickTime Pro for both video and audio manipulations!

In my case, I use MacOs Catalina with iOs 13 and get duplicates as after

the first time or second time that I sync my iPhone to my Mac.

The only solution that I found is to import new pictures to my mac without sync it back to my iPhone.

I called the Apple Help Center several times,

spent hours with many technicians trying all sorts of things.

Finally, one technician told me that they will send my case to a specialist and will call me back.

Two weeks pass but didn't get any call yet.

I'm wondering if Apple let it that way to force the customer to use their iCloud paid service, in that case, it would need to do a class action.

Is there another place where people talk about this subject?

...and to stay on-topic, I have the exact same problem that’s being described in this thread, including an issue with some photos no longer syncing at all.

For those with that latter issue, if you inspect the iPod photo cache in your library, you’ll see that the .ithmb files for the missing photos are all zero bytes. It should be noted that there’s nothing inherently wrong with these photos within the Photos library. If I export or “export unmodified original,” they open without issue in the Finder’s quick look, Photoshop, or Affinity Photo. I can AirDrop the exported file to my phone, and it’s fine. 

Indeed, I’ve spent so many hours over the years working to debug sync issues between iPhoto, Apple Photos, and iOS/TVOS devices, and that it’s gotten so much more significantly worse with the release of Catalina is just really quite disheartening—maddening, even. It still doesn’t properly sync photos from albums within nested folders, duplicates some photos, and won’t sync others (zero-byte .ithmb files in the iPod photo cache), with no particular rhyme or reason as to why it’s so inconsistent. It seems as though every time I sync a device, it’s working to replace the entire contents of the photo library, and just fails to clear some while failing to generate others.

If they could at least publicly acknowledge the bugs for some of those, and identify the root cause (which could allow for an effective workaround), then at least that would be something. I always submit pretty thorough feedback through the formal process when I encounter these bugs, but can never really tell whether or not it’s falling on deaf ears.

All of this is now beyond tiresome. I’ve turned from being someone who adored Apple products to being someone who remains silent when my friends ask for recommendations on what computer/phone they should buy, because I won’t be the one to subject any of them to this level of frustration.

Yes, this bug is a direct result of iOS13. It has nothing to do with the host OS of the computer or anything else. It's an iOS bug. I sure as **** hope v13.4 fixes this finally. It's been over half a year dealing with this insanity.

Well, macOS 10.15.4 and iOS 13.4 did change one thing about it—now that a working sync status bar has finally made its way back into the process (thanks for that, at least), I have visual confirmation that it really is trying to fully reload the contents of every, single selected photo album and smart album during each sync. Before, I was only able to say that it simply seemed like this is what it was trying to do.

…and each time, after the sync process reports to have [finally] completed, I just have to cross my fingers that it will have at least as many photos as the last time. This takes quite a while, though, because the photos trickle in for at least another twenty or thirty minutes after the thirty or forty minute sync process “completes.”

As an update on the previously-posted workaround, I can report that after at least a dozen syncs over the past few days, the duplicate photos issue has thus far not returned. The missing photos issue, however, has not gotten any better.

@"52 objects are uploaded"

I did a reset of the ipad, toggled cycloid fotos off and on, and it finally says "no photos".

So i switched cloud fotos off, reset again (just in case ... ) and now i am going put them back ...

Well.. now that I'm checking in with you all again after several days, I can say that the fix I outlined back on page 12 seems to still be plugging along.. (rebuilding the photo library from scratch using a 3rd party tool). I've upgraded my Mac to 10.15.4 and see the now-present status bar which is nice and the syncing is still working w/o any issues. YMMV!

+1

same problem, but i think i got it before catalina

now, i stop to sync between my mac and iphone, because each time photos ask me to sync photos already in my mac library, if i do it, i will create double.

So now, my fix, stop sync between my devices, i must pass trrough iCloud.

at home its ok, i have 1Gb optic fiber connexion, but iCloud its slow, and when i was in philippines, connexion was horrible, i was praying to don't lost my iphone and lost my new pics and video.

Really, Apple, please fix this BIG BUG thanks

It’s enough to drive one mad, right? I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with helpful Apple customer Tech support regarding the issue. Despite repairing the photo library and starting with an empty photo library on iPhone, I still get duplicates and incorrect syncing after syncing more than once. Songs in iTunes also get duplicates if I sync music to the iPhone.

I am emailing a detailed report to Apple to document how many photos exist before and after after sync attempts.

I have a strong hunch the problem will need be fixed with a iOS update, I saw another user fixed the problem by downgrading to iOS 12, which is not a simple nor recommended undertaking. I also see this issue has been brought up here by hundreds of other people since late last year. It’s surprising a major issue like this even exists.

I will update when I get a response to my email during the week.

It's been a week now and I have synchronized my iPhone (11 Pro Max, iOS 13.4.1) with my iMac (Late 2013, Mojave 10.14.4) 5-6 times with no dupplication issues. Resetting the privacy settings on the iPhone usually fixed the issue for the next sync, but never for more than that.

Not sure at all if related but the one thing I changed after months of trouble was using an external powered USB 3.0 hub to synchronize due to another extremely annoying bug (iPhone connecting and disconnecting from the Mac).

The disconnecting iPhone bug got better but didn't really disappear, but the photos and videos never duplicated again.

I am still having this same problem and have sent a detailed description of the issue to an Apple Advisor after a two hour long phone call with no resolution. I hope they fix this bug but yes the only way is to remove all photos from the phone and then sync only ONCE, any additional sync attempts always result in duplicate photos. My videos never sync over properly at all, there are always random ones missing too. Frustrating.