iTunes 12.9.5 not syncing photos from Photos App to iPad

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iTunes 12.9.5 not syncing photos from Photos App to iPad

I upgraded my Mac Pro to MacOS Mojave a week or so ago, and I just noticed that iTunes won't provide any sync options other than "Pictures" when syncing photos to my iPad Pro or iPhone X. iCloud Photo is turned off on all devices, on my Mac, and on iCloud.com, and I'm running iTunes 12.9.5.5 on my Mac along with the latest versions of iOS on my iPad and iPhone. All of the photos that were synced from Photos before I upgraded to Mojave are still present on my mobile devices. How can I resolve this?

iPad Pro 9.7-inch WiFi, Cellular

Posted on May 26, 2020 8:26 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Terry Smelker Author

Level 1

32 points

May 27, 2020 2:12 PM in response to Terry Smelker

Okay, I tried restoring the iPad just to see if that would solve it, and it didn't. But I did try something else afterward that DID solve it:

With the iPad still connected to iTunes, I then opened the Photos app. Once open, I selected my iPad in the left-hand column and then, to the right of that, next to the Device's name, I checked the box that says "Open Photos for this device". I immediately switched back to iTunes to check the syncing options under Photos for the iPad, and "Photos" was displayed on the drop-down tab next to "Copy photos from:...." I then connected my iPhone to iTunes, and this time the Photos option was already populated for me under "Copy photos from:...." without having to check the box for the iPhone in the Photos app. Problem solved! But thank you so much, Joseph, for helping me narrow down the options!

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Answer 2

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

May 27, 2020 9:02 AM in response to Terry Smelker

Hi Terry Smelker,

Thanks for coming to Apple Support Communities for help with syncing. It sounds like you are unable to sync pictures from your Photos app.

It does appear you are attempting to sync correctly: Sync photos in iTunes on Mac with devices.

You mentioned iCloud Photos is switched off on your iPad. Has it ever been on?

What happens if you toggle the check mark next to Sync Photos? Do that in combination with quitting iTunes and restarting the Mac.

Do you have any other iOS devices where syncing Photos works?

Let me know further details.

Have a fantastic day!

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Answer 3

May 27, 2020 11:00 AM in response to Joseph_S.

Thank you, Joseph, for your reply! I will answer your questions about this perplexing problem in order:

I've never used iCloud photos on either my iPhone X or my iPad Pro; it's always been turned off. I've always synced photos directly into the iPhoto/Photos app on my Mac. Weirdly, I can still pull photos from my iPad/iPhone with Photos, and it imports them like normal.

When I toggle the "Sync Photos" off with either device, it asks me if I want to remove the photos from that device, but if I select the "Remove Photos" button, it does nothing. I have tried shutting down Photos, iTunes and my Mac several times, but it didn't change anything.

Installing photos from iTunes worked just fine on both my iPhone and iPad, right up until I upgraded to Mojave from High Sierra. Since that time, I've been able to sync movies/music to both devices with iTunes without issue, so I never thought to check on photo syncing until a couple days ago.

As an aside- I'm thinking of erasing and restoring both devices from the latest iTunes backups (starting with my iPad) to see if that helps. Please let know if you need more info. Thanks!

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iTunes 12.9.5 not syncing photos from Photos App to iPad

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