Albums missing or moving in iOS 18 photos app

I set my phone to stop syncing. I don't need further issues. I bought a good drive to remove all docs and pics from phone except contact pics and background pic

It's actually really easy. I wrote overly detailed instructions in the rare event someone has never sync'ed with their PC or Mac before but most people should find it easy. Takes less than 10 mins even with over 5k photos like I have that I'm sync'ing from my PC due to work. I have talked to Apple and they don't consider it an issue at this point (thus in their minds there is nothing to fix). They think it makes it easier for people if they use their Mac or PC to sort their albums the way I did. And I admit, once you do it the albums ARE easier to use than they used to be, would have been nice though if they had made it more obvious the correct steps to set it up. I told them I had to figure it out myself and that was annoying because took some trial and errror and the first couple of people I spoke with didn't even know you could do what I did. I didn't find anyone who understood how I did it until I got escellated to Tier 3 support and even then the girl was like "oh, that's even easier than how I have been telling people". I told her well it wasn't for me because it took me a lot of trial and error playing with it one evening but I was glad she liked it and she said she'd start telling people to do it my way because it was easier than hers and would submit it as a known solution for people with the question.

Odd when customers figure it out better than the higest level of tech support.

I personally don't care if they do or not, it all depends on if they want their albums back like they was before or if they want to hold out hope that Apple changes their mind (which might never even happen) and that their wait is not in vain. Or they could spent 10 mins to do what it takes to fix it now and move on.

You sound like me though with your layout and needs; I have 5000+ photos (not counting personal ones) of technical info sync'ed from my PC which are organized into albums which are sorted by the model number (in many cases the model number IS the album name) of devices I have designed and/or worked on over the past 25 years and I am on government contract so people can call me if the need technical assistance and I need to be able to go right to the model they're working on, enter that album and then quickly find the schematic, set of instructions, operating steps or whatever to get them back up and running ASAP and I for one simply did not have time to wait to see if Apple decides to fix this or not. While finding the steps was a pain, once you know them (why I posted them step by step in extreme detail) it only takes 10 or so minutes and not I'm actually finding the new layout easier to find things than before. It was just getting it setup right was the part that was a PITA and I was just trying to save others all that trial and error.

But as I said, it's all personal if someone wants to hold out hope that Apple fixes it, or just bite the bullet and fix it themselves and be done. I provided steps on one way that a large number of us now know works, not saying it's the only way but we know this way works for sure for anyone who wants to do it and doesn't have time to play around with it themselves.

A old wise man once said:

"I discovered after many years thinking back on my life that everytime I wished for someone to bring me fish to eat for dinner, that I never once got any fish. But all the times I wished myself out of bed in the morning to go fishing, I never once failed to have fish to eat for dinner that evening."

I have good news! After 2 weeks of being in perpetual "sync mode", last night my photos finally fully synced. It took 1 day to fully optimize after they fully synced, and now my photos app is back to normal. I have albums and people back!!! I read somewhere that it could take weeks to fully sync. I did not want to believe that since I have really good upload and download speeds, but I guess it was true... In any event, I am happy that it fully resolved itself.

anthonygeo wrote:

What a mess Apple created with this update! Why do they always assume this is what the people want? Why is it so difficult to search Photos now and where the **** are my screenshots going? I even choose save to photos and they are not showing up. The Photos app is a headache now along with the password app. Like who thought a separate app for passwords was a good idea?

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Bullshark1 wrote:

I have also stopped using PC's because they were so fragile and fickle . I went to Apple for simplicity and functionality. Does any body think they are reading this thread and give a hoot? I think they have become too big and forgot us little people.

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Oh well, maybe Elon will develop a phone and it will just plain work. We can only hope.

You mean like "X" just works? It's still early but that's likely to be the funniest thing I will read today.

I figured out how to fix it and posted the instructions earlier in this thread.

Me and friends have now tested it on both PC and Mac and it works on both.

Yeah… fifteen ways to leave your lover… I prefer to wait till the first fix from Cupertino.

I have had the same issue since Friday. I have spoken to 6 different Apple techs and nothing. We have even restored the phone's ios 18 software, and still the same issue. Albums are not showing on the iPhone, but are clearly in iCloud, on my MacBook Pro and on my iPad. We have even tried setting up the phone from the iPad and that didn't work. If you sync the phone to the Mac the albums appear, but as soon as you turn IcLoud sync back on, they disappear. And now I noticed that RCS isn't working, but it was on Friday night. This has been a complete nightmare! The only thing that may have worked is if I had kept my iPhone 14 and reset it using the iPhone 14, but of course, I turned it in for the $500 trade in value already. If anyone can get a solution, please post!

I read your fix but honestly, do you really expect people to have to go through all of that. People have bought Apple products because they just plain work. I moved away from PC’s and Microsoft years ago because of problems . Apple has always had a product that is easy to use and in my mind flawless . I am pretty darn good with computers but obviously not good enough to follow your steps. You are more advanced and capable.

I don’t use iCloud for my photos and also don’t sync photos between my ipad, MacBook or the iPhone . I tried to air drop the photos most needed to the MacBook but it too didn’t work I guess because of the fact it was over 200 photos. This is an album needed to remain in chronological order or else it is useless .

Am I understanding this situation correctly? Maybe I am completely wrong? If I update to ISO 18 will I regret it and lose all of my albums?

For example , I have albums of aircraft, boats, beaches, accidents , sharks , medical records, and on and on which all have important chronological records. Is that going to all be gone and unable to recover in the order they were taken if I upgrade to IOS 18?

Thanks for taking to time to advise me !!

First off Sync your phone so you have all photos including from iCloud, back them up to the computer per the instrucvtions. Then you have to go into iCloud settings on your phone, turn off iCloud Syncing and then sync your phone with iTunes. Then do the steps, and only after they are finished come back and turn iCloud Sync back on and resync using iTunes. Then iCloud will update to match the phone. Those steps actually haven't changed. It's always kinda been a few steps to get iCloud to follow the phones priority so just use the same steps you've always used in that situation.

It’s a shame Apple is disregarding this issue. I guess there are too few people complaining and therefore we are just insignificant. I am definitely shelving the idea of going to an iPhone 16 for sure now. Definitely not updating to ios 18. Good luck folks !!!

anthonygeo wrote:

Obviously not because I just updated to 18.0.1 and my screenshots are still not showing up in my photos.

Obviously not....what? I didn't see anything in the release notes about Photos so I'm not sure what you were expecting.

I updated my iPad mini, opened photos & thought I’d opened eBay by mistake. Tiring to read a mess of sub titles & scattered photos. Is anyone else’s Hidden Photo Album empty? I can’t find those photos.

I really can’t figure this out. My recent photos just seem to be an upside down endless scroll which starts at the bottom. The shared family album is now below half a page of recent photos. They seem to have thought photos should be added in the same way you add words to a page. It really is one of the worst updates in recent years. I can’t believe there was no negative feedback on this during testing, its a mess. Please revert.