Pictures and Albums Disappeared from Photos App

Hello,


I have an M1 MacBook Pro with the latest OS. Today I noticed that all of my pictures and albums have disappeared from my MacBook Photos app. I didn't accidentally delete them and I've checked the hidden folders and recently deleted folders and nothing is there.


It doesn't look like the file size of my Photos app has decreased at all, it looks normal, but everything is just gone and it's empty. Any ideas of what's happened here and what to do? If need be, I can restore from Time Machine, but would like to know what happened. Thanks!


P

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 17, 2025 6:36 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 18, 2025 9:45 PM

Make sure your Photos app is using the right Photos library. (Pictures, videos, and albums are stored in the library, not in the app.)

Check which library your app is using right now in Photos > Settings > General > Library Location. Unless you have moved it or created multiple libraries, your library is likely to be in the Pictures folder in your home directory.

You can have Photos scan for usable libraries on your Mac by quitting it and relaunching it with the Option key held down. That may show that you have created an empty library and just need to switch back to your full library. (Photos will by default stick with the last library you use, so if you create an empty library you will keep seeing it until you switch back.)

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 18, 2025 9:45 PM in response to Pey

Make sure your Photos app is using the right Photos library. (Pictures, videos, and albums are stored in the library, not in the app.)

Check which library your app is using right now in Photos > Settings > General > Library Location. Unless you have moved it or created multiple libraries, your library is likely to be in the Pictures folder in your home directory.

You can have Photos scan for usable libraries on your Mac by quitting it and relaunching it with the Option key held down. That may show that you have created an empty library and just need to switch back to your full library. (Photos will by default stick with the last library you use, so if you create an empty library you will keep seeing it until you switch back.)

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Pictures and Albums Disappeared from Photos App

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