Home movie titles not showing on ipad in IOS26

I’ve run into the same problem since updating to iOS 16/17/26 (Apple really changed the behaviour once everything moved from iTunes to the TV app). My home videos used to show their proper titles too, but now I’m also getting those plain black thumbnails with only the duration showing.

On my end, the metadata is still intact on the PC — just like you mentioned — and the list view in the Windows TV app shows the correct names. But the iPad/iPhone version of the TV app doesn’t seem to offer any list option anymore., and it looks like Apple removed the ability for home movies to display their text titles unless a thumbnail image is embedded.

The only workaround that has helped me a little is making sure each file has an actual poster/cover image before syncing. If your home movies don’t already have artwork, Apple devices now default to that black placeholder. I used a metadata editor to add a simple JPEG cover to each video, and after syncing through the Devices section, the iPad at least showed an image that helps identify each clip — still not perfect, but better than identical black boxes.

Your method of re-adding everything after Apple wiped the library sounds exactly like what I had to do too. The TV app on Windows is still very buggy, especially when it comes to Home Movies and purchased titles not appearing until you “Open with Apple TV,” so you’re definitely not alone.

Unfortunately, unless Apple brings back the list view on iOS/iPadOS or fixes how home-movie metadata is read, we may be stuck with this thumbnail-only browsing. Very frustrating, especially for anyone who uses their iPad to show family videos.

If I find a more solid fix, I’ll update — but for now adding artwork before syncing is the only thing that’s made navigation even slightly easier!

I’ve run into the same thing since updating to iOS 16/17/26 (whatever Apple is calling it now) and moving everything over to the TV app instead of the old iTunes setup. The black thumbnails with only the duration showing seem to be a side-effect of how the TV app is handling Home Videos after the recent changes. The metadata is still there — you can see it on the PC side just like you mentioned — but the iPad version of the TV app doesn’t give any option to switch to a list view, so it never actually shows the titles for imported home movies.

I also noticed that the TV app on iOS treats anything not purchased from Apple differently, so it basically ignores the embedded title unless the file was processed through the “official” workflow. One thing that helped slightly for me was removing the videos from the device, quitting the TV app completely, then syncing again. It didn’t fix the missing titles in the thumbnails, but at least the app started grouping some of the clips correctly.

The whole workflow feels half-finished, especially compared to how smooth it used to be back when everything went through iTunes...For now I’m also stuck tapping through thumbnails until I find the right video, which isn’t great when you’re trying to show something quickly to family. Unless Apple updates the TV app on iPadOS to support list view (like it does on the PC side at the tv app), it looks like we’re all living with this hassle.

If anyone finds a workaround that restores proper title display on the device, I’d love to hear it too!

Please let Apple know this isn’t suitable->Feedback - Apple TV App - Apple

This is even worst for me since I put a plethora of karaoke videos that I use regularly to perform my music act here and there. These videos have the lyrics in front of me but with the new IOS26 update, I need to open each one by one just to know which song is THERE kinda crushing my whole act. Please let us see the TITLE of the video at least, like we can do on the iphone. HELP!!!

Since latest Os, home movies no longer show the movie title as before.only after opening movie. Total guesswork!

Is there a fix for this yet? This is crazy

if they choose to change it, then it will require a new version of ipadOS and their other operating systems which contain an appletv app