Missing photos in iMessage after iOS 26 update

I’m having the same issue. Went to the Apple Store and they completely wiped my phone and updated to the new iOS 26 update saying that it would 99.9% work after that. Still don’t have the photos tab. I’ve tried everything.

Wouldn't doing a backup to iTunes, full phone reset, and iTunes restore accomplish the same thing?

In order to turn iCloud message on, I’d have to send apple money to subscribe to their larger tier of storage to accomplish this, and two my message data is now on their cloud. To be honest I’d be more concern with my data on the cloud than the former.

I’ve tried this multiple times however I haven’t had much success. For me there are a few contacts, which are group chats that I have pinned, where the photos tab shows, and only a few recent photos show but then there’s black boxes. When clicking on them I just get a stock thumbnail that says either HEIC photo or JPEG photo. Clicking on it doesn’t reveal the photo, and share sheet shows blank on those. For a few contacts it only shows like 14 of these blanks where this group definitely has hundred of photos in it.

I took the 26.1 update today and sadly no resolve. iPhone 14 Pro never had this issue until iOS 26. Also I don’t use iCloud storage.

It’s an issue with iPhone, not with the cloud or other devices. So don’t worry about it too much. I’m sure they will fix it soon. The photos tab seems to come and go for me. You can try the fixes people put in this thread but from my experience it doesn’t work. You just have to wait for your phone to sync with the cloud.

It should have NOTHING to do with the cloud. I’ve had Message syncing in the iCloud turned off for 2-3 years now. I have 30GB+ of messages. And never had an issue after transferring between phones over those years.

This was the first year that I’ve ever done a phone to phone transfer. I usually backup and restore from my Mac. But somewhere in this post someone said they had the same issue doing the backup and restore method also. I really think it’s iOS 26 related. Hopefully one of these versions fix it. I usually jump on the beta a pretty early. 26.0 was fear.

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Go to contacts/accounts/

Under iCloud CardDAV: check 'Enable this account' (mine was not after update to Tahoe 26.1).

All pictures previously deleted will appear again.

I just spoke with an Apple advisor & unfortunately they removed that feature for ios 26… let’s pray they bring it back for the next update. That was on of if not the best feature they brought to the iPhone.

Currently iOS 26 & iPhone 17 Pro, photos category missing in all message threads. My son has the 17 Pro Max & iOS 26, and his photos category is there on his message threads. Tried all steps to restore photos option- no go :(

This isn't how mine is acting. I had already synched the messages, which did require me to start it a few times as it was paused. I only have 300k messages, so it didn't take forever. I'm not seeing the photo tab on any person I have had text messages since I upgraded to the 17 on Saturday.

In case it matters, I didn't use iCloud to start up the new phone, I used my 16 beside the 17. I don't have my phone actively backing up to iCloud, but a couple days ago I made sure messages were being put there as a step in diagnosing the issue.

when I updated my phone to iOS 26, I don't see any pictures or videos in any of my messages anymore. It's completely disappeared the photo tab not sure what happened or how it happened. Anyone help. The top picture is all I see. The bottom is what it's suppose to be

[Edited by Moderator]

One of my favorite things has disappeared in io5 234, and all the other MacOS 26 and iPadOS 26, have apparently been axes. I’ve heard many people say, “Oh now, you can put the chosen photo for right about each time of your friends in all conversations. Not that. The bunch of 9 people, the people you speak with most, what right at the top of the whole thing. I used that over I don’t how many years. Yes, it had some prorploems. I’d have liked on who page of people to talk to with one click of their picture who take you to where they are. But no, Apple just wants to have one photo per. Well, anything’s better than telephone numbers.

Seriously,, is it gone? For good?

I’m experiencing the same as others where only photos sent since iOS 26 upgrade are showing up in the photos tab.

I do not sync my messages with icloud.

When I check my iPhone storage I see messages taking up it’s usual gigs of space including photos and videos.

Maybe mistakenly, I rely on and use my photo history in messages. It was jarring to see them missing but I’m glad they’re still somewhere.

I tried those toggles in the search settings, but it did bring images back to the photos tab for me.

I’m having this same issue as well. Moved to an iPhone 17 from my 16 and restored via iCloud.

clicked the download attachments thing but none of the photos are displaying under the photo tabs for any of my iMessage chains. It’s saying I have a ton of photos backed up in iCloud message but I can’t access any of the sent photos…

Update. It did not work.

i then signed out of iCloud entirely. Signed back in. Photos tab shows the same photos but is missing the majority of them. I checked 20 minutes later and the photos tab for the same conversation was no longer there.

No matter what I do the messages keep timing out. I get 3 at a time at best. Usually zero. Have 168 GB to download and all threads and placeholders are present. I have to tap on each placeholder to download otherwise i have literally tried everything. About to reset iPhone for the second time but fear the same results. Any help greatly appreciated