Missing photos in iMessage after iOS 26 update

I've found that all of my photos are there if I go back through the text thread, and I do see a photos tab when I click on the information for a specific text thread. However, the photos tab only shows photos from when I upgraded to the new iPhone (17 Pro Max). The rest of the photos are unable to be seen unless I scroll back through the text thread.

Update: so I turn off iCloud on messages and turned it back on and the photos tab finally appeared. Didn't take the first time around. Must be a glitch. Also all the photos & videos from the text messages are all gone, only ones from when my iOS was updated appear now. Not sure what happened

gabrielben wrote:

Also all the photos & videos from the text messages are all gone, only ones from when my iOS was updated appear now. Not sure what happened

If you're missing photos, I've found that going to Settings > Search > Messages and turning both toggles off, then back on, will usually repopulate the Photos tab.

Noaaaaaaah wrote:

Could you please tell me what toggles you’re talking about?

Sure. Open the Settings app, then scroll down to the 'Search' option:

Then, scroll down until you find the 'Messages' option and click that. You should see:

Close the Messages app, turn off both toggles, wait a few moments, then turn them back on and reopen Messages.

I updated to ios26.0.1. it did not fix the issue.

i watched this video and my messages app shows “syncing with iCloud” at the top. This was not there before. Nor do it say syncing was paused. https://youtu.be/G3NwQO0A3Dk?si=zXiOCUl3AvxWJkT3

i think the steps that worked for me:

settings > messages:

1. disable imessage
2. click back button and wait 10 seconds
3. enable iMessage

force quit messages app

settings > iCloud > messages:

1. disable use on this iPhone
2. i got an alert saying not all messages are downloaded. I clicked “download and disable”
3. wait 10 seconds
4. press back button
5. Select Messages (again)
6. enable Use on this iPhone

I have not confirmed that this has fixed the photos tab issue because it’s not fully synced and is going very slow. But because it shows the syncing progress bar in Messages app, I’m hopeful.

This is my problem-Sent this to Apple :

I am reporting a persistent iCloud Messages issue that appears to be an attachment-indexing defect. Below is a concise summary of the problem, troubleshooting to date, and reproducible steps.

⸻

Issue Summary

• What happens:

• When I send a camera-roll photo (with or without text), the image appears in the conversation on all devices but does not appear in the Info → Photos gallery on my iPhone or Mac.

• Screenshots I send index correctly on all devices.

• Photos I receive index correctly on all devices.

• Affected devices: iPhone [model] on iOS 26.x and Mac [model/macOS version].

• Not affected: iPad [model/iPadOS version], which indexes both camera-roll photos and screenshots properly.

⸻

Troubleshooting Performed

• Toggled Messages in iCloud off and on with “Disable & Download Messages” multiple times.

• Signed out and back in to iMessage on all devices.

• Erased and Set Up as New iPhone (no restore from backup).

• Clean, brand-new iPhone running iOS 26 showed the same behavior as my previous phone.

• Maintained ideal conditions (ample free storage, strong Wi-Fi, plugged in and unlocked for extended periods).

Despite these steps, the issue persists.

⸻

Reproduction Steps

1. From my iPhone, send:

• A camera-roll photo (with or without text).

• A screenshot.

2. Observe on iPhone and Mac:

• Both images appear in the chat thread.

• Only the screenshot appears in Info → Photos.

3. Observe on iPad:

• Both the camera-roll photo and the screenshot appear in Info → Photos.

I have attached screenshots and timestamps documenting these tests.

⸻

Why This Is a Bug

• The fact that the iPad indexes all images correctly proves that iCloud is storing and categorizing the attachments properly.

• Two different iPhones (including a brand-new iOS 26 device) and a Mac consistently fail to index outgoing camera-roll photos, which points to an iOS/iCloud indexing defect specific to my Apple ID.

⸻

Requested Action

Please escalate this case to iCloud / Messages engineering for analysis and resolution.

I would appreciate confirmation that this is filed as an engineering issue and notice when a fix is planned for an upcoming iOS 26.x release.

⸻

Thank you for your time and for reviewing the attached evidence.

I am happy to provide diagnostic logs or conduct additional tests if needed.

Derrickbell79 wrote:

I’m having the same issue but I do not have download messages under info. I’ve tried resynching. Have any other ideas?

Try going to Settings > Search > Messages and turning both toggles off, then back on. That should trigger an update.

Similar issue to everyone else. I already had a 16 Pro Max on 26.1; did a phone-to-phone transfer to a brand-new 17 Pro Max on 26.1 on 11/4/2025. The Photos tab was either missing or inconsistent (only showing some photos in conversations since the new 17 Pro Max. Tried a whole bunch of things. Including 3 calls with Apple support. Some techs said it would take 24-48 hours for indexing to complete. 5 days later still nothing. Called support again; they wanted me to do the transfer again, but the old phone was no longer available. What finally seemed to help was doing the following:

1. Settings
2. Search
3. Messages
4. Turned OFF Show App in Search. (that also removed Show Content in Search)
5. Waited 10 seconds (I actually went all the way back to the settings screen and then came back to it)
6. Turned it back ON

About 30 minutes later, convos that were missing the photos tab suddenly had it again. And the conversations that had the photos tab but only showed newer photos started showing old images.

Caveat: This seemed to work with MOST of the conversations, not all. But I'm only about 40 minutes into it since I changed the settings. I'm guessing the indexing has much more to do. I have messages dating back to 2010 (haven't deleted much). I really only checked the ones that had activity, including 2025. Starting with the newest to the oldest conversations, and it's working for most but not all. I'll report back in 24-48 hours and give it a chance to work in the background.

I'm not sure if toggling the search settings actually made it work or if just waiting 5 days would have done the trick...

It didn't fully recover for me. In most cases, if no pictures were sent within the last year, the photos tab never came back.

In other cases, the photos tab was there, but did not contain pictures that were older than a year. Or in some cases, did not contain other pictures that were in the chat. I'm still trying to figure out the pattern.

I just explained that I've had this exact issue since iOS 16, and I've owned every iPhone model since 2008 and never had this issue until 2022. And if you check other threads and forums, countless people have had it over the past years. It's a bug affecting a tiny fraction of users but it's not an iOS 26 issue, since:

1 - People like me have had this issue for years

2 - The majority of iOS 16 users don't have this problem.

thank you for identifying this.

My issue is that I’ll select the DOWNLOAD ATTACHMENTS but it tries to for a few seconds, and then stops. It’s fantastically frustrating.

anyone else getting tired of Apples updates being so buggy it out-ways any of the benefits?

Same. After updating to 26.0.01 and a reboot all my missing photos in messages are back.