iPhone storage not showing all photos on PC

I have the same problem. Before the iOS update I never had issues. But now when connecting to my PC via USB cable, it either shows no folders, or just a selection of folders (only the ones that have "_a" - usually you have a folder per month (202512, 202511 for example), but for some months you also have another with "_a" (so 202512_a) - only those show). This has to be an iOS 26 problem. Is there a fix yet?

I have an iPhone 12 Pro, and there was never an issue before.

I got it working yesterday by installing something called "Apple Devices" from the Microsoft Store - it asked me to unplug the devices as it was going to uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, after that I could see the recent folders under DCIM. Update today back to seeing only some, iTunes does not recognise the iPhone, I rebooted and the folders came back again but then when I opened ITunes again explorer restrated the iPhone folder and it was back to only seeing from 202310! Very frustrating. I did delete some photos yesterday so maybe it was a combination of this? I give up!!

SteveSmallTown wrote: … changing the 'Transfer to Mac or PC' setting from 'Automatic' to 'Keep Originals'. … This worked for me and was so simple. iOS 26.4.2 and Windows 11 Pro.

Wow-- that's good! I don't use Windows, so I can't test any of this. Can you say, in Settings>Camera>Formats, do you have High Efficiency or Most Compatible selected? It may be a combination of these settings that's important…

High Efficiency would be HEIC, and Most Compatible is jpg.

It seems to be intermittent, after a reboot of my PC I can see them. I deinstalled that Apple Device Manager rubbish as it hung during the upgrade to 26.3 and I had to do a full restore. I then de-installed and re-installed iTunes and now that seems to work ok, but the Explorer/Folders issue is still a pain from time to time.

Now on 26.3.1 and same issue again....

Apple just keeps fixing/breaking this feature with each update.... frustrating!!!!

Mer

Hi,

I have the same problem. I have an iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 26 as well. I think that the problem comes from updating to iOS 26, I have never encountered this issue with previous versions.

What do we have to do, now?

Mine is doing the same. I plug and unplug the USB cable and sometimes get more folders show. This has recently been working but today I have tried maybe 20 times and can’t see any folder more recent than 2022. Any solution yet?

You have no idea how much I've been struggling, and how many sites I've visited for tips and ow many things I've tested over the past 2 years (yes: years!).

It really was this simple...

I'd like to hereby nominate you for a Nobel.

I have and iPhone 16 Pro Max and have wasted 2 hours of my life trying every suggestion to fix this. I am still only able to see a folders from 2020 and 2021. I have tried the following without any success:

1. Updated iOS to 26.5.
2. Installed iTunes and Apple Devices Apps.
3. Tried two different USB-C cables in two different ports.
4. Uninstalled Apple Drivers from Device Manager and reinstalled.
5. Asked Microsoft to search for updated Apple drivers, none were found.
6. Reset "Location & Privacy" setting on the iPhone.
7. Changed the "Transfer to Mac or PC" from Keep Originals to Automatic and back to Keep Originals.

I last connected this iPhone to the same PC back in November to transfer photos using the same cable via just Windows Explorer without any issue. I have been doing this for years.

I did notice that when I installed the Apple Device App my phone showed up for less than 30 seconds in the GUI and then disappeared and just gave me the "Connect Devices" option.

I am out of ideas, what have Apple done? When will this be fixed?

You don' say what version of Windows you're using? As I asked earlier, in Settings>Camera>Formats, do you have High Efficiency or Most Compatible selected? Do you now have Transfer set to "Keep Originals?"

Does your computer handle HEIC files well?

Most people here use Macs, so there may not be much experience with this…

I am using Windows 25H2 (OS Build 26200.8457) - This is the most recent update.

iPhone Settings>Camera>Formats = High Efficiency

Transfer is set to "Keep Origionals"

Not sure what you mean by "How well does your computer handle HEIC files" I can open them but convert them to JPG using an app once the photo has been downloaded. Not sure how this would affect Internal Storage folder not appearing in my Windows Explorer?

I got it working once just now but I cannot replicate it again after disconnecting everything. It is very flaky.

Optimized Storage is turned off.

My Windows PC is barely 2 years old and transferring photo's from the iPhone to the PC using just Windows Explorer was never an issue before. I t was working as recently as November last year. Reading through this community item it looks like Apple have been playing around and have broken the feature in iOS 26.

Like I said earlier I managed to get it working once today where it displayed all folders from 2020 through to May 2026. There is something very odd with iOS 26 and connecting the phone to a Windows PC. This is should just be a basic requirement.

Same here!!! :(

I have iphone 12 pro, just updated 2 weeks ago to ios 26, and now cannot transfer last photos to my pc.... crazy....

Big question is, what do we do now?