iPhone 15 Pro: Full Photo Library Access only 51 photos

I have an iPhone 15 Pro with IOS 26.2 and recently encountered a problem. I have about 10000 photos in my iphone library which have been sync via my Mac, when i go to Privacy & Security and down to Photos only 51 photos are showing under FULL PHOTO LIBRARY ACCESS which seem to be only the recent received/taken. I have checked in the Screen Time section under restriction and it is correctly set to ALLOW.

I have rebooted the phone and have also done a complete Reset of the iPhone but still have the same problem.

Posted on Jan 21, 2026 3:43 AM

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Posted on Jan 30, 2026 4:03 AM

I haven't got Whatsapp, so I can't test it. If I try the Messages and Mail apps on my iPhone and add a photo then I can select any photo, including the ones synched with My Mac. Note that my privacy settings are the same as yours. It says I've only got 117 pics - which are the ones I've taken with my phone - but I have about 10k in the From My Mac folder which Messages and Mail can see OK.


Sorry I can't give a definitive answer but this might be a Whatsapp limitation rather than Photos. Have you checked the Whatsapp Privacy settings.

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Jan 30, 2026 4:03 AM in response to Bigtzn

I haven't got Whatsapp, so I can't test it. If I try the Messages and Mail apps on my iPhone and add a photo then I can select any photo, including the ones synched with My Mac. Note that my privacy settings are the same as yours. It says I've only got 117 pics - which are the ones I've taken with my phone - but I have about 10k in the From My Mac folder which Messages and Mail can see OK.


Sorry I can't give a definitive answer but this might be a Whatsapp limitation rather than Photos. Have you checked the Whatsapp Privacy settings.

Jan 30, 2026 3:21 AM in response to Bigtzn

I'm not an expert in this so maybe later as more folks come online you might get a better answer, but here goes. I see the same thing - although I've never looked at this before. Like you (I assume) I manage all my pics on the Mac and synch them with the iPhone so they appear in the Photos library in the "From My Mac" folder. The only pics in the Photos app on the phone are ones I've taken with the phone or transferred in to use as screen backgrounds. I think that Photos only considers items which are inside the photos app as photos, hence that's what you see in the Privacy settings.


Why is it a problem? Are the privacy settings preventing you from doing something you need to do with pics in the From My Mac folder? If so then that might be a better question to ask.

Jan 30, 2026 3:41 AM in response to Zurarczurx

The problem arises when I want to include a photo in a whatsApp message. There is no way of selecting a photos which is in your library. It only shows current photos not synced to my Mac photo library. In order to do that I have to go into my photo app and select the photo and then copy it into the WhatsApp message. Previously I was able to see all the photos when I selected photos under the WhatsApp messages


Jan 30, 2026 5:20 AM in response to Zurarczurx

Thanks for the reply, I have checked and found that I can also see all photos and albums when using Messages. It is just on WhatsApp that I cannot see the albums that i have synced with my Mac. I have checked WhatsApp privacy settings and it shows that it allows full access to the photos. Have sent message through to WhatsApp team.

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iPhone 15 Pro: Full Photo Library Access only 51 photos

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