iPad photo sort order changed with iOS 5

I for one am so glad ios5 sorts by filename again, since this is how I sort photos on my pc. I was one of the many complaining when apple changed from name to date from ios3 to 4.

For people who got used to dates, I realize it's a pain, but names give you so much more control than dates. You get to pick what order you want. If you want dates, just sort by date on PC, and then rename the files so that are in that sequence.

There is no filename ordering. Or at least it's not the preceeding order.

I always sort my pictures by filename and when I got my iPad (only a few weeks ago), I actually had to manually change the DateCreated field to have all pictures show in the correct order on my iPad. With iOS5 now there seems to be no order anymore at all.

If you're now saying you got them ordered by filename, it can only be beacause you deleted all other EXIF/XMP/... meta information from your pictures os that the iPad is using file names as a last possible sorting option. But Apple - really?!?

Bummer. I hadn't tested it, I thought someone else said it was back to filename ordering and was just saying good.

Why can't Apple sort? The music app has lots of sorting issues now too.

Anyway, when they broke photo sorting in os4, I switched to the Web Albums app. You can sort your photos as you like online and then download to different devices (and cache on those devices if you like).

Come on Apple why can't the user decide how to order our photos? This will keep everyone happy.

Hi Jonas

I have tried this but it did not work for me. The photos in the new manually created album are in yet another sort order. So I now have 2 albums with same photos with different sort orders. Random !

Apple need to fix this..............

I so wish i hadn't upgraded to IOS5. Where van i find how to get back to IOS4?

I found this discussion by Google search. I must say I originally have bought the iPAD (2) as photo displaying device. First shock was to find out that it was not possible in the photo app to make one's own custom order by simply rearranging pics in albums by touch screen operation. What? "Custom sort" is a feature of even the most basic photo management programs.

Then I slowly got used to the time stamp (photo taken on....) order. WIth iOS 5 everything seems messed up now.

I mean this is the lamest software fail I have come across in a long time. Does anybody at Apple think about what they do? I read that there are people here who have thousands of photos ordered since the iPAD came out.

Now not only do they give a choice of how to order the photos, they also change the way the crap software "itunes" syncs them automatically and without any user option.

This is beyond useless, beyond useless. Apple needs to finally give the user a "custom sort" option. Let them quickly sort photos as you can sort the aps on the iPAD desktop. Easy with your finger.

Until then, the photo app is the user- unfriendliest piece of software I know.

User friendly? Hardly! Sorry, but this is so frustrating...

Bernie

Hi,

As iOS 5.0.1 still has this bug I was researching for a work around for this problem and have found the Windows tool "EXIF Date Changer". This tool helped me to resolve the issue:

1. Delete all existing synchronized photos from iPAD / iPhone (unselect the sync function in iTunes)

2. Delete all ipod photo cache folders in Windows

3. Run "EXIF Date Changer" and select under "Option" that you want to overright the date in the file with the EXIF date when the picture was taken, include all sub folders and tell the tool to overright the original files. Make sure that source folder and destination folder are the same. With this options you can change all file dates to the EXIF date in one go (batch).

4. Activate the photo sync in iTunes again and retransmit all your photos to the iPad / iPhone

5. Sorting order should be OK now.

Best regards,

Tom

Hi Tom

I'm afraid this hasn't worked for me. I've run through your procedure but the photos are still appearing in file name order on my Ipad 2. I'm still on IOS 5.0 mind you but updating to 5.0.1 will probably not solve the problem.

Apple - please fix this and revert the sorting order to date order or give your customers the option to apply custom sort criteria in the IOS photo app. (this is such a basic requirement I can't believe its not there)

So, I see that there are various workarounds for this annoying ordering bug, none of them being really very attractive.

Thanks to one poster, l have downloaded PhotoShackPro from the app store, and while the Gui is not as elegant and fluid as the iPad photo app, it can displayfull Exif information, plus, is perfectly possible to order the photos in a completely free user defined way/ custom sort by simply selecting them (one or several at a time) and freely moving them around. Plus you can get them ordered according to the date when captured.

It is a shame that the Apple photoapp cannot do this by default, and I will not mess around with exotic exif manipulation tools in order to fix the shortcomings of the apple software.

But I am glad I came across the advice to try photoshack pro, albeit it is not really cheap. I will stay with it for now, till Apple will fix the ordering mess.

Cheers, Bernie

Unfortunately I have to admit that I was too fast with my success message :-(. After the new synchronization of over 6000 photos I am more confused than before. The sort order in the "foto" view is correct but within the single "album" view there is not logic order at all anymore (I can't figure out what sort order was chosen by iOS, but it is not by file name, it is not by exif picture taken date and it is not by file (change) date) - For me it looks absoutely randomly! Doesn't make sense at all. Apple, please correct this bug - it's definitively a HUGE BUG!

Tom

Apple must fix this bug. It is a major problem for those who bought iPads for photos. As my wife suggests, this problem that Apple created is similar to taking years of photo albums, dropping them on the floor with all the photos commingling in no discernable order. Apple, please give us the ability to do a rudimentary photo sort or at the very least, return the sort to by "date taken".

This entire issue has been the most frustrating Apple issue I've come across and it is causing me to rethink my iPad vs an Android solution, as many of my colleagues are doing at work - they've been too frustrated with Apple's closed architecture.

I bought the iPad for photography first, and I think Apple should not only offering a rudimentary photo sort, but all the usual options, including custom sort, plus something like vertical photos first, and horizontal after, or the other way round. Tablet computers are ideal for photo display, and there is no reason to limit it's use for that. Hasn't Apple always been advertising making devices for the creative minds? The current iOS photo support dos not do justice to that claim....

Regards,

Bernie

Not being able to downgrade to IOS4 I hoped 5.0.1 would fix this error, but it doesn't. Waiting for 5.0.2.