My iPhone shows 2.3 GB of data in my photo library but I just cleaned out all my photos? I already synced to iTunes and rebooted the device. I have updated to iOS8.
iPhone 4S, iOS 8
In TouchCopy, select the Files folder on the left-hand side. Then select DCIM. You may see several sub-folders beginning with 100APPLE, then 101APPLE, 102APPLE, etc. That's where my ghost files were. They appeared to be the very first photos and videos I took after purchasing the phone, since they were numbered 0001, 0002, etc. The videos obviously took up the most space. (My guess is that they got cached there automatically the first time I synced the new phone with iTunes, because I wasn't quick enough to turn off Photo syncing in iTunes. After that first sync, I turned off Photo syncing, and the later photos weren't cached. Instead of photo syncing through iTunes, I use Photo Capture on my MacBook Air to download them with more control.) In the trial version of TouchCopy, I could select all of the files, but the Delete Selection button was grayed out. Once I activated the full version of TouchCopy, the Delete button became available, and I deleted the old files in each of those 10xAPPLE sub-folders. I didn't delete the folders themselves, just the files. After that, eject/disconnect your phone safely. Power off your phone, then power it back on and check your usage/free space.
You must have the full version of TouchCopy to delete the files. Rather than pay $25 for the full version, there's an offer to try another piece of software or service. When you sign up for the other trial (I selected stamps.com), you get an authentication code for TouchCopy. You just have to remember to cancel your trial of the other software or service before you get charged for it. Do so at your own risk.
Hope this works for everyone!
Thank you, changing date back works and voila leftovers appeared!
I used iFunBox as well... I found 7 separate camera's listed which contained about 2gb of ghost photos. There are files from an iPhone 5 running iOS7 and photos from an iPhone 6 running iOS8, so the issue is not localized to one particular piece of hardware or software. Very strange indeed.
For the Christ's sake Apple! The solution to change date back works and I recovered 700MBs hidden by this stupid issue. I was struggling with low space and it was just there sitting. I'm sure Apple tries to force us to buy more storage from them and this bug was done on purpose to anger the users!! Apple is simply annoying for not fixing this for so long time!! Where's the quality we pay for?
slajX wrote:
For the Christ's sake Apple! The solution to change date back works and I recovered 700MBs hidden by this stupid issue. I was struggling with low space and it was just there sitting. I'm sure Apple tries to force us to buy more storage from them and this bug was done on purpose to anger the users!! Apple is simply annoying for not fixing this for so long time!! Where's the quality we pay for?
How does it force you to buy more storage? The iPhone has a fixed amount of storage. There is no way to buy more. And how does angering users help Apple? Your post makes no sense at all. Apple DID fix it, BTW, in iOS 8.3. If you expect software to have no bugs you are living in a fantasy world.
OK, the next step is to try one of the iPhone file browser apps, such as TouchCopy.
Look 4 messages above yours: Re: iPhone Photo Library "Ghost" Space
And if that link doesn't work due to a forum bug, see: Why does my iOS device say I have more photos than I can find?
One more comment: You don't have to delete the files individually. To delete all files in a folder, select the first one, scroll down, hold down the shift button and select the last one (this will select all, which you also might be able to do with Command/Control A), then hit the Delete button in TouchCopy.
well, that's what I did. And although I deleted them from the "Files\Apple" folders, they still show up in some other places like "thumbnails" and also in the iTunes photos storage tab. the only thing I managed to do, was to reduce the "other" tab, quite significantly.
As for the photos I give up. And I paid the $32 (aussie dollars) for the software...
the only thing to do, is to monitor if I can delete more recent photos that I take. If it just keeps adding them to the ghost files, I will have to restore the phone.
thanks for your input; much appreciate it
I had this problem too. I erased all my photos in all the folders and installed the itunes upgrade to 11.4. Once it was installed I clicked on the itunes synch button and it seems to have resolved the problem on the phone. However, itunes on my computer still shows the phantom memory being taken up by photos on the iphone. Apple is, once more, only part of the way to the fix.
rfo
hello.
i guess i have the same problem as everybody here. let's see.
i bought an iPhone 5c with 8 GB memory one and a half month ago.
i have had Macs since 1999 (and an Apple II plus in back in 1985/6) but never had an iPhone. so right out of the box, i subscribed to more space on iCloud and synced my Photos library with the iPhone through iCloud in order to take advantage of my new Apple toy.
but i didn't know that this would just eat up all the iPhone memory.
as soon as i noticed it, i rolled back the process: disabled the Photo library sync through iCloud, deleted all the remaining photos and albums, etc.
nevertheless, my iPhone kept a 1.4 GB Photos library space taken.
i ran through this post several times, as well as other actions suggested in other sites, and took them all: rolling back the date manually and deleting remaining "ghost" pics, using iExplore to delete photos (they were not there anymore), running memory/cache managers, sof resetting the iPhone, etc.
(the only thing i did NOT do was backing the iPhone up and restoring it.)
however, it still has that 1.4 Photos library taken.
tonight i was just giving iExplore another try and found out this: there is a folder that is approximately 1.4 GB big. this folder is on My iPhone - Media - PhotoData - Thumbnails.
there is nothing else on my iPhone taking that much space. obviously that folder is the problem.
now the big quesiton is: can i simply delete that folder, or at least its contents, on iExplore?
Additionally I have also found photos long deleted but still listed under the Photos tab in TouchCopy. None of these can be picked up by Photos app on the phone or iPhoto on the Mac when attached.
Clearing history and web data in iPhone Safari settings cleared the 'phantom' 2.1gb of photos it said I had on my iPhone!
Many thanks!!
Did you ever delete photos using a 3rd party app from your computer (Or Windows Explorer)? If so, that's why you still had photodata.
I have the same issue since updating to IOS 8.1.2. At first sync the file size according to Settings>Usage has doubled (iTunes seems to show these as Others) then I removed all photos from the iPhone (none visible in the app) but usage still shows photos at the inflated size of 8.1 GB. Cannot get rid of it. iTunes does not seem to be able to remove photos from the iPhone, every sync tries to add the same photos again, Other files size growing constantly.
AMAZING, SIMPLY AMAZING. I JUST FIXED A FRIENDS ISSUES DOING THIS FIX. IT WAS SIMPLY AMAZING HOW CHANGING BACK THE TIME WOULD FIX THIS ISSUE. AS SOON AS I CHANGED BACK THE TIME AND WENT OVER TO PICTURE. BAM!! THERE THEY WERE. THIS IS JUST CRAZY. I'M SURE THIS BUG HAS BEEN FIXED IN RECENT UPDATES BUT MY FRIEND WAS STILL ON VERSION 8.0. DON'T ASK. HE JUST WAS. AND NO NOT JAILBROKEN EITHER. HE'S AN OLDER GENTLEMAN SO THAT SHOULD SAY ENOUGH. EITHER WAY I JUST THOUGHT I'D COMMENT ABOUT THIS FIX BECAUSE. YEAH! IT WORKED. KUDOS TO ETHAN7988 FOR THE FIX.
iPhone Photo Library "Ghost" Space
