iPhone Photo Library "Ghost" Space

Is there a way to do this without purchasing a licensed copy of TouchCopy for $20+? I was able to see the files in the trial version but couldn't delete them.

There may be, but as this is your first post that I've seen perhaps if you describe your exact situation I can help more.

I'm having the same issue as the original post. The photo library on my iPhone is showing 4+GB, even though I've deleted all photos and videos, as well as turned off photo syncing from iTunes. iCloud photo library is turned off, and Photo Stream isn't taking up much space. I downloaded the trial version of TouchCopy to my MacBook Air and can see a few hundred photo and video files in the 100APPLE folder, similar to Z001 above, but I can't delete them with the trial version. Thanks for your help.

Check these possible sources of photos on your iPhone:

• Tap the Photos app. what photos do you see? You should, as a minimum, see Camera Roll and Recently Deleted. If you see any other albums they were synced from your computer, and you will have to unsync them using iTunes to remove them. You can also delete any in Camera Roll and Recently Deleted.
• Go to Settings/Safari and tap Clear History and Website Data.
• If you use any other browsers do the same with them.
• Do you have the FaceBook app? If so any images that you can see in may be included (I'm not sure about that one).
• Do you ever send photos using iMessage or MMS? Those count in the photo usage number.

After you've checked all of these try syncing with iTunes on your MBA. Sometimes a sync will clean up left over deleted data.

Try restoring iOS using iTunes, and restore your backup. Sometimes this will clean it up.

If all of this fails to resolve the problem you are left with only 2 options I can think of: Restore the phone with iTunes and set it up as a New phone, without restoring your backup. Then add your apps, music, etc, back. You will lose any app data.

Or pay the $20.

Thanks, Lawrence. I had already tried many of those steps, to no avail. I was close to doing the full restore and set up as a new phone, but I found that I could get TouchCopy for free by trying another product. TouchCopy did the trick. My iPhone photo library dropped from 4+GB to about 300MB. I also had a similar issue with the iMessage cache on my wife's iPhone and was able to get it fixed based on Kurty999's steps here: iOS 7 Messages (Saved) Can't Delete. Freed up 3-4GB. Thanks for the time you take to help me and others.

I'm having the same problem and cannot believe that Apple can tell me nothing other than to reset the iphone. This is obviously a major bug affecting a lot of phones. Having to download and pay for a third party utility to see hidden photos that are hogging my phone's memory seems like a lot to ask of Apple customers. I have a lot of reservations about downloading third-party utilities since I have been burned by CNET and other before with malware. Come on Apple - do something!

Hey Lawrence,

I'm new to all this; but I have the same problem. iTunes shows 278 photos & there are only 63 on my iPhone 5. I've purchased TouchCopy and can see all the "278" photos next to the photos tab. But when I select them, I can't delete them.

I've gone into "files" and deleted them from "Photos" but they are still showing up under "Photos" tab of TouchCopy and also in iTunes on the storage tab down the bottom. No photos are synced with iTunes. Photo streams are turned off. All files from "recently deleted" in camera roll have been deleted again.

THere's yet another tab in TouchCopy: "Photodata" and there are "thumbnails" and "mutations" that have heaps of photos I've deleted but they are still in this section. My arm has gone numb having to select each one to delete every single change I've done to each of these photos.

Surely, there is an easier way of deleting these files so they permanently disappear. Please help me; I am new at this and overwhelmed. I just feel like throwing this phone in the sea and deleting them that way and just using a normal camera...

The Paid version of TouchCopy should allow you to delete files. However, have you checked all of the potential sources for photos, such as MMS or iMessages sent or received? The other way to remove photos is to Restore iOS on your phone and set it up as New. You will erase all app data this way (not just photos). If you sync your mail, contacts, calendars, notes and reminders with iCloud they will not be lost. Nor will email and other content from non-iCloud accounts that are either IMAP or MS Exchange. Content from apps that sync to the app's servers will also be able to be restored (such as Words with Friends, FaceBook, etc).

I have checked all mms & iMessages and no photos attached. All deleted.

if i restored my phone, would I lose my mms messages? that's the only thing i would be concerned about. yep, the rest I can restore (contacts, mail etc)

yes, it's the paid version of touch copy i bought. How do you delete? from the photos tab? or "files" ? I can't seem to delete them from photos, but interestingly, they can't be "viewed" since I have deleted them from files. The ones I haven't deleted, can be viewed. So there still must be a trace of the "deleted" ones somewhere on that phone! any ideas what to do next?

Launch iTunes, go to iTunes Preferences, Devices tab, and check the box to not sync automatically.

Connect the phone to iTunes, and click on the iPhone icon. Do the photos still show up in the memory usage scale? If not, just sync.

If they do show up back up the phone to iTunes. And also to iCloud for extra safety (do this on the phone, Settings/iCloud - Backup). If you have an encrypted backup be certain you know the passphrase.

Then Restore iOS and set up as a New phone. After the phone is set up click Restore Backup. Wait for it to finish, which can take a long time as it must sync your music and apps after restoring data. This will restore your messages and may fix the photos problem.

Hi Lawrence,

You seem to have a handle on this. I haven't paid for a Touchcopy license (yet), but would an Apple Genius be able to see and delete these photos at an Apple store? The thought of paying for this software after paying $300 for the phone makes me angry. If I do buy Touchcopy, is it easy to delete these photos? The trial version does not have a delete button, but I'm assuming the paid one does. Based on Angeliki downunder's experience, I'd like to know Touchcopy can solve the problem before paying for the software. Can you post instructions on how to delete hundreds of photos in Touchcopy?

Thanks,

BAM

I haven't used TouchCopy, so I can't speak from first hand experience. See my response to Angeliki downunder

If deleting photos doesn't free the memory there is probably memory corruption on the phone, so restoring is a better approach to try first.

I;ve tried all of that, and it didn't work... no photos synced with iTunes and yes, they still show up on the memory tab.

i also went to the genius bar, and they backed up the phone, erased "all content and web data" and then restored. they will still there...

since i have paid for touch copy, how do I delete from there? i can "see" them... and there are hundreds (I haven't counted) in thumbnails in photo data" but there must be a way you can just "delete all" or a large selection. surely? !

we need a real genius on this one..

i tried contacting touch copy support as well, but they said the software wasn't for "deleting" but for copying and backing up; so no help from that direction either...

okay, will consider the full restore

how did you delete through touch copy? i am having difficultly?

did you go through "photos" tab or "files"... ? i can still see them, if you see my messages posted a little while ago