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!
Lawrence, not sure which post you respond to here, but in my case NONE, since all the space (even in Settings>Usage) refers to synced photos, which I am unable to delete locally.
Do an iTunes backup first for safety, then you can delete them.
How many photos do you have in the Recently Deleted folder? What is the average size of each photo? What is the size of the video? You can (and should) transfer the photos and video to your computer, the same way you would with any other digital camera.
Thanks Lawrence, I have already unsynced them. Zero GB photos shown in iTunes summary (storage status bar at the bottom of the window), with lots of Other. No pictures visible in iPhone Photo app (only two folders; Recently Added and Recently Deleted - all empty) yet Settings>Usage shows 4.1GB for Photos. The same size the synced photo content used to be when synced (as per iTunes status bar). So the amount of photos stored according to Settings>Usage has halved, but none can be accessed anymore though iPhone Photos app or iTunes sync.
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.
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...
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?
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;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
yeah, i also found lots of images in various TouchCopy folders and can't delete all of them, the "ghost" files are still there...
what kind of a restore did you do? a full one, or just the "content and settings"? Did you lose your text messages (not iMessages)?
After hours trying to figure this stuff out (and I'm a software engineer). I can confirm that this works. There is a bug for sure in iOS 8.1.3 because it should not be this hard.
Anyways, I also got the stamps.com thing so I got the software for free. I plan to cancel stamps.com in a couple of days.
I don't know why TouchCopy didn't work for me, but I've deleted a whole lot of files and I don't know what I have done. I plan to restore the phone from new as soon as I can find the time, because I think I may have deleted files I shouldn't have... i just got so frustrated.
I had done what toddg333 suggested but the ghost files were still present under "Photo cache" files and I couldn't get rid of them... thanks for confirming there is a bug, at least I know I am only frustrated and not mad!
ifunbox is not as good a solution as txforever's roll back the date solution. While it frees up the space, it does not update the phone's content database, which could lead to data corruption problems later.
iPhone Photo Library "Ghost" Space
