iPhone 5 shows data in Photos that doesn't exist.

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iPhone 5 shows data in Photos that doesn't exist.

iPhone 5 shows data in Photos that doesn't exist.

iPhone 5, 16GB running iOS 8.1.2. Service through Verizon. iCloud Photo Library (Beta) is off. My Photo Stream is off. iCloud photo sharing is off.

Under "About" in settings it says there are 32 Videos and 429 Photos on the device with a capacity of 12.6GB and 7.0GB available.

Normally, I used to import photos and videos from Preview and manually delete them on the phone, until I realized this could also be done in Image Capture with the ability to delete all of them with one click, which is what I did this time (I have done it through Image Capture at least once before).

I've tried in this order: Creating an empty folder and syncing to it through iTunes. That didn't work, so I created a backup on iTunes, completed the "Erase All Content and Settings" option on the phone and then I restored from that backup. Still no luck but I'm wondering if I just saved the issue in the backup and restored back to it. I really don't want to do a complete erase and start over, but if there are no other options I will try it.

Ideas? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Photo shows iPhone in iTunes after restore.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.1.2, null

Posted on Jan 9, 2015 1:43 PM

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Answer 1

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jakodemus Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2015 6:45 PM in response to jakodemus

I tried this and it did work for me! It was on a separate posting.

Good luck!

scabthepoetMar 15, 2015 2:00 PM Re: My iPhone 5 camera roll is empty, but under usage says 3.1GB - how can I delete?
Re: My iPhone 5 camera roll is empty, but under usage says 3.1GB - how can I delete?in response to armccoyHelpful

I've been searching for an answer to this very problem for a solid day. Here is what I did that worked for me. No reset. No need to upgrade to more Cloud storage or anything else. I had already deleted out every picture from my phone, including "Messages" and the "recently deleted" album, etc. There really are phantom pictures in there, but the only way to see them and delete them is to:

Go to Settings
Date & Time
Untoggle "Set Automatically"
Manually change the date back. For example, if today is March 15, 2015, choose August 1, 2014. (You can change it back once we're done)
Close out of that
Open "Photos"
Select "Albums"
If, like me, you had already cleared out everything from the Camera Roll and "Recently Deleted" folder, you'll smile to see that your "Recently Deleted" folder now has thousands of images back. Those are your phantom photos
Open it, "Select" and start deleting
Now, go back into Settings - General - Usage - Storage - Manage Storage - and you'll notice your Photo & Camera is empty if you deleted everything

I hope this works for everyone and that I saved you all the time I wasted searching for an answer myself -- only to never find one. Now you have the answer.

I went from barely having any room left on my phone to almost brand new again.

Take care.

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Answer 2

jakodemus Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 25, 2015 6:47 PM in response to jakodemus

I've had this problem happen on two separate iPhone 5s. The first I had fixed by calling the tech support line and they worked me through some kind of reset. However this method did work on another phone albeit cumbersome to have to manually tap on hundreds of photos to select them for deletion.

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