Q: How do I delete hundreds of empty albums in iOS 8.4

I have an iPhone 4s with iOS 8.4 on it and after syncing with iTunes w/ the new Photos app on the Mac, my iPhone has thousands of empty albums that existed before upgrading from iPhoto.

I know that I can tap edit > tap "-" icon > tap delete for each empty album to get rid of it... but the problem is there are hundreds of useless empty albums that I'd like to delete, and that's going to take my months to complete.

I'd like to know how I can batch delete all these useless empty albums at once.

Things I have tried are...

fully deleting all photos

turning iTunes sync off and then turning it back on to do a clean sync

Options that I can't take are...

Resetting the iPhone and installing iOS 8.4 from scratch. (I see this a lot, but it's not really a 'solution')

Thanks,

Yoshihide

Posted on Jul 25, 2015 9:20 PM

I have this question too

Q: How do I delete hundreds of empty albums in iOS 8.4

All replies

Helpful answers

by sberman,

sberman Jul 25, 2015 10:25 PM in response to Yoshihide K.
Level 8 (41,031 points)

Jul 25, 2015 10:25 PM in response to Yoshihide K.

If you're convinced your Mac is managing your photos correctly (regarding space, folders, etc.), then you could always back up and then restore your iPhone to/from iTunes. That should clear out any memory of photos on your iPhone and bring them in from the Mac.

How to back up your devices using iCloud or iTunes - Apple Support

Restore your device from an iCloud or iTunes backup - Apple Support
Reply options

Link to this post

by Yoshihide K.,

Yoshihide K. Jul 27, 2015 9:30 AM in response to sberman
Level 1 (65 points)

Jul 27, 2015 9:30 AM in response to sberman

Thx for the advice, will give it a try. But doesn't the backup via iTunes backup everything, including the Photo album data?
I was thinking restoring from the backup will also restore hundreds of empty albums too.
Reply options

Link to this post

by sberman,

sberman Jul 27, 2015 2:20 PM in response to Yoshihide K.
Level 8 (41,031 points)

Jul 27, 2015 2:20 PM in response to Yoshihide K.

The premise is that your Mac is handling the photos correctly. So there are probably some corruptions occurring regarding iCloud photos. As this explains, iCloud photos are not kept in iTunes (or iCloud) backups.

About backups in iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support
Reply options

Link to this post

by Yoshihide K.,

Yoshihide K. Jul 27, 2015 8:27 PM in response to sberman
Level 1 (65 points)

Jul 27, 2015 8:27 PM in response to sberman

I did a full reset and restore of my iPhone, but the empty albums are back... Btw I don't use iCloud Photos as that causes problems for iTunes Backup. Photos are synced with the photos on my Mac via iTunes.
Are there any other options to select all the albums and delete it at once?
Reply options

Link to this post

Q: How do I delete hundreds of empty albums in iOS 8.4

All replies Helpful answers

by sberman,

by Yoshihide K.,

by sberman,

by Yoshihide K.,

All replies

Helpful answers