deleted photos albums re-occur after every ios update

Ifunbox seems to be working for me. I was super nervous about it since i'm not very familiar at all with ifunbox and the iPhone filing system, but thanks to your super thorough instructions, I'm pretty sure i was able to get rid of this issue.

Hello there, hkr1234.

It seems you're seeing photo albums sync to your iOS device that you have deleted from your iPhoto and Photos for Mac libraries. One potential reason for the behavior you are seeing is that the iPod Photo Cache folder that is created when you sync your phone still contains the information for these photos. The following Knowledge Base article offers up some in-depth steps to remove that folder, in effect, resetting it so that it is created new the next time you sync photos to your device.

About the iPod Photo Cache folder

Deleting this folder won't remove the original images from your library, and the folder will be recreated the next time you sync photos with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

The location of this folder depends on the syncing options you select in iTunes. In iTunes, if you change the selection in the Sync Photos From menu, a new iPod Photo Cache folder will be created (and the previous folder will remain).

Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture

If you're syncing from a Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture library, use the steps below to find the iPod Photo Cache folder in its default location:

1. From Finder, choose Go > Home from the menu bar at the top of your computer screen. If you moved your Photos Library, iPhoto Library, or Aperture Library to a different location, go to that location instead.
2. Open the Pictures folder and locate the Photos Library, iPhoto Library, or Aperture Library file.
3. Control- or right-click the file, and then choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu.
4. In the window that opens, click on and drag the iPod Photo Cache folder to the Trash.
   Don't remove or modify any other file within the library package. Removing or modifying other files might cause data loss.
5. Close the window.

{...}

From a Folder on Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10

The iPod Photo Cache will be in the folder you selected to sync with.

Learn more

• The iPod Photo Cache folder can be larger than the size of the photos being synced.
• The size of the iPod Photo Cache might vary depending on the device being synced. The higher resolution a device is, the larger the iPod Photo Cache will be.
• If you're syncing with multiple devices, your iPod Cache might contain multiple optimizations of the same images.
• Learn more about how to sync photos in iTunes.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Cheers.

Same problem here. Syncing some albums to my iPhone from my PC. Not all albums, lets say I select 5 albums from the 50 which are on my PC. So far so good. When there is an update for iOS and I upgrade Over The Air (OTA) then all 50 albums are present, all having images. Not the correct images from the PC, but random images from the other 5 synched folders.

To get it fixed I need to open iTunes, uncheck PHOTO SYNC and synchronise the device. When finished I need to checkin PHOTOS again and select the wanted folders. After synchronising all is fine again... untill a new OTA is released... 😟

Exact same problem! It is so annoying. After every IOS upgrade, all of my old albums come back. The only way to fix it is to re-sync which takes forever. I have been having this problem for at least a year and have called Apple support numerous times. Unfortunately, no one could help. I have tried everything. I have deleted the cache, turned off all i cloud services, factory re-set the phone multiple times.....heck, the problem even transferred to a new iPhone when I broke my old one. Please help!

I got it fixed!

Its not only happening after an iOS update.. but it happening after every reboot/restart of the Phone! Last week my iPhone battery died, and after I restarted the old albums were back.

How I fixed it:

- In iTunes, uncheck to sync photos so the photos are removed from the iPhone.

- Installed iFunBox and connected it to my iPhone.

- from \PhotoData\ I deleted all files with sqlite in them as well as the photos.cache_metadata.plist

- from \PhotoData\Thumbnails\ I deleted all the thumbnail (ithmb etc) files. (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

- from \PhotoData\Thumbnails\V2\PhotoData\Sync\ I deleted all the nnnSYNCD directories, where n is a number (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

- from \PhotoData\Sync\ I deleted all photo directories (nnnSYNCD), where n is a number (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

After that, restart iPhone, start Camera App and take picture. (this could crash), restart again to get the correct folders to be created.

Connect to iTunes again and sync the correct folders. Restart iPhone to check if folders keep away.

I got lost of the weird bug!!!

Upgraded to iOS 9.3.2, rebooted and problem still solved!!

I had the same problem and have found the solution with help from Apple support. Somewhere in your iPhone the old deteled albums are still alive, but sleeping. After every software update they will awake. The only solution is to reset your phone to the default settings (factory settings) using iTunes. Before doing that, make sure that you have all your data in the cloud (schedule, contacts, pictures etc.). You can secure your apps also using iTunes. Perhaps the only things you have to write down are your e-mail settings and you notification sounds. After saving all your data reset your iPhone and install the latest update. Copy all your data from iCloud and make a new backup of phone. This will fix the problem.

I have the same problem. I tried erasing the ipod photo cache from the computer but that didn't help. I then tried to uncheck the photo syncing option in iTunes, synchronize, check again... After that sync the old albums were gone... only to resurface after the next sync... I've had that problem for a while and recently bought a new iPhone... For a few hours after restoring my iPhone I had the wild hope that it would be over. But the old albums popped up again. I might have to restore to factory default, when prompted i'll chose to consider that iPhone as a new iPhone and recreate all the configurations manually... which could take some time. Or, as it seems that quite a few of us have the same issue, Apple could consider fixing that...

This works.

It's a pain guys -- but it's not something where you HAVE to reset your phone. Although the degree of 'tech savvy' .. you will save yourself A LOT of time and frustration just going to factory defaults.. and killing your icloud -- everything.

But this solution works. It's absolutely ridiculous how difficult it is to get photos OFF your iphone and permanently.. they will come back unless you do the steps here. Even just manually deleting all photos with a manual file browser leaves a lot of traces of thumbnails.. SQL (database) entries.. basically cached remnants where you will see your deleted photos in the "photos' area but you then can't delete those lol.. Anyhow.. got all of mine deleted and just be very careful and deliberate with your photos.

Best option after you get it set .. is to backup a clean slate after you do this -- and then have it where you can re'synch your phone to that backup -- But this is the BEST answer for actually fixing the problem without any resets of phone.

The method reposted:

"

- In iTunes, uncheck to sync photos so the photos are removed from the iPhone.

- Installed iFunBox and connected it to my iPhone.

- from \PhotoData\ I deleted all files with sqlite in them as well as the photos.cache_metadata.plist

- from \PhotoData\Thumbnails\ I deleted all the thumbnail (ithmb etc) files. (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

- from \PhotoData\Thumbnails\V2\PhotoData\Sync\ I deleted all the nnnSYNCD directories, where n is a number (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

- from \PhotoData\Sync\ I deleted all photo directories (nnnSYNCD), where n is a number (these files are orphan because no photos should be there)

After that, restart iPhone, start Camera App and take picture. (this could crash), restart again to get the correct folders to be created.

Connect to iTunes again and sync the correct folders. Restart iPhone to check if folders keep away.

"