Phone crashed, photos disappeared, phone slowed to a crawl

My phone crashed while taking a picture. Now the photos app shows 0 pictures (should be 6000+), even though the app is still taking 8GB of space.


I've had this happened before and the photos app would start to repopulate. Now this isn't happening and the rest of the phone is barely functional, with everything extremely slow and apps crashing.

iPhone 5s, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Jun 29, 2016 10:45 AM

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5 replies

Jun 30, 2016 7:24 AM in response to whatdoisay

whatdoisay wrote:


...pictures (should be 6000+), even though the app is still taking 8GB of space.

It sounds like you are consuming a whole lot of iPhone storage.


Check Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage and be certain you have absolutely no less than 10% of your device's total storage free.


Very likely the solution will be to restore your iPhone as new and then very selectively add contents from your latest backup. Since this happened previously, you've probably been running too close to capacity for a while.


How to erase your iOS device and then set it up as a new device or restore it from backups - Apple Support

Jun 29, 2016 7:53 PM in response to whatdoisay

So are you saying you have been relying on a "barely functioning" iPhone as being the only place holding things you wish to preserve?


Are you also saying even your photos are not on a computer somewhere (or stored safely away in a cloud somewhere, which would only have happened if you explicitly set it up beforehand)?


If so, oh well, you'll have a painful lesson here unless the iPhone miraculously starts working again (highly unlikely if storage space is really the issue).

Jun 30, 2016 7:25 AM in response to sberman

Yes, perhaps I am saying that I've recently received the 'phone hasn't been backed up in 104 weeks' message and chose to ignore it.


Is there anything I can do to back it up now? I've tried on my PC and over icloud (after upgrading the storage space for $$$ so it would do it) and both fail.


Also, is there a list of things that iCloud automatically backs up regardless of space? For example, I can see on icloud.com that all my contacts are backed up.

Jun 30, 2016 12:41 PM in response to whatdoisay

whatdoisay wrote:


Is there anything I can do to back it up now?

This is like asking "I just had a really bad car crash. Can I buy some automobile insurance now so I won't have to pay all that money to get the car fixed?"


No. Next time, you'll know better.


whatdoisay wrote:


I can see on icloud.com that all my contacts are backed up.

Your contacts are not backed up in iCloud. They are stored in iCloud because that is where you elected to keep them when you set up iCloud and/or your contacts. Perhaps you also did that with your calendar and/or notes.


The things you can get back are those things that you purchased from the iTunes Store or the App Store, along with the basic iOS functionality and apps. That is it.

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Phone crashed, photos disappeared, phone slowed to a crawl

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