Photos won't sync from Mac to iPad via iTunes

I had the same issue with a new 9.7" 128GB iPad.

Okay to sync most things from the mac laptop, but not the photos, on the iTunes Photos sync page, said could only sync via iCloud. Not a show stopper but had work.

Searched through iPad support & found this......

"Note: If you turn on iCloud Photo Library, you can’t use iTunes to sync photos and videos to iPad.

Turn on iCloud Photo Library. Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, or go to Settings > Photos."

......So, in settings, turn off iCloud Photo Library & go back to iTunes Photo sync page and select what you want to sync from Photos or Aperture, Select SYNC & you're off !!!! (Well you're some of the way there).

Yup, there is a bug somewhere that stops the photo sync mid-way.

Took me about 5 or so syncs to transfer around 10,000 images.

Quit iTunes after each attempt unplugged / replugged cable & tried again...got there in the end.

Note to APPLE, nice to know about the new features in a new device or software, would be good to know what old features have been changed or removed !

Got there in the end.🙂

Just did an upgrade to 11.2.5 on my iPad that's been failing since the 11.0 update....problem is gone. My entire Photos library synched to my iPad. Made some changes to some photos on my Mac and synched again....they synched fine to my iPad.....cautiously optimistic.......doing more testing......

I searched for "Rebuilding Photos Library" in Apple Support and got this.

Have you looked at this....

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204967

Not sure which photo app you are using ?

I got a few error messages, these cleared by...

1. Quitting itunes.

2. Restarting the iPad.

3. Unplugging & replugging.

4. Restarting the computer.

Did not do all of these all the time.

Like you, the folders / albums all copied across but either some were empty or only a images were copied.

I did have issues with an early iPad where some images just would not transfer from Aperture. This was fixed by rebuilding the library as suggested by another Apple support forum thread. I believe there may be similar issues with Photos?

Good luck.

I have no issues syncing photos between Mac to iPhone. I keep my photos under master folder Pictures. Within pictures, I have a lot of albums. In iTunes, when photos is selected, I choose from another folder and I pick Pictures. Once selected, you check box all the albums you want and click sync.

I have case open with apple support on this very same issue. I have been able to get up to the chain to hopefully put pressure on Apple to recognize this problem. IOS10 worked great. IOS 11 and all the updates have not addressed this problem. I have also noticed that the iPad will not charge when plugged into the iMac. Only charge when plugged into the wall. So there's two issues with IOS11 on the iPad. Every support person I have talked to, wanting me to use the cloud which is ridiculous since I have over 15,000 images to upload or 150 GB's. I use the iPad like many photographers as my digital portfolio. Maybe Tim Cook will respond.

Don't throw the phone across the room. In my last contact with an Apple technician (early April), I was told that their engineers were "aware of the problem" but still didn't understand why it was happening. It's either a bug in iOS or in Photos/MacOS. But in any case, for those of us with the issue, there's not a single thing we can do about it except wait for the bug to be identified and fixed. Meanwhile, I'm not buying any new iPads or iPhones.

See this thread on the iPad forum:

Re: The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occurred.

A lot of people do have the same problem with syncing photo's. It started with the iOS 11 update. Developers are working on it, but it seems to take a very long time to repair this. A lot of people that use real camera's and have huge photo collections become very frustrated and lose confidence in Apple.

Apple wants us all to use iCloud.

You are way behind. Two full versions, Sierra and High Sierra. Check compatibility, but ok to go to the latest High Sierra now, has some glitches, but seems stable. Yes, “events” are now the organizing basis for Photos, but Albums still three. The glitch on this thread has not been fixed though...but it has existed for several versions.

It's great that you were able to finally get your 10,000 photos onto your iPad after only 5 or so syncing attempts. And the comment about having iCloud Photo Library turned off is no doubt important, but certainly not useful for people like me, who had turned it off even before attempting to sync. Apple "helpfully" turns it on by default, so every time I did a restore on the iPad, iCloud Photo Library had to be turned off before proceeding. My most recent experience in trying to sync 14,179 photos only lets me add 135-150 photos at a time.

I had the same issue and just got it resolved by repairing the library. You can go to "help" and search for "repair". The steps are as follows:

Important: You should back up your photo library before repairing your library.

1. 1. If Photos is open, choose Photos > Quit Photos.
2. 2. Press Option-Command and double-click the Photos icon in the Applications folder (or click the Photos icon in the Dock).The Repair Library window opens.
3. 3. Click Repair to rebuild your photo library.

After the above is done, go back to iTunes. I relaunched it just to be safe. Go to "Sync Photos" and, using the pull-down menu, choose "Photos". It should be the first option at the top. Now you should be able to sync your photos.

I hope this works for you as it did for me. Enjoy!

I have the same (and maybe more) problems:

- Macbook 2016

- OSX High Sierra (though problems existed in Sierra)

- iOS 11.1.2 (both iPad and iPhone 7+)

- Connect via USB (Apple original cable and Apple dongle)

Issues:

- Many albums I select on iTunes for syncing simply do not sync completely. e.g. one album syncs 33 out of 175 photos.

- Sometimes the photos do move and I can see them in the iPad but only in the "photos" tab and not the "album" tab

- I have repaired the photos library multiple times, have restarted all devices

Have talked to Apple to no avail.

Pretty fed up. If any one has any suggestions, please let me know. As a last resort, can I use google photos as an alternative in both my mac and iOS devices?

Thanks

Thanks. Yes, hope they wake up. I also escalated via phone support and at a Genius Bar. I am questioning more and more my loyalty to the Apple “ecosystem”. Already use a third party calendar, podcast app, music app. If this doesn’t work soon I’ll go to google photos. Then maybe the iOS + OSX iTunes thing will be useless and I can chose any devices. Fingers crossed

I have had this problem off and on for a couple of years with both my iPhone and iPad. In the past I usually was able to get the selected albums to re-load when I sync'd again. Sometimes it was more problematic and I succeeded again after several tries of stopping/restarting iPhoto, or iTunes, or the iMac, or the iPad/iPhone, ... No consistent solution. I am still on OS X 10.11.6 and iOS 10.3.3.

This time -- nothing. The one thing that changed since my last success is the big change to iTunes about month ago.

Paardeslager,

I refuse to use iCloud. However, having my favorite photos (approximately 20,000) on my iPad is very important to me. I have a follow up call with Apple tomorrow. My confidence in Apple is almost gone, but I will give it another try.