Photos won't sync from Mac to iPad via iTunes

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

Sunshine4a

Same here. My photos look great on my iPad Pro 9,7 " even better than on my iMac 27"(late 2013), and it's a wonderful way to show them to others.

Please keep us informed about the outcome of the follow up call tomorrow. When Apple called me (months ago!) the line was so bad (from the US to the Netherlands) that a conversation was impossible. I had some follow up e-mail contact with a developer, but he was not permitted to handle my case by e-mail. So he had to close my ticket.

Paardeslager,

I’m in the US, and I’ve had several calls with this specialist already. The first 2 calls lasted a couple of hours each, and I gave him remote access to both my laptop and my iPad. The third call was a quick, follow up. I expect that this will be a quick call, but he seems like he’s going to follow the case through to a resolution. I believe that he’s sincere, but I do not trust Apple. I will keep you updated here.

I'm still on El Capitan 10.11.6 and I just saw an iTunes update 12.7.2 in the App Store. But I will wait with this update until I'm sure it is not another disaster. On another thread I read someone stated that iTunes now only allows syncing of "folders" instead of "albums" from the Photos app. Is there someone who was brave enough to download this update and can confirm this?

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.

I opened a new case and made some progress on this issue. I was on the latest release of macOS, IOS and iTunes as of 12/8/17 and still can't synch photos to the iPad. I was told that Apple is aware of this issue which first showed up in October. They are anticipating a fix in a release of iTunes and possible iOS in the future. No dates just in the future.

Menegus,

I’ve talked to 2 as well. However, the first one told me that my iTunes was installed incorrectly, had me uninstall and reinstall, then blew me off. That was not the problem! He did not give me Amy of his contact info. The second one has stuck around and appears that he genuinely wants to help resolve the issue and said he’s staying on the case until the end. He ran diagnostics before and after the last update, and he has given me all of his contact info and even asked me to keep in touch. At least the second guy cares.

i am having the same issue with my iPhone... i can see the albums - but they are empty and the photos are just not getting synced ... have tried multiple times now!!

has anyone found the solution to this yet!!

In preparation for updating to iOS 11.2.1 I just did a backup and sync. I have not been able to get the ~1000 selected albums transferred to the iPad from iPhoto for some months, perhaps since the last iTunes update. I've been following this thread for a while hoping for a solution.

During the sync, I happened to have Photos open on the iPad and was astounded to see my pictures transferring! One other note: iPhoto was not running on the iMac at the time.

Now I need to do the update. We'll see if the the pictures disappear.