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

I’m from the US, and my family and I are all Apple users, however, I don’t want my photos on iCloud. We all have iPhones and iPad. My children have Macs, but I use a Dell. I agree if they force iCloud, then it stops for me too.

I’m currently working with a senior Apple advisor who asked me to send him some diagnostic files today. He is taking my info to Apple engineers, and he seems confident that the problem will be resolved. He is scheduled to call me back this Sunday. I know others have dealt with senior Apple advisors and engineers, but I’m remaining hopeful. I will continue to follow this post and update as necessary. Thanks, this post has been helpful.

I also have this problem of syncing photos with the iPad, exactly as previously detailed, with efforts made to sort out the issue including rebuilding the MacPro (High Sierra), rebuilding the iPad air (11.2), and rebuilding the photo database, all in vain. I am so frustrated, as the iPad is the useable and viewable photo backup. I have attempted to downgrade the iPad to 10.3.3, which used to work, but Apple refuses to allow this as it is now unsigned. I seriously question (for the first time) the morality of this company not to allow such a simple solution. I assume they require us to use iCloud, which is not practical here in Oz (try using a digital camera and connecting when travelling inland). I have now trashed the iPad trying to downgrade it. I will continue to monitor this thread hoping a solution will be found.

I was also going nuts trying to fix it myself. I started I different post about this problem, and the originator of this post commented and directed me to this post. Like you, I was happy to find out that I was not alone. The Apple Specialist that I’m currently working with seems confident that it can and will be fixed. I directed him to this post so that he would see how widespread the issue has become.

Unfortunately, he’s not sure if it will be resolved by the next update. He said a future update. At least they’re aware of the problem and working on it. He’s keeping my ticket open until it’s resolved, and said he’ll keep in touch. I will keep everyone updated through this post.

iTunes really a piece of useless software now in my Mac ... not able to sync contact, not sync calendar, not sync apps, not sync photo, music sometimes missing .... why not just change the name of the software to something like Apple Entertainment Store just for consumer to purchase music and video only? Recall last time using all Apple product is because even the gadget is more expensive but it was so convenience that by sync gadgets with iTunes, everything can be organised so neat in my ipod, phone and ipad .... this is the biggest advantage of OS gadget with the other one. Apple is damaging the gap and is just trying to get consumer to spend more in iCloud or Music Store but they really miss out the basic function of a smart phone. Why focus on cloud and music store where there are tons of option in the market now? This in return causing them to lost market share every year. I'm a 10 years loyal consumer with my first ipod but now I have start shifting to others gadget and surprisingly, the other platform really improved a lots. If Apple is not changing how iTunes work, then I suppose I have no choice but to change Apple. I still recall when Apple first remove the function of sync contact and calendar, I was disappointed .... Good luck to all of you ... been having this problem for months ... a corporation that understand what consumer want, they should have resolve something like this in days most. Sad and frustrating but what can we do .... move on.

Sunshine4a,

I felt disrespectful if trying to recommend other product in this site, all I can say is I'm very frustrating with Apple gadgets and have become open minded in exploring others. List down what do you need from your smart phone and what others can do for the price you pay. I always have a need to sync my data and photos from my Mac with phone/ipad especially I like taking SLDR photo from all the countries I visited, unfortunately, this function is no longer working smoothly with Apple. Looking for other product with depends on the country you are staying and the data plan the carrier is offering ... best of luck

AhPek,

I totally understand, no problem.

I take many photos with my camera and want to sync them from my laptop to my iPhone/iPad. If Apple doesn’t come up with a solution soon, I’ll find another product to fit my needs. Thanks!

Beasterjr,

I tried that too, but it didn’t work for me. My albums showed up, but most of them were empty. The first approximate 50 albums contained photos totaling 11,000 photos, but the rest contained 0. When I synced again, all albums contained 0 photos. I guess that I will just sit tight and wait for a solution from Apple. Frustrating…

I have over 66000 photos of which aproximately 40000 photos get stored on my iphone or ipad in albums. I keep on getting the above mentioned error (The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occured.) only since l‘ve done the ios update. I’ve now lost the ability to sync seemlessly like l used to - it just won’t work. I now have a bunch of empty folders or half filled folders. Makes no sense.

Apple store weren’t able to help me at all. Yes l have factory reset my iphone, l even brought on a brand new ipad IT WILL NOT SYNC PHOTOS on that either.

Thank you heartoftexas and others. We have five new iPhones coming in the mail, and based on feedback like this, I won't even try to get pictures on them until the bug is fixed. Still have huge issues with pictures on our iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4 that have been updated to iOS 11--no suspense, they are the exact same issues reported in this thread. Have given up on getting pictures (due to errors long ago) on our two older iPads and our numerous older iPod Touches. Ironically, the ONLY Apple device we have which has no issue loading pictures is (and yes we still use it) our iPod Classic clickwheel, which we use for slideshows on the television. Hate to say it (since you can tell we are an Apple family) is out of frustration, I purchased a Samsung Android tablet with a 200 Gig memory card, and it has absolutely no issues with pictures. Again, thank you all for your updates.

Beasterjr,

I tried that too, but it didn’t work for me. My albums showed up, but most of them were empty. The first approximate 50 albums contained photos totaling 11,000 photos, but the rest contained 0. When I synced again, all albums contained 0 photos. I guess that I will just sit tight and wait for a solution from Apple. Frustrating…

Daevo,

I’ve had the same problem in past updates with my photos being scrambled in the incorrect album. I always thought that I was crazy. I would just resync with my fingers crossed. I’m close to leaving Apple due to all of the frustration.

Yep...apple doesn't need beta testers...they have suckers like us who keep using their products...25,804 photos, 160 albums, so yep feel your pain...

Apple doesn't understand some people use photos from a LOT of sources...not just their camera on their phone...and want to have them available on their phone or ipad...

this is what happens when software engineers work in a vacuum isolated from actual users.