Photos app on iPhone not syncing in iOS 11

FWIW, I've spoken with at least 6 Apple support reps on the phone about this issue, escalating twice to "senior" support reps. The senior reps told me that they do NOT read this forum because they have a specific trouble-shooting procedure designed to give them specific information to help individual users.

However, the same reps failed to get back to me when they promised; in fact, they failed to get back to me at all, although they promised.

I'm becoming less and less interested in what Apple might have planned. In recent years, IMO, their 'improvements' have been downgrades which removed important features and limited my ability to make choices about how to manage my photos (and other things), my mac and my iPhone.

Totally agree and I suspect that is what is the hidden agenda....buy our iCloud!!

I do not want to use iCloud to store/sync/whatever....and want to have control over my photos, data and computer use.

ang

1. I have also spoken to Apple support all the way from junior to senior and from phone to Genius Bar. They all make it seem they have never heard of the issue (typical Apple method) and seem surprised offering to escalate it. Has been months and no response or acknowledgement whatsoever.
2. I am considering moving to the Google ecosystem of Google Photos on Chrome and the Google Photos app for iOS. Does any one have any good/bad experience with this? thoughts? At this point I am not hopeful for an Apple response -- and extremely disappointed.
3. If I do move from the Apple ecosystem for photos, I may even move away from iOS and get any of the better mobile devices out there. I already don't use Apple Music, iTunes nor Podcasts because of their awful apps.

Spent another hour on the phone with senior advisor on my almost 3 month open case collecting yet more sync data and as usual i had the advisor logged in to both computer and iPad so she could watch the sync. As expected, the sync self cancelled and the photo app on the iPad still thought it was syncing. The app crashes 4 times during this session. So only 810 of the 930 pics transferred even though it made it through all 930. Had to sync it again to finish. Maybe, just maybe, the data they collected this time will have something useful. Last Friday I did this very thing on my other open case and the result was identical. I do not hold my breath. We are at iOS 11.2.1 already so I am not encouraged.

Hang in there. Several appointments and hours on the phone collecting logs may have paid off. I was told that they have recognized the issue. I have a feeling a fix will be coming soon. I know you are upset but let's cut them a little slack and be patient. Keep calling and giving them the data they need. They will figure it out.

Roth92

I was told the exact same thing at the beginning of October when this first started to be an issue...still awaiting the promised fix and it is towards the end of December... waiting far to long for it. I would not hold your breath waiting!

All the reports about hours on the phone with the senior consultants and activity logs are just way too familiar. My case is still not closed after two and a halfmonths.

Ang

Thank you Gary and other people who posted updates. Good to know they are working on it. Hate to be a downer, but think this is ridiculous. Should not take this much effort and this long to get their attention. One fundamental problem is that until issues get escalated way up the chain no one believes you and they only it is user error.

These photos/iTunes/iOS issues are not the only ones. I had issues for almost a year with podcasts and iCloud that never got resolved so I just switched to non-Apple solutions.

Let’s keep the pressure. Calling Apple support today.

Thanks

I agree with you. They think it is just user error. That is why everyone has to keep pushing by calling and complaining. Create lots of tickets. Then they will realize it is an issue that needs to be fixed. Plus you are giving them clues on how to fix the problems. So everyone... keep pushing!

The problem with it being an iTunes issue is that the same version of iTunes I used to sync my iPad with 10.3.3 worked perfectly but as soon as i installed 11, the problem appeared and the only reason I had to reinstall 11 is because Apple no longer signed 10.3.3 which is totally stupid.

...."they contacted me back saying they found nothing, and they will need another log file."

Hey Apple, let me spell it out for you:

1. Go into your software lab.

2. Connect a Mac to an iPad.

3. Launch iTunes and select photo albums to be sync'd.

4. Perform an iTunes photo album sync.

5. Verify the sync failure.

6. Use your software tools to determine the failure mode.

7. Revise the offending software code.

C'mon Apple, it's your hardware and your software design, this should be sooooo easy for you to find and fix!

-Ranger111

And I'll go one step further: if they need a large photo library to use to test it, I'll be happy to let them download mine to use for testing. :-) Or they can VPN into mine and install/do whatever they want to that machine since it is on 24/7. [And I did offer the same thing to the nice support person I've been speaking with.]

I joined this group last summer when the problems began and, as of the most recent update, they obviously persist. I have said this before, but there seem sufficient new entrants on this thread to join in again with my observations. It is very clear that Apple is aware of this problem. It is equally clear that they are intentionally abandoning those of us who use iTunes sync for large photo collections and who do not use iCloud sync services. I asked one of the pundits back in September, and he concurred that this was likely intentional. In my case, it rendered my MacBook Pro (vintage 2013), iPhone 6s (vintage 2015) and iPad Mini 3 (vintage 2016) obsolete, as I have 18,000+ images carefully organized in folders which for years I have edited on the MacBook and synced to iOS devices. This group has taken on the feel of abandoned children, wondering when mommy and daddy are coming back. The answer is that they are not coming back. Or at least not in a time frame acceptable to me.

My solution: upgrade the MacBook Pro to a Microsoft Surface Book with 1TB of storage (and a touch screen stylus I might add); migrated all digital images to the SB; migrated Photoshop and Lightroom to the SB (Adobe Creative Suite); upgraded the iPhone to a Note 8 with 256 chip, to which all pics synced in 5 minutes); and use my iPad as a brick for looking at legacy iTunes content. Bye, bye apple. I will do the same for my wife and son -- rid them of legacy apple products - when their time to upgrade comes. I recommend all of you stop wasting your time waiting for Apple to come around on this.

alberticc,

I am so very tempted to go the Surface Book route but I'm just a photographic hobbyist (world travel) and my livelihood does not depend on it. Besides, Apple hasn't yet removed the capability from iTunes so I will wait it out a little longer and in the meantime suffer through it with "shared albums" via iCloud. I will be taking a hard look at options after we get back from our next trip.

If Apple needs another voice screaming that this is a problem it can have mine. New iPhone 8 synching with up-to-date iMac only adding empty folders and not even all folders I've checked to synch. iPhone then says 27.5GB of memory being used when I have 277 photos in camera roll. So I unchecked photo synching which apparently removed all previously synched photos - except that now I have 2000+ photos in a Live Photo folder??!! Possibly explains why the phone thinks it's using so much memory for photos. Have tried most solutions mentioned in this thread with no success. Spent weeks on this problem. C'mon Apple give us a fix.

Hey everyone,

Has there been any progress or advice \ support on this issues? I'm ROTTED I can't sync all my pics. I spent the extra money on the 128GB Ipad 2017 for the purpose of storing pics directly to the device. Apple took my money but they are not supplying the service I am paying for. 😡