can not sync photos with ios 11.3 and itunes 12.7.4

So until Apple fixes this, here is a workaround: Downgrade to iTunes 12.7.3! It definitely is an iTunes 12.7.4-issue. After downgrading to 12.7.3, everything is working again.

So you have to manually uninstall 12.7.4 and download 12.7.3 from Apple (just google for the version number, you'll find it).

Problem is that you have to go back to an auto-saved iTunes Library file from when you had 12.7.3 installed. So after installing but before starting 12.7.3 you have to first rename the current "iTunes Library.itl" file to something like "iTunes Library 12-7.4.itl" and then go to the "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder and take the presumably latest autosaved itl-file and move it one folder up and rename it to "iTunes Library.itl".

(Of course this means that you'll lose all changes you made to your iTunes library since updating to 12.7.4)

philipp273 wrote:

I don't know why, but people don't seem to read/find the workaround posted in this thread. Maybe it's the forum layout?

Usually it gets worse once a post has been marked as helpful and all other replies are hidden, but that doesn't appear to have happened yet in this thread.

To revert to 12.7.3.46 see the iTunes installers section of Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for download links for recent builds direct from Apple, instructions on removing the current build before you reinstall, and advice on rolling back the iTunes database.

tt2

I had the same problem sometime ago with a different iOS release and new iTunes software. My fix this time around was the same, and it works! I use Windows 10, and an iPhone X & iPad Pro.

Step 1: Go to your target photo folder (which includes all of its sub folders, and DELETE the iPod Photo Cache folder.

Step 2. Perform a sync on your device, but UNCHECK the “Sync Photos” box, when prompted, select “remove all photos from device” (this action will erase everything from your device). Complete the sync.

Step 3: After disconnecting USB from PC, perform a “hard reboot” of phone or pad & restart the device.

Step 4: Begin a new sync, this time, CHECKING the box to “Sync Photos” (this action will result in recopying ALL of your target folders & photos, and can take some time to complete, as it would if you were setting up a brand new device)

Step 5: After all photos and appropriate folders have been recopied during the sync, everything should be just fine & complete as it was before the combination of iOS 11.3 & iTunes 12.7.4 CAUSED this irritating problem!

After performing these fairly time-consuming & irritatub processes, I found that all SUBSEQUENT syncs run just as normally as they had done previously! Personally, I routinely sync between 500-2000 photos & folders, and found that this worked perfectly for me on both my iPhone X & my iPad Pro!! I do hope that this had helped everyone with this issue, Good Luck in getting things back to NORMAL!

Try Ergodbo's method from further back in this set of posts which worked for me on both iPhone 7 plus and iPad Pro. It was slow to load the photos once they had been removed but they did all go back on and the albums showed and subsequent synchs have continued working.

Step 1: Go to your target photo folder (which includes all of its sub folders, and DELETE the iPod Photo Cache folder.

Step 2. Perform a sync on your device, but UNCHECK the “Sync Photos” box, when prompted, select “remove all photos from device” (this action will erase everything from your device). Complete the sync.

Step 3: After disconnecting USB from PC, perform a “hard reboot” of phone or pad & restart the device.

Step 4: Begin a new sync, this time, CHECKING the box to “Sync Photos” (this action will result in recopying ALL of your target folders & photos, and can take some time to complete, as it would if you were setting up a brand new device)

Step 5: After all photos and appropriate folders have been recopied during the sync, everything should be just fine

MAY HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION. I just got off the phone with my apple tech. I/We found that there were many "ipod photo cache" folders with various dates located at a number of places in my working drives C: (SSD) and E: (harddrive). After I erased all, I attempted to sync and the sync worked. So what you might try is to do searches for ipod phot cache files and see what you have. You could then delete and sync and see if that helps. The actual sync seems to take longer though than before. We just did a file with 2350 photos and it took 20 minutes. Both the apple rep and I are not satisfied with the performance but at least I now have photos back on my iPhone 8 plus.

Denise, Just an update for you here:

As you knew, by scrupulously following the steps in the "fix" which I had posted earlier, I did successfully get all 2500+ photos synced on my iPhone X & iPad Pro (and within their appropriate folders!), and it did take some time initially. The nasty combination of iOS 11.3 and iTunes 11.7.4 made it all quite the challenge, for sure. And then, Apple goes on ahead and releases iOS 11.3.1, worrying me that I'd have to do all of my steps over yet again. However, that didn't turn out to be the case for me. Today, before doing my very 1st sync using iOS 11.3.1 and iTunes 12.7.4, I even added a few new photos into existing folders, added a new folder with some photos, and even added two videos to the mix in my iTunes library. The result: both phone and pad successfully synced, including all of the new additions, in under a total time of 20 minutes! I really feel badly for all of those who "regressed" back to the iTunes 12.7.3 version to address this problem. It appears that doing that causes even more problems overall (putting toothpaste back into the tube..never a good idea!) So, I just wanted to update you and the others here about this (rare) continued success I've had, without any help from (Bad) Apple! And or the sake of anyone else reading this now, I'm re-posting the steps in my "fix that worked" below here:

Step 1: Open your target Photo Folder (which includes all of its sub folders, and DELETE the iPod Photo Cache folder.

Step 2. Perform a sync on your device, but UNCHECK the “Sync Photos” box, when prompted, select “remove all photos from device” (this action will erase existing photos from your device). Complete the sync.

Step 3: After disconnecting USB from PC, perform a “hard reboot” of iPhone or iPad & restart the device(s).

Step 4: Next, begin a new sync, this time, CHECKING the box to “Sync Photos” (this action will result in recopying ALL of your target folders & photos, and can take some time to complete, as it would if you were setting up a brand new device)

Step 5: Hopefully..you can finally smile!

Wishing you all the best of luck!!

After 3 weeks of trying everything on this, I finally get all my pictures back. What I did that works for me:

1-Install the new itunes update 12.7.4.80

2-install update IOS 11.3.1

3-delete (or move) ipod photos cache folder

4-sync your iphone and remove all pictures (uncheck box photos), this might take some time, if you have some ghost pictures like I had about 10000 pictures, showing in the about settings but not the folders in photos.

5-unplug your phone from PC and then do a hard reset and restart you phone

6- sync again your phone, but this time check all the folders you want to have in your phone, if you have like me 10000 pictures it take literally at least 2 hours!

7-when done unplug your phone, if the folders doesn't appears then do again a hard reset and restart.

You should have your pictures back, for me this has works finally after trying numerous method.

Hope it work for you.🙂

If reverting to the previous iTunes hasn't worked for you try the other method:

1. delete the ipod photos cache folder

2. uncheck photo synchronisation and synch the device acknowledging this will remove all synched photos.

3. Detach your device from the computer and do a hard reset of the device

4. Synch the device but this time tick the boxes for the photo folders you want to synch (might be worth just doing a few to start with if you have lots of pictures - my almost 3,000 took a while but less than half an hour)

I used this method rather than revert iTunes and my iPhone 7 plus has synched photos correctly ever since, as has my iPad Pro. Note if you do have another device you need to do the same BUT ignore step 1 (as the cache for that device was in the folder you already deleted) but carry out steps 2, 3 and 4 for that device.

I had the same problem. Basically, I deleted the folder called "iPod Photo Cache" from the photos folder I was trying to sync from, and then tried again -- it took some time, but it worked. (iTunes made a new version of that folder when I tried a second time, which wasn't corrupted with whatever problem seemed to plague the first one).

Hello Sue... I used to following format which worked for me ... having said that.. I’m too scared to reSync......

FIXED … No thanks to APPLE .. BUT thanks to Forum member “sheindk”

I have the latest iPad 10.5 PRO 256GB using latest IOS11.3.1 and iTunes 12.7.4

I completely removed the current latest Itunes from my
Windows 10 PC USING the method recommended by APPLE …How to uninstall iTunes
etc.

Then I followed his/her advice:

Download the previous iTunes 12.7.3 from:

https://www.itechtics.com/download-itunes-12-7-3/

Then selected : Download iTunes 12.7.3 offline installer for Windows
64-bit [EXE 252 MB]

HOWEVER
.. small problem when opening this version on iTunes….. …
Warning appeared “iTunes Library.itl
Cannot Be Read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes””I Googled this and was directed to “idoanloadblog.com” and then a YouTube video to show you “How to Downgrade
iTunes and fix the Library.itl cannot be read error”I followed every frame of this video …

Then
I did an overnight 9 hour sync and all 38,000 plus photos were copied!

Phew!I am still very, very angry that Apple have still not fixed the error to the
latest iTunes and the way that they are handling this problem. It is now over 6
weeks since this started.

Good Luck! Michael from The Chalfonts, England.

Hello Vivo... I used to following format which worked for me ... having said that.. I’m too scared to resync! .....

FIXED … No thanks to APPLE .. BUT thanks to Forum member “sheindk”

I have the latest iPad 10.5 PRO 256GB using latest IOS11.3.1 and iTunes 12.7.4

I completely removed the current latest Itunes from my
Windows 10 PC USING the method recommended by APPLE …How to uninstall iTunes
etc.

Then I followed his/her advice:

Download the previous iTunes 12.7.3 from:

https://www.itechtics.com/download-itunes-12-7-3/

Then selected : Download iTunes 12.7.3 offline installer for Windows
64-bit [EXE 252 MB]

HOWEVER
.. small problem when opening this version on iTunes….. …
Warning appeared “iTunes Library.itl
Cannot Be Read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes””I Googled this and was directed to “idoanloadblog.com” and then a YouTube video to show you “How to Downgrade
iTunes and fix the Library.itl cannot be read error”I followed every frame of this video …

Then
I did an overnight 9 hour sync and all 38,000 plus photos were copied!

Phew!I am still very, very angry that Apple have still not fixed the error to the
latest iTunes and the way that they are handling this problem. It is now over 6
weeks since this started.

Good Luck! Michael from The Chalfonts, England.

Hi all.. I had previously posted this fix, and it has worked for me. Hoping that it helps at least some of you now.

Currently, using iTunes 12.7.4 on a Windows 10 (version 1803) PC, I am now successfully syncing over 3000 photos (in 35 subfolders), 105 videos, 228 apps, 390 songs to an iPhone X and iPad Pro, devices on iOS 11.3.1.

After being faced with the initial conflict between the iOS and iTunes version, of being stuck on the endless “Reading photos…” message, I took the following steps.

A. Performed a sync on both devices, unchecking the box in iTunes stating to “Sync all photos & subfolders, agreeing with the message “this action will remove all existing photos” on both devices.

B. After unplugging each device from the PC, I then performed a hard reboot on both of them.

C. Next, I completely deleted the iPod photo cache folder in each of my PCs two target photo syncing folders. I closed down the iTunes program, but did not restart the PC.

D. I restarted iTunes, and performed syncs on both devices now re-checking the box asking to sync all photos and sub folders. This action took quite a bit of time (as in setting up a new device for the first time), but successfully DID sync all my photos and sub folders to both devices. This also action created a new iPod Photo Cache folder in each target directory.

E. Since performing the above actions, all subsequent syncing has successfully completed everything as I wanted, including adding/removing any new photos or folders! The only difference for me has been that each device would previously complete its sync in 6 minutes or so, and it now takes 15+ minutes to do so. Clearly, there ARE issues between iOS 11.3.1 and iTunes 12.7.4, but Apple is being ridiculously slow in taking any action to address & FIX them!

My apple tech called today and told me that itunes and ios updates had been released. With him on line, I updated phone to iOS 11.4 and iTunes (windows) to 12.7.5.9.

SUMMARY. THIS UPDATE HAS SOLVED THE PROBLEM FOR ME!!!!!!!!!

All my photos are on phone. As test we added an additional 16 to my 8300. Took maybe 3 minutes. Before the sync went from 2-4 hours.

FINALLY!!! SOLVED.

In reply to all, and following up my early statement about "can not sync photos", I can inform now with the update of iTunes 12.7.5 every problem has vanished. The operating system on my iPad and on my iPod Touch (iOS 9.3.6) has not been updated, only the iTunes on my laptop-windows10 was updated, so there was the problem.

I have sync my photos (5000+) on the iPad which is a special photo-album for my wife, and I have sync my songs (6000+) and the photos (5000+) on the iPod Touch, both with additional a 100+ pics in those 2 months, now without any problem. Also I have added later on a new batch of 300+ pics, and again all without a problem and the process went on rapidly like before.

So I am happy with the iTunes 12.7.5, but it has taken too much time.

This is the link I used (without a problem) to go back to iTunes 12.7.3.

First, be CERTAIN to remove iTunes from your computer in the absolute correct steps or it will cause additional issues. These are the steps to delete iTunes correctly: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204275

THEN: use the following link to download iTunes 12.7.3

https://www.itechtics.com/download-itunes-12-7-3/

BE SURE you click the correct link according to the computer you have and the software your computer is running!

You will then sync your device to through iTunes 12.7.3 but be sure to back up your important data, photos etc. either on your computer or an external hard drive (which is my method of backup) or the cloud. You don’t want to risk losing everything.

This method didn’t take much time and has since worked for me very well with iOS 11.3.

Best of luck until Apple comes up with a solution!