iTunes stuck on "Reading photos from Pictures"

I already had this issue a few months ago - iTunes only synced a few pictures at a time - and was told to copy 100 pictures or so at a time (I have 22,000 pix!). Since the last update it's even worse, it gets stuck on "reading ...". NO SYNCING. I have given up on calling Apple as they simply take you for a ride. I thought they were competent folks, but I've (we ALL have) discovered they are not. When my iPad dies, I will simply do what a lot of people on this thread are saying, buy a phone and tablet from another manufacturer. And I make sure everyone I talk to in airports, train or bus stations, but also my many students, know what owning an APPLE gadget means in terms of reliability (by the way, my iPad mini had to be changed twice because there was a hardware issue). It's almost 6 months since I started having problems, and they have not been resolved, Apple's technicians should all be fired, or is it that their boss doesn't assign them to solving clients' issues?

I hate iTunes and always have, it’s nothing but a headache every time I use it. As for photos I wish Apple would design it so you can create your own folders on the device (which you can) but once you’ve moved that photo from the camera roll to the created album you can then delete it just from the camera roll and the photo still remains in the album you just moved it to. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen because if your delete it from album it deletes it from the other too. I use an SD card to Lightning Lead to transfer my photos to my device and if Apple implemented it into the software that deleting a photo from the camera roll wouldn’t remove it from the device created album then I’d have no need to use iTunes again other than a device backup once a month.

This is not about iPod Photo Cache. The suggestions do not work by the way. Apple have lied to their customers over battery power loss, are they now looking to make it mandatory that we use iCloud for photo storage?

Either way, their customer support is non-existent. A company that does not give a dam about the customer does not deserve to succeed. What a let down, what disgusting service.

I have £1,000 piece of junk and no sign of it ever working properly. Hello Apple, anyone there?

Apple are just not bothered, I have X, watch and airpods, but the bulk of Apple income now is from services, the iPhone is now a consumer device aimed at the youngsters for watching Netflix, iPlayer, streaming from Spotify and playing the latest games with inApp purchases, they are happy to pay for cloud storage etc so I just feel Apple will continue to ignore this issue just as they did when they arbitrarily dropped app support/store from iTunes without warning. I don't believe Apple will shed any tears or even miss me if I left their eco-system and went to Android device, apart from the initial profit on the hardware Apple don't make any money out of me. When they finally wake up to the fact they have alienated too many of their customers it will be too late - no company is too big to fail, especially in the technology field!!

I did go back to the previous version, delete the new library 12.7.4.80 created, and rename the previous library to current. When I tried the iTunes sync for a couple of photo sub folders, I was so happy it worked. But then when I expanded importing more photo sub folders, I ran into a problem saying that syncing cannot be completed because the iDevice has an internal problem. So, this suggestion does not work for me.

Hi to you all. I tried the various solutions that were posted, but in vain. Even if I uncheck all my 22,000 pictures before attempting to sync, it doesn’t sync, but the pictures are not deleted either. Though not updated/synced, they are still visible under “photos” but not where I need them, under “albums”. Where they are now, they are useless to me. How can I delete them, and hopefully - who knows with Apple’s temperamental gadgets? - be able to sync again (by some miracle)?

Thanks for your kind reply. I believe I had done this before, but I just redid it, deleted the iPod Photo Cache directory, started the sync with nothing checked, and the pictures are ... still there, all of them (not those I’ve been trying to add, of course) but not in albums. So it’s useless to me, and I don’t understand why simply copying pictures is such a challenge, especially since I already experienced syncing problems earlier this year with a previous version of iTunes. Such an incompetence on the part of Apple can only be intentional. I’m sick and tired of wasting COUNTLESS hours trying to find a solution to this issue, and of wasting your time as well.

Thanks Denise, I just followed your instructions then rebooted my iPad mini, but the pictures are still there, nothing deleted (but nothing added either 😟). So I guess there,s no need trying to sync again for the umpteenth time ..

While working for the Salt Lake Winter Games, I had the latest PC and the latest Apple machine at my disposal, and was able to determine which one was better. Based on this first experience I never switched to Apple’s devices. Then, in 2013, I was given an iPad mini. Obviously it had not been tested as the camera was not working. Apple exchanged it. My son needed something of this kind and I gave it to him, not without expressing my opinion about that gadget. A year and a half ago, i bought a new iPad mini (128 GB) because I needed to store and show all my pictures on one small device. After 5 months, the home button stopped working, the replacement device had an annoying black spot on the screen, and it was replaced too. And since I received this third iPad, I have been battling with the syncing issue, both in December/January, and for the past 4 weeks, and wasted too much of my precious time. This experience speaks volumes of Apple’s competence and customer care. Apple, if you’re reading, your device is not doing the functions you promised and I bought the iPad for, I DEMAND A REFUND!

Apple has no solution (again), it takes hours to copy a few hundred pictures, you have to tweak your system and return to an earlier version that you have to get from a third party, etc. Aren’t we all stupid? This is 2018, not 1985 when you had to juggle with diskettes to copy anything. We thought we had an Apple, but all we have is a Lemon.

Yes I have had exactly the same problem.

I want to save my photos in organised folders not by date order as in iCloud.

I cannot get iTunes to sync with my iPhone 5 or iPad it gets stuck on stage 4 reading photos

This happened after I installed the last iOS update on my iPad.

I have been to the Apple store but they are not offering me a resolution they are looking for ways round this issue.

I have re installed iTunes on my windows 10 computer.

My iPhone is updated to ios 10.3.3 .

My iPad has ios 11.3.1

There is an issue here and Apple needs to address this ASAP.

How can I get a download copy of iTunes 12.7.3.46 because I'm having the same problem downloading pictures and music from iTunes to my iPhone AND iPad. So frustrating that it used to work and doesn't anymore. Apple's fix when I called was use iCloud. Well, I did and it's not as seamless as iTunes was. I do have a copy of previous libraries that I can use. I also have an iTunes 11.6 that I tried to use but it wouldn't download.

Rolling back did not help me, all my photos sync to phone but not in folders, iTunes will now only sync in the same way as iCloud, I am waiting to see if the folders tab will vanish from iOS in the next update or next version. If you contact Apple they will just tell you to use iCloud so I'm wondering if photo syncing via iTunes is going to be dropped without warning just like app updating was. Just wish some enterprising app developer out there would develop a photo app that stores photos in folders and can be synced from a desktop version - would be happy to pay for something good and reliable then I can dump the useless Apple offering.

I totally agree. I have always saved photos in folders with titles of holidays, events etc and their respective dates.

I do not want my photos saved by the date. Plus I still use a camera funny though it may sound and I want to save them to my iPad and iPhone. I do not think that is being unreasonable apparently I have to upload these photos to iCloud first. Why is it all so complicated?

You are spot on, I do exactly the same, and when I need to look something up I don't have a cat in ****'s chance of remembering the date I took the pictures but a folder name listed alphabetically is easy!! Also if I take holiday or other photos over a week or two, in more than one location I still want to file them in one folder titled as one holiday/event. Why can't Apple understand that? I can understand they want to get rid of iTunes and move everything to the Cloud where they can charge for storage, but why can't they incorporate folder in Cloud photos? We're losing what we want and need and being charged for what we don't want.