iTunes won't sync videos from Photos to iPad

Question

Level 2

189 points

iTunes won't sync videos from Photos to iPad

Environment:

Photos 2.0 on Sierra.
Early iPad Air with iOS 10.3.3. (the iPad is too old/slow to run iOS 11.

I have lot of videos (shot with iPhone) along with thousands of pictures in my MacOS Photos Library (I am NOT using iCloud Photo Library). I've created a few travelogue albums in Photos, each containing 100 or so pictures and and a few of the videos. Using iTunes, I want to sync the albums to my iPad.

In iTunes, I selected the specific albums that I want to have synced. Connected iPad to MBP using USB. Clicked Sync.

The pictures sync over just fine, but the videos don't.

The Include Videos option is checked in iTunes.

There's lot of free memory available on the iPad (> 3GB).

No error messages appear during syncing.

As part of troubleshooting, I created a new album in Photos and put a half-dozen videos in it (no pictures).

Selected that album for syncing.

Neither the album nor the videos in it appear on the iPad. There's not even an empty album.

It seems that videos are invisible to iTunes when it comes to syncing from the Photos Library, despite the Include Videos options that suggests that this should work.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), Mac Mini server

Posted on May 23, 2018 1:45 PM

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Answer 1

D.R.C. Author

Level 2

189 points

May 24, 2018 10:41 AM in response to Teddy_B

@jameson,

The cited article only applies to media items (music or videos) that are contained within the iTunes Library. Specifically, within the Music section of one's iTunes Library.

Note step 3 of the procedure, which states:

3. Choose the content that you want to add to your device from your iTunes library.

The videos that I am attempting to transfer from Mac to iPad are contained within my Photos Library. (~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary). They don't appear in the iTunes library, and thus can't be manually moved from Mac to iOS device in the manner that the article describes.

Thanks for responding.

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Answer 2

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

May 24, 2018 10:25 AM in response to D.R.C.

Greetings D.R.C.,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities! I understand videos aren't syncing as expected to your iPad using iTunes.

Have you had a chance to see if you're able to manually sync the videos to your iPad with iTunes? Let's see if you're able to manually sync one of your videos to your iPad. The following support article will show you how use iTunes to manually sync the videos: Manually manage content on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using iTunes

Let me know how the provided steps work for you.

Kind regards.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

275,148 points

May 24, 2018 10:56 AM in response to D.R.C.

This would be the relevant article for syncing photos and videos, iTunes for Mac: Add photos to iPod, iPhone, or iPad, although you can potentially add your videos to iTunes as Home Movies, after which they can be included as part of your sync selections from the iTunes library.

tt2

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

275,148 points

May 24, 2018 12:02 PM in response to D.R.C.

Are you running iTunes 12.7.4.76/80? This version seems to have more than its fair share of issues. Use Feedback - iTunes - Apple to let Apple know that things aren't working as past experience and the support articles say they should.

You could try turning include videos off and on again. It is just possible that the state of the option isn't reflecting some other preference value properly and that toggling things will reset them.

tt2

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Answer 5

D.R.C. Author

Level 2

189 points

May 24, 2018 11:44 AM in response to turingtest2

@turingtest2,

I've been following the procedure in the article you cited.

As I described, all photos in the selected albums get synced from Mac to iPad without any problems, but any videos in those albums get ignored, even though the Include videos option is selected.

FWIW, the videos in question were recorded using the Camera app on iPhone7 (as were the photos that get synced). They are not music videos, nor DRM-protected media.

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Answer 6

D.R.C. Author

Level 2

189 points

May 24, 2018 12:40 PM in response to turingtest2

Up until yesterday, I'd been using an older version of iTunes. Not sure which version, but I refrained from updating iTunes starting when Apple removed iOS app support from iTunes. The same bug was present in the previous version. Yesterday, I updated to 12.7.4.76/80, hoping that the sync video bug had been fixed.

I have tried turning off/on the Include Videos option. Also trying rebooting the Mac, and the iPad.

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Answer 7

D.R.C. Author

Level 2

189 points

May 26, 2018 11:08 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the pointer to the list of iTunes installers.

I had already tried reverting back to the previous version I'd been using via a Time Machine backup, but Apple's access restrictions on the /Applications folder prevents the Time Machine software from restoring to the folder. Sad!

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