My iPhone is storing photos that I don't know about
November 24, 2010 10:08 AM   Subscribe

I have 182.5 MB of photos stored on my iPhone, but iTunes is telling me that my phone has 2.1 GB worth of "Photos." What gives?

I'm anal about keep my iphone 4 clean and clear of stuff I don't use. To that end, I religiously move photos and videos off my phone as I take them, and only sync a handful of photos that I want to be able to view regularly (like wallet photos of kids). I currently have no photos on my iPhone, except for the ten keepsake snaps of kids. The size of the keepsake photos (182.5 MB), the size of my iPhone is reporting in photo storage (2.1 GB). WTF?!

Where is this phantom 1.9 GB worth of photos coming from, and how can I get rid of it?
posted by bjork24 to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
This is a known issue, but I don't know if there are any explanations, fixes, or workarounds available. Have you upgraded to iOS 4.2.1 and iTunes 10.1? They came out recently.
posted by jedicus at 10:36 AM on November 24, 2010


Best answer: Try rebooting the phone. If that doesn't clear up the discrepancy, try resetting all settings (settings/general/reset/reset all settings). If that fails, uncheck the "sync photos" option under the photos tab in iTunes, click apply, and then check the phone. It should say 0 GB for photos at that point.

If it doesn't say 0 GB of photos......then I'm not sure what the hell could be causing this other than the nebulous "software error". At that point, the only sure fire way to clear things up would be to restore the phone. You could try restoring, and at the end of the restore process selecting "restore from backup" (note: the backup file doesn't save your apps or music, so you'll want to first transfer that info to your computer).

If restoring the phone and using the restore from backup option at the end doesn't fix it, then restore again, but this time choose the "set up as a new phone" option at the end of the restore process. This is akin to reformatting a hard drive and reinstalling an operating system. Since you won't be using a backup file, you'll want to transfer everything you care about to a computer first.

For more information on what is and is not stored in iPhone backup files, see iPhone and iPod touch: About backups.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:36 AM on November 24, 2010


Response by poster: Yes. I'm fully up-to-date on both ends.
posted by bjork24 at 10:36 AM on November 24, 2010


Response by poster: Thank you. I rebooted and unclicked "Sync Photos." After everything was back up, I re-checked sync and all is well. Thanks again!
posted by bjork24 at 10:41 AM on November 24, 2010


BOOYAH!
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:44 AM on November 24, 2010 [2 favorites]


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