Where have my Photo Albums gone on IPhone? Help please.

[oilman4345]

Hi.
I have owned many Iphones /IPads and thought I had a reasonable knowledge of most things.
However, when I removed some photos from my PC and went to sync the phone (via ITunes) NONE of my 80 main albums now show on the IPhone (except if I use the search button for a specific album. ) Therefore the photos ARE on the phone, but just not visible.
I update IOS to 10.1.1 a couple of days ago. Is there a new issue with that? I do not now want to sync my other IPhone and Ipad as I am assuming the same will happen.
Can anyone please clarify what the issue may be?. I have not changed any other setting and last sync before the issue was absolutely normal.
I have tried switching everything off and re-syncing but even if I highlight to sync specific albums there is no sign .

 

[J. A.]

Welcome to iPhoneForums!

Is iTunes on your computer up to date? The most recent version is 12.5.3.

 

[oilman4345]

Hi and thanks for your response. ITunes was not at it's most recent version and I have now updated. However, the same situation still exists.

 

[Junior]

Are you using Photos for your album organization on the desktop/laptop?

(Assuming your library is on a Mac)

 

[oilman4345]

Hi. My laptop is a Windows PC ( I did try MacBook Pro but lost interest due to it's inability to store photos as I had always done in specific albums).All my photo albums show perfectly on my PC but as of 3 days ago NOT on my IPhone.

 

[J. A.]

Do you have iCloud Photo Library enabled? If so, turn it off again.

 

[oilman4345]

NO. It is off as usual.

 

[oilman4345]

For some reason I am edging towards the idea that Apple's most recent IOS update has changed the method of photo storing.
I have not synced my other IPhone nor IPad due to this thought.

 

[J. A.]

10.1.1 was fixing problems with the Health app, and included security updates. Photo storing hasn't been changed. There haven't been problems with syncing photos either, since it was released.

 

[oilman4345]

Thanks for clarifying. I am therefore still totally confused.I have just sync'd my other IPhone and unticked the "sync My Photos". All fine and they still show up in my albums.
One thing I THINK happened when I sync'd the main phone 2 days ago is that the "sync my photos" was unticked (unusually), so I ticked it and it removed ALL my photos and then re-installed them - albeit in a format I cannot see without searching via the search button!

 

[oilman4345]

IF the same happens to anyone else, I have found that it has been possible to re-install the "My Albums" folders manually.
As the photos are on the phone (but not easily visible), do a search for each named folder, select all photos from that folder and then press "Add to".
It will create a "new folder" which you can re-name and drop the photos into.
Time consuming but I now have access to my 80+ albums on screen again.

 

[J. A.]

I'm glad you found the solution for your problem. Thank you for posting it. This might help someone else in a similar situation.