You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Where did my photos go?

Today I imported some photos from my iPhone and put them in an album in Photos on my MacBook. I edited them. Quite a few (about 10) then simply disappeared. They are not in "deleted photos", they are not hidden, and they are not in "Imports". They really have vanished. This has never happened to me before. Photos Version 5.0 (161.0.120), Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7 (19H114). I can restore the "downloads" folder from my Time Machine backup, so they are not truly lost, but what can have happened?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 24, 2021 5:14 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 24, 2021 12:22 PM

This article may help in providing further information.


https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002657


This paragraph really says it all


  1. Syncing your devices. That is the primary purpose of iCloud Photos, to keep the Photos Library identical on all your devices. iCloud is keeping a copy of the current state of your Photos Library in iCloud as the master copy. When you modify your photos library on any device, it will be updated in iCloud and sync to all your devices. If you delete photos on your iPhone, the deletion will be updated in iCloud and on all other synced devices.


You are right that Photos maintains both the original file and the edited version. The benefit of iCloud Photos is that as soon as you make an edit on your Mac or take a photo on your phone; these photos are instantly sync'd and the edits copied across all of your devices. So you should always see the same edited version of your photo on all devices.


The same thing happens when you delete a photo on one of your devices, iCloud Photos will then delete the photo on all of your devices, just as it does with email and messages. This is good as it avoids you having to delete the photo multiple times. However, the photo is not completely deleted, it is moved to a 'recently deleted' folder or recycling bin for 30 days, after which it is permanently deleted.


For me, iCloud Photos fails the 'Backup service' test because all the devices are kept in sync at all times, there is no redundancy or separate copy of the photos, there is one live library and thats it. A few years back I lost the edits to 3,000 photos, there was no way I could retrieve these edits through iCloud Photos as no history is maintained, the only way I was able to recover these edits was through Time Machine which is a true backup service.


So, in summary, iCloud Photos is great, it does what it says it does, it means I can edit all my photos on the Mac and see the edited version on my phone and iPad without doing anything, but its important to also maintain backup copies in the event of problems.

11 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 24, 2021 12:22 PM in response to Living Fossil

This article may help in providing further information.


https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002657


This paragraph really says it all


  1. Syncing your devices. That is the primary purpose of iCloud Photos, to keep the Photos Library identical on all your devices. iCloud is keeping a copy of the current state of your Photos Library in iCloud as the master copy. When you modify your photos library on any device, it will be updated in iCloud and sync to all your devices. If you delete photos on your iPhone, the deletion will be updated in iCloud and on all other synced devices.


You are right that Photos maintains both the original file and the edited version. The benefit of iCloud Photos is that as soon as you make an edit on your Mac or take a photo on your phone; these photos are instantly sync'd and the edits copied across all of your devices. So you should always see the same edited version of your photo on all devices.


The same thing happens when you delete a photo on one of your devices, iCloud Photos will then delete the photo on all of your devices, just as it does with email and messages. This is good as it avoids you having to delete the photo multiple times. However, the photo is not completely deleted, it is moved to a 'recently deleted' folder or recycling bin for 30 days, after which it is permanently deleted.


For me, iCloud Photos fails the 'Backup service' test because all the devices are kept in sync at all times, there is no redundancy or separate copy of the photos, there is one live library and thats it. A few years back I lost the edits to 3,000 photos, there was no way I could retrieve these edits through iCloud Photos as no history is maintained, the only way I was able to recover these edits was through Time Machine which is a true backup service.


So, in summary, iCloud Photos is great, it does what it says it does, it means I can edit all my photos on the Mac and see the edited version on my phone and iPad without doing anything, but its important to also maintain backup copies in the event of problems.

Jan 24, 2021 11:11 AM in response to Living Fossil

Essentially there are 2 ways to maintain a library. When you import photos to the library you can either copy the photos into the library package (managed library) or just reference the photos in their existing location. The former is really the only option as many people have reported problems when using a referenced.


This article will explain it better than me.


https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002591


In short one of the disadvantages of using a using a referenced library is that you could accidentally delete the photo without realising it is referenced in your photo library.



Jan 24, 2021 6:55 AM in response to Living Fossil

I just thought... I took these photos on my iPhone, imported them to the Mac's Downloads folder, imported them from there to Photos on the Mac, did a bit of editing. Then I deleted the photos from the Downloads folder and went back to the phone and deleted the originals, thus relying on the copies on the Mac. I'm signed up to iCloud Photos, which I only started to use recently when I got a decent upload speed from my local internet provider. Did the deletion on the iPhone transmit itself to iCloud and thence to the Mac??? If so, is that what's supposed to happen? If it is, how can I free up space on the iPhone without disaster following?


Someone who knows can perhaps explain.

Jan 24, 2021 9:45 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Thanks for the question and the link. No, I have not been using a managed library: indeed I wasn't familiar with that term, which as far as I can see, Apple themselves don't use. I think it must mean using "referenced files".


I will try to understand the concept and what a managed library would buy me in terms of security of my photo files. I did know you could store a library in a place you choose yourself, but I hadn't used that feature for a long time.


I am struggling to understand the Apple article, an in particular if it bears on my actual problem of vanishing pictures. As my issue only arose after I'd signed up for photo sharing via iCloud, I suppose that's the bit I should try to understand. It seems to me quite hard to grasp - the iCloud library doesn't exactly act as a server, does it? And then there's the question of when the system decides to keep lower resolution copies on a local device... I feel there's a lot to know.


Anyway thanks for your help.

Jan 24, 2021 11:13 AM in response to Russ New Boy

iCloud Photos is really just a syncing service to ensure all of your photos and edits are copied across all devices. If you are running out of space on your phone or Mac there is an option on both of them to 'optimise storage'. This option will manage the size of your library and where space is running short will replace the file with just a thumbnail of your photo.

Jan 24, 2021 11:31 AM in response to Living Fossil

Just to answer a couple of your specific questions.


The security of your photo files is only as good as the number of backups you make and where you keep them. At some point all hard drives will fail, so the key is to make multiple backups and keep at least one backup in a different location so that they are safe in the unlikely event of fire or theft. iCloud Photos is a good service, but should not be thought of as a back up service.


Yes, when you deleted the photos on your phone, this would have been instantly sync'd across all phones, iPad, Macs that you have which are signed into iCloud Photos.


You can maintain multiple libraries on your Mac. So you can have one library sync'd to iCloud Photos (and to all of your devices) and one library containing photos that you keep on your Mac only.


To do this, open Photos, press CMD , [COMMA KEY], this will open preferences. In the General tab you will see that 'Use as system library' is greyed out. You should make sure that 'Copy Photos to library' is ticked in the Import section, this will create a managed library. On the iCloud tab you will see iCloud Photos is ticked. You can either select Download originals or Optimise.


Close Photos.


Hold down the option key and click on the Photos icon, you will then be asked to which library to open and there is a button for create new library. Click create new library and you will now have a library that is completely separate from iCloud Photos and any photos you copy to this library will only be stored here and nowhere else.

Jan 24, 2021 11:46 AM in response to Russ New Boy

Thanks for your reply.


I've seen this statement before, that iCloud Photos is just a syncing service, but what does that really mean? As I understand it, Photos keeps the originals of one's photos and a kind of edit history so that the edited file is what one sees on the particular device one is viewing it on. When all is said and done, this is a collection of files, and it must be stored somewhere. Is the definitive file set moved to iCloud when one subscribes to iCloud Photos, or are there several versions of the same set, or what? If the definitive set is in iCloud, then it is effectively a server for the other devices which are clients, as far as I can see: but I must be wrong, if it is "only" a syncing service. I'm sorry that I find this so hard to understand.

Jan 24, 2021 12:01 PM in response to Russ New Boy

Thanks for that comprehensive reply. It's clear that you are expert in this area.


I understand about backups - when I was a software developer, I was paranoid about this and had hard disks, off site storage, cloud storage, version control... now with photos I try to be at least prudent.


Moving on, I find it amazing that deleting a photo on one's iPhone (which is always challenged for space) can remove any other trace of it without so much as a warning. I imagine that a great many Apple users have been caught out by this. My reaction after taking a bunch of photos on my iPhone is to look for somewhere safe to put them, and then delete them from the phone. I thought Apple Photos on my Mac(s) was this safe place. This is now a disastrous strategy. Your suggested method of having two libraries is tricky for me, since I live in two countries and keep a Mac in each one. I badly want these two devices to be in sync. Nowadays most of my new photos come from one of the other Apple devices in my family, typically my iPhone, and of course I want those to end up on the Macs which are the primary places they will be used, printed etc - but I now know that I can't include such 'input' devices in my sync'd collection because a deletion in the weakest of these will cause a deletion across the board. I rather wish I had never signed up to iCloud Photos.


I will try to rethink my use of Photos. Thanks again.


Where did my photos go?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.