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My images are inside the app package, but missing when I launch Photos

My images are inside the app package, but missing when I launch Photos. It worked a few months ago, I rarely go into Photos, mostly just to archive old stuff. But today I launch it, and there are zero photos showing up in any collection I've made. But when I go into the app package, I can find them all there. I see this has happened often, so I assume there's a fix somewhere?

macOS Big Sur (latest) on iMac Pro (maxed out)

iMac Pro, macOS 11.5

Posted on Nov 2, 2021 6:59 AM

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Posted on Nov 2, 2021 1:13 PM

Just opened via double-clicking the library, rather than just opening the app.

I found there are 57,876 of photos in the "Recently Deleted" section, so I'm "recovering" them now.


Result is, everything seems to be restored. Very baffling how they all got into the Recently Deleted. I never delete anything. AND before the "repair" suggested by Old Toad, there was nothing in Recently Deleted, either. So, whatever, I have my photos back where they should be.


Now to find a more robust, stable, usable photo cataloging app, as I really do hate Photos. I so miss Aperture, and I refuse to pay Adobe's hug subscription scam for Lightroom. Anyone found a Mac photo cataloging app they like? I do all my touchups in Pixelmator Pro, so I don't care about photo retouching tools, just cataloging my photos.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 2, 2021 1:13 PM in response to BenB

Just opened via double-clicking the library, rather than just opening the app.

I found there are 57,876 of photos in the "Recently Deleted" section, so I'm "recovering" them now.


Result is, everything seems to be restored. Very baffling how they all got into the Recently Deleted. I never delete anything. AND before the "repair" suggested by Old Toad, there was nothing in Recently Deleted, either. So, whatever, I have my photos back where they should be.


Now to find a more robust, stable, usable photo cataloging app, as I really do hate Photos. I so miss Aperture, and I refuse to pay Adobe's hug subscription scam for Lightroom. Anyone found a Mac photo cataloging app they like? I do all my touchups in Pixelmator Pro, so I don't care about photo retouching tools, just cataloging my photos.

Nov 2, 2021 10:59 AM in response to BenB

Where are you seeing these images? Have you used a "Cleaner app" on the library?


(The images are in the library, not the app.)

Could you be looking at the wrong Library in Photos? Launch Photos with the option key held down. Are there more than one library displayed?


Do you have a time machine backup?


You might be able to revert back to when your images were there.




Nov 2, 2021 12:59 PM in response to Keith Barkley

These images are inside the Library (right-click, Show Package Contents).


No, never use any of those rip-off cleaner things.


Yes, meant library, not app, package.


Only one library, so no, that's not it.


I do nightly backups of several Macs via Carbon Copy Cloner, no Time Machine, I've several technical reasons for that I won't bother going in to.


My images are inside the app package, but missing when I launch Photos

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