Fix iPhone's Camera Roll display bug
Last night I was grabbing screenshots with my iPhone that I'll use in a forthcoming post. After snapping 4 or 5, I launched the camera app to look at them. I saw the preview thumbnail but when I clicked Camera Roll for a larger view, it appeared empty. I restarted the iPhone to no avail. I connected it to my Mac, and iPhoto imported the screenshots without a problem. After a sync they were in my iPhone's photo album, but I still couldn't see subsequent photos taken with the built-in camera.
After some searching I found this thread on Apple's Discussion Board that describes my issue. It seems that the iPhone fails to display photos taken beyond number 10,000.* That's right, I've taken 10,000 photos with my iPhone. Or have I?
The iPhone in question is a 3GS that I purchased not too long ago. There's no way I've shot that many pictures in such a brief time. However, I did buy an original 4GB phone back on opening day. As I set up the 3GS, I did a restore from backup. Guess what came with it? The "counter" for all photos I snapped back then. The 3GS picked up where the original model left off. D'oh.
I'm glad to say that I've restored the Camera Roll's functionality. Here's how. I connected my iPhone to my Mac and launched PhoneView. From there, I clicked Settings and selected Show Entire Disk. Be careful here, because this lets you fiddle with typically hidden folders and files.
Inside the DCIM folder I found a number of folders with names like "100APPLE," which I deleted (AFTER syncing my iPhone with iPhoto and grabbing all stored pictures). Then I quit PhoneView, restarted the iPhone or good measure and presto! I was back in business.
I'm not the only one with this problem and I hope Apple addresses it in a future update. Note that you can get this done with the free trial of PhoneView, but it's a great app and only $20, so buy it as a thank you.
*Remember, this refers to number of photos shot with the iPhone, not number of photos stored.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
george said 1:43PM on 8-26-2009
you have shot 10,000 photos with your phone? wooowwww
Reply
d3bruts1d said 6:10AM on 8-27-2009
You don't have to shoot 10000 pix. Some of the editing apps will create copies of images and make random numbers.
http://getsatisfaction.com/apple/topics/iphone_camera_roll_file_names_img_10000
Joanna D said 1:55PM on 8-26-2009
Yet another example of Apple's failings. If this was a Windows Mobile or Android problem it would have been fixed by now. Apple never fixes anything until it gets enough attention from the media, so well done for covering it.
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Steven said 2:06PM on 8-26-2009
Because neither Android nor Windows mobile have any problems that need fixing.
Joanna D said 2:09PM on 8-26-2009
I didn't say that. Of course all of them have problems, but it seems like Apple only fixes the big ones (which require an investment of time and effort) if enough people shout loud enough.
Steven said 3:12PM on 8-26-2009
As opposed to Microsoft or Google, who fix all of theirs?
Orion said 3:16PM on 8-26-2009
Why do you post here? Everytime I see you post on this blog, it's to bash Apple. If you love your Windows and Android platforms so much, why aren't you on those blog sites instead?
You don't see us trolling blogs about your favorite platforms.. and for good reason. You must have a lot of free time on your hands.
kinto said 1:28AM on 8-27-2009
hey, i heard there's teh awesome FTW vs FAIL flamewar going on over at engadget! well, unless everybody's mom called them upstairs for dinner already...
hahahaha (sorry, i couldn't resist =)
jackson.myers said 2:02PM on 8-26-2009
Test...
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Jason said 2:08PM on 8-26-2009
There's another (minor) bug within Camera Roll that I haven't seen much mention of. On the 3GS, when you are in Camera mode, and then you choose Camera Roll, you get a menu bar at the top allowing you to choose to sort among "All," "Photos," and "Video." However, if you choose "Photos" from the home screen, and then choose "Camera Roll," the menu does not appear, and you don't have that flexibility to choose to see only photos or only videos.
Pretty minor, but still a bug that I'd hope is fixed in v.3.1.
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brian said 5:56PM on 8-26-2009
Another bug that happened with my original iPhone in late 2007 and with my 3G in late 2008--pics taken at the end of December (29th-31st) have the wrong year when brought into iPhoto. Both sets were datestamped one year in the future.
kinto said 2:06AM on 8-27-2009
yeah, i noticed that too and posted about it somewhere a while ago... (macrumors forums maybe?)
anyway, i welcome the [ all | photos | video ] menu up top because to me that reads like the device could potentially allow so freaking many pix and vids stored in camera roll that you might actually NEED a feature to sort/ find them.
Jax said 2:09PM on 8-26-2009
test
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Eric D. said 2:15PM on 8-26-2009
Documented a while back
http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/2009/07/30/camera-roll-cant-handle-10000-pictures/
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developerreview said 2:15PM on 8-26-2009
I think this is not a bid deal! Not sure why everyone is so upset about it.
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kinto said 1:14AM on 8-27-2009
i assume you're not into photography? =)
developerreview said 2:17PM on 8-26-2009
Actually I should add that the iPhone has plenty of other problems, so its not like this is something to get too upset about. Personally I think the hardware is where all the improvement needs to be made. Software is very simple to fix.
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BeyondtheTech said 2:26PM on 8-26-2009
I second PhoneView, it comes in quite handy in a lot of situations. I was lucky enough to pick it up in the last MacHeist.
I bow in reverence to your insurmountable iPhone Camera usage.
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Jonathan A said 2:30PM on 8-26-2009
I wonder if this workaround will result in duplicate file names. Do the first pictures you took after applying the workaround have the same names as the first pictures you took with your original iPhone?
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bill said 2:33PM on 8-26-2009
If you have a Windows computer at your disposal, you can do this without spending 20 bucks on PhoneView. Just attach the iphone to the USB port and it sees it as a removable drive. Open the icon, and there's your folder structure :)
Reply