iPhone 16 Pro Not Indexing Photos Synced from PC via Apple Devices App

Question

Level 1

4 points

iPhone 16 Pro Not Indexing Photos Synced from PC via Apple Devices App

Hi all,

I’m hoping someone might be able to help me with an issue I’ve noticed since being made to movement on away from iTunes syncing.

I have an extensive photo library that I back up and manage on my PC, and I prefer not to use iCloud Photos. In the past, I used iTunes to sync photos from my PC to my iPhone, but I’ve since switched to the Apple Devices app (the newer method for syncing on Windows).

Since making that change, I’ve noticed that my iPhone 16 Pro (1TB) no longer appears to index the synced photos — for example, people aren’t being recognized, and object/scene searches don’t return results for these photos. It seems like the phone isn’t analyzing them the way it does for photos taken with the iPhone camera or imported via AirDrop.

Has anyone encountered this issue, or is there a known workaround to get photo analysis working for PC-synced content using Apple Devices?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Jun 3, 2025 2:00 PM

Reply

Answer 1

brettZZ Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2025 1:07 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Yes, photos that are synced from a PC using the Apple Devices app are not analyzed or indexed by the iPhone for:

Faces
Objects or scenes
Locations
Search suggestions
Memories or People albums

These photos were indexed originally when they were first taken on the iPhone. However, after being backed up to my PC and later re-synced to the phone using Apple Devices, they are no longer indexing by iOS.

Reply

Answer 2

Jun 4, 2025 9:31 AM in response to brettZZ

Do I understand that most metadata, like creation date, caption, shutter speed, etc., is transferred from your PC to the iPhone, but then the iPhone treats these pictures differently in scanning for faces and scenes? But using AirDrop (from the PC!) results in the picture being treated normally?

That's really interesting, and it's either because Microsoft is modifying the pictures, or somehow iOS knows they are different. I use iCloud, and transfers are exact, and as far as I know, USB transfers of pictures from a Mac to an iPhone doesn't prevent scanning. (Apparently videos are treated differently in some ways, though.)

Someone here may know something, but I hope you've contacted Microsoft about this!

Reply

Answer 3

Jun 6, 2025 7:55 AM in response to brettZZ

What did Microsoft say?

Reply