Missing photos in iMessage after iOS 26 update

I've found that all of my photos are there if I go back through the text thread, and I do see a photos tab when I click on the information for a specific text thread. However, the photos tab only shows photos from when I upgraded to the new iPhone (17 Pro Max). The rest of the photos are unable to be seen unless I scroll back through the text thread.

Update: so I turn off iCloud on messages and turned it back on and the photos tab finally appeared. Didn't take the first time around. Must be a glitch. Also all the photos & videos from the text messages are all gone, only ones from when my iOS was updated appear now. Not sure what happened

This is my problem-Sent this to Apple :

I am reporting a persistent iCloud Messages issue that appears to be an attachment-indexing defect. Below is a concise summary of the problem, troubleshooting to date, and reproducible steps.

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Issue Summary

• What happens:

• When I send a camera-roll photo (with or without text), the image appears in the conversation on all devices but does not appear in the Info → Photos gallery on my iPhone or Mac.

• Screenshots I send index correctly on all devices.

• Photos I receive index correctly on all devices.

• Affected devices: iPhone [model] on iOS 26.x and Mac [model/macOS version].

• Not affected: iPad [model/iPadOS version], which indexes both camera-roll photos and screenshots properly.

⸻

Troubleshooting Performed

• Toggled Messages in iCloud off and on with “Disable & Download Messages” multiple times.

• Signed out and back in to iMessage on all devices.

• Erased and Set Up as New iPhone (no restore from backup).

• Clean, brand-new iPhone running iOS 26 showed the same behavior as my previous phone.

• Maintained ideal conditions (ample free storage, strong Wi-Fi, plugged in and unlocked for extended periods).

Despite these steps, the issue persists.

⸻

Reproduction Steps

1. From my iPhone, send:

• A camera-roll photo (with or without text).

• A screenshot.

2. Observe on iPhone and Mac:

• Both images appear in the chat thread.

• Only the screenshot appears in Info → Photos.

3. Observe on iPad:

• Both the camera-roll photo and the screenshot appear in Info → Photos.

I have attached screenshots and timestamps documenting these tests.

⸻

Why This Is a Bug

• The fact that the iPad indexes all images correctly proves that iCloud is storing and categorizing the attachments properly.

• Two different iPhones (including a brand-new iOS 26 device) and a Mac consistently fail to index outgoing camera-roll photos, which points to an iOS/iCloud indexing defect specific to my Apple ID.

⸻

Requested Action

Please escalate this case to iCloud / Messages engineering for analysis and resolution.

I would appreciate confirmation that this is filed as an engineering issue and notice when a fix is planned for an upcoming iOS 26.x release.

⸻

Thank you for your time and for reviewing the attached evidence.

I am happy to provide diagnostic logs or conduct additional tests if needed.

Exactly the same, it started with my iPhone 14 Pro, when downgrading from 1TB of storage to 512GB because of price hikes that year. Ever since it's been a mess with no solutions. I spent the same amount of time with Apple Support, maybe more, so many of them "senior" advisors being clueless or rude because they had no solution but tried to pretend it wasn't an actual issue. So many of them promised to follow up but never did. 

I have 205GB of iMessage data in iCloud, and never able to get it on my iPhone no matter what I try. 

When going into iPhone storage, the information I see is false. It says iMessage is only a few GB, but if I turn off iMessage in iCloud, all of a sudden I have 100GB of messages data. The storage appears different if I connect to my Mac in Finder vs what I see on my iPhone settings. 

On my Mac I'm able to see all photos/videos in the Messages app, although it only downloads around 150GB of data, not the full 205GB. 

On iPhone the behaviour changes each time, but overall the "download" button is useless, it says it downloads but it doesn't, or maybe it does in the background but nothing appears in photos. The number it gives is also false, usually 30% or less of the actual amount of photos I've exchanged with said people. If I scroll indefinitely I may be able to find some photos, although some never want to download. 

It's so frustrating to have been paying for many years for that iCloud+ 2TB storage and I can't get a decent service. Also frustrating that WhatsApp ALWAYS backs up and restores content perfectly, each year I upgrade, while Messages remains a mess. 

I don't know what to do anymore. 

Same! After updating to iOS 26.0.1 and a reboot- the photos tab is now in all my message threads.

hope it’s the same for everyone

It’s because the messages app isn’t “seeing” any photos in the conversation thread. If the person starts sends you some photos, the app MAY see those. IF it does, then it will show the photos tab but only those few photos will appear; not all of the photos that are in your conversation thread. It’s a very annoying bug that I hope gets resolved soon.

I’ve been told this for years as well and it got worse after updating. I can see everything on my MacBook and iPad but not my phone. Someone suggested searching there name and seleting photos, some do show up for me but not nearly as many photos I have sent with people.

It’s not about iCloud, it’s about iPhone storage. The point is to clear the “Documents & Data” in Messages. Without iCloud, messages simply can’t be restored.

After restoring to new iPhones from backup, the Photos tab in iMessage contact info is missing or incomplete.

Steps to Reproduce:

Restore new iPhone from iCloud/iTunes backup.

Open iMessage → select a contact → tap name at top.

Check for Photos tab.

Expected Result:

Photos tab should appear consistently and show the full history of shared photos (hundreds dating back to 2016).

Actual Result:

On some contacts (including mine), the Photos tab is missing entirely.

When it does appear, it only shows a partial set of photos.

Same behavior observed on both my phone and my wife’s, and also reported by other contacts.

I don’t think that’s accurate from the advisor. I have an iPhone 17 Pro with iOS 26 and the photos tab is missing for me. However, I also have a iPhone 16 Pro Max that is updated to iOS 26 and the photo tab is there. Maybe it’s a iPhone 17 issue? I’m not sure why that would matter though

This did not work for me.

I can scroll back in my conversation thread and see the photos. But they don’t appear on the photos tab. It does have all links and documents though. Very strange.

Photos sent after my restoring from backup are visible in photos tab. I was on iOS 18.7 when my initial backup occurred. If people have or don’t have issues, can you put in your comment what phone and version your iCloud backup was.

iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 18.7

-> iPhone 17 pro iOS 26

also, the search idea from a different comment didn’t work for me.

Have been messaging the same person only since updating to iOS 26. When I click on the photos button in their contact in messages it is missing a lot of photos that have been sent. On the info tab there is no attachments to download from iCloud, they are all downloaded.

After the same I found 2 days ago I had a few photos in my text with my wife. maybe 10 of a thousand. After reading your message I looked again and they are all there now. Checked a couple other text strings and they are also there now.

To me, this indicates an undisclosed bug fix in 26.01. I'm happy they are back.

I’m having the same issue. Went to the Apple Store and they completely wiped my phone and updated to the new iOS 26 update saying that it would 99.9% work after that. Still don’t have the photos tab. I’ve tried everything.

Wouldn't doing a backup to iTunes, full phone reset, and iTunes restore accomplish the same thing?

In order to turn iCloud message on, I’d have to send apple money to subscribe to their larger tier of storage to accomplish this, and two my message data is now on their cloud. To be honest I’d be more concern with my data on the cloud than the former.