←back to thread

Apple Photos app corrupts images

(tenderlovemaking.com)
1133 points pattyj | 4 comments | 17 Sep 25 11:07 UTC | HN request time: 0.017s | source
Show context
deviation ◴[17 Sep 25 11:47 UTC] No.45274615[source]▶
It seems to be an import pipeline bug.

Photos does a lot of extra work on import (merging RAW+JPEG pairs, generating previews, database indexing, optional deletion), so my guess is a concurrency bug where a buffer gets reused or a file handle is closed before the copy finishes.

Rare, nondeterministic corruption fits the profile.

replies(7): >>45274840 #>>45275400 #>>45275556 #>>45275634 #>>45277188 #>>45278171 #>>45280431 #
tenderlove ◴[17 Sep 25 12:08 UTC] No.45274840[source]▶
This is also my guess. It's really a bummer, and I'd report it to Apple but since it's nondeterministic I have no idea how to provide repro steps.
replies(8): >>45275065 #>>45275163 #>>45276096 #>>45276185 #>>45276696 #>>45277780 #>>45279586 #>>45281857 #
ValentineC ◴[17 Sep 25 14:14 UTC] No.45276096[source]▶
What's worse about the Apple ecosystem is that because of how tightly coupled it is, a bug fix for Photos would only come as part of a macOS update.

Which means that if that bug has been present since the (now unsupported) Mavericks, tough luck!

replies(2): >>45276258 #>>45276880 #
1. JKCalhoun ◴[17 Sep 25 14:28 UTC] No.45276258[source]▶
MacOS updates are several per year though. If a fixes found (and the bug considered a high enough priority) it could show up before 2025 is up.
replies(2): >>45279967 #>>45283195 #
2. conductr ◴[17 Sep 25 19:00 UTC] No.45279967[source]▶
It’s a way to force you to update those apps. They don’t want you on the latest OS and on an old Music or Photos.
replies(1): >>45289102 #
3. Gigachad ◴[18 Sep 25 00:17 UTC] No.45283195[source]▶
It’s more a problem for Macs not supported with OS updates like the 2019 13” models right now.
4. ValentineC ◴[18 Sep 25 13:00 UTC] No.45289102[source]▶
Sure, but I want to be on an older macOS and be given the option to use the latest Music or Photos.

For example, I'm probably not going to be upgrading to Tahoe until Sequoia's close to end of support life. I just upgraded to Sequoia last month from Ventura (decided to skip Sonoma since the various anecdotes of Sequoia made it sound like Sonoma-with-AI, with few apps breaking because of some new API change).