diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/bolenpad/photophetch/ui/AppState.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/bolenpad/photophetch/ui/AppState.kt
index 848cca7..8805946 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/bolenpad/photophetch/ui/AppState.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/bolenpad/photophetch/ui/AppState.kt
@@ -183,20 +183,28 @@ class AppState(private val configStore: ConfigStore) {
         val tmpDir = java.nio.file.Paths.get(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "photophetch-thumbs")
         if (!tmpDir.toFile().exists()) tmpDir.toFile().mkdirs()
 
-        // Only fetch photos not already cached
-        val needed = photos.filter { photo ->
-            val ext = photo.filename.substringAfterLast(".", "").lowercase()
-            if (ext in setOf("mp4", "mov", "3gp", "avi", "mkv", "m4v", "webm")) return@filter false
-            val hash = (cacheKey + photo.devicePath).hashCode().toString(16)
-            val cachePath = cacheDir.resolve("$hash.jpg")
-            !cachePath.toFile().exists() || cachePath.toFile().length() == 0L
-        }
+        // Only fetch photos not already cached, sorted newest first
+        val needed = photos
+            .sortedByDescending { it.dateTaken }
+            .filter { photo ->
+                val ext = photo.filename.substringAfterLast(".", "").lowercase()
+                if (ext in setOf("mp4", "mov", "3gp", "avi", "mkv", "m4v", "webm")) return@filter false
+                val hash = (cacheKey + photo.devicePath).hashCode().toString(16)
+                val cachePath = cacheDir.resolve("$hash.jpg")
+                !cachePath.toFile().exists() || cachePath.toFile().length() == 0L
+            }
 
-        if (needed.isEmpty()) return
-        log.info("Pre-fetching ${needed.size} iOS thumbnails...")
+        if (needed.isEmpty()) {
+            log.info("iOS thumbnails: all ${photos.size} already cached")
+            return
+        }
+        log.info("iOS thumbnails: pre-fetching ${needed.size} / ${photos.size} (${photos.size - needed.size} already cached)")
+
+        var loaded = 0
+        val batchSize = 30
 
         // Build pairs JSON and run batch-thumbs command
-        needed.chunked(30).forEach { batch ->
+        needed.chunked(batchSize).forEachIndexed { batchIdx, batch ->
             val pairs = batch.joinToString(",") { photo ->
                 val ext = photo.filename.substringAfterLast(".", "").lowercase()
                 val hash = (cacheKey + photo.devicePath).hashCode().toString(16)
@@ -210,11 +218,12 @@ class AppState(private val configStore: ConfigStore) {
             try {
                 val process = ProcessBuilder(connector.pythonBin, connector.helperScript, "batch-thumbs", pairsJson)
                     .redirectErrorStream(false).start()
-                process.inputStream.readBytes() // stdout
-                process.errorStream.readBytes() // stderr
+                process.inputStream.readBytes()
+                process.errorStream.readBytes()
                 process.waitFor()
 
                 // Run sips on each successfully pulled file
+                var batchLoaded = 0
                 batch.forEach { photo ->
                     val ext = photo.filename.substringAfterLast(".", "").lowercase()
                     val hash = (cacheKey + photo.devicePath).hashCode().toString(16)
@@ -227,13 +236,16 @@ class AppState(private val configStore: ConfigStore) {
                         sips.inputStream.readBytes()
                         sips.waitFor()
                         tmpFile.toFile().delete()
+                        if (cachePath.toFile().exists()) batchLoaded++
                     }
                 }
+                loaded += batchLoaded
+                log.info("iOS thumbnails: $loaded / ${needed.size} loaded (batch ${batchIdx + 1}/${(needed.size + batchSize - 1) / batchSize})")
             } catch (e: Exception) {
-                log.warn("iOS thumbnail batch failed: ${e.message}")
+                log.warn("iOS thumbnail batch ${batchIdx + 1} failed: ${e.message}")
             }
         }
-        log.info("iOS thumbnail pre-fetch complete")
+        log.info("iOS thumbnails: done — $loaded / ${needed.size} loaded successfully")
     }
 
     fun selectFolder(folderName: String?) {