diff --git a/src/photo/actions.ts b/src/photo/actions.ts
index 54472a05..29d7ac2a 100644
--- a/src/photo/actions.ts
+++ b/src/photo/actions.ts
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ export const syncPhotoAction = async (photoId: string, isBatch?: boolean) =>
           semanticDescription: aiSemanticDescription,
         } = await generateAiImageQueries(
           imageResizedBase64,
-          photo.updateStatus.isMissingAiTextFields,
+          photo.updateStatus?.isMissingAiTextFields,
           undefined,
           isBatch,
         );
diff --git a/src/photo/index.ts b/src/photo/index.ts
index 80d8479d..9a9eef1f 100644
--- a/src/photo/index.ts
+++ b/src/photo/index.ts
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ export interface Photo extends Omit<PhotoDb, 'recipeData' | 'colorData'> {
   tags: string[]
   recipeData?: FujifilmRecipe
   colorData?: PhotoColorData
-  updateStatus: PhotoUpdateStatus
+  updateStatus?: PhotoUpdateStatus
 }
 
 export const parsePhotoFromDb = (photoDbRaw: PhotoDb): Photo => {
diff --git a/src/photo/update/index.ts b/src/photo/update/index.ts
index a123875b..67187208 100644
--- a/src/photo/update/index.ts
+++ b/src/photo/update/index.ts
@@ -63,21 +63,21 @@ export const generatePhotoUpdateStatus = (
 });
 
 export const photoNeedsToBeUpdated = (photo: Photo) =>
-  photo.updateStatus.isOutdated ||
-  photo.updateStatus.isMissingAiTextFields.length > 0 ||
-  photo.updateStatus.isMissingColorData;
+  photo.updateStatus?.isOutdated ||
+  (photo.updateStatus?.isMissingAiTextFields ?? []).length > 0 ||
+  photo.updateStatus?.isMissingColorData;
 
 export const isPhotoOnlyMissingColorData = (photo?: Photo) =>
-  photo?.updateStatus.isMissingColorData &&
+  photo?.updateStatus?.isMissingColorData &&
   !photo?.updateStatus.isOutdated &&
   (photo?.updateStatus.isMissingAiTextFields.length ?? 0) === 0;
 
 export const getPhotoUpdateStatusText = (photo: Photo) => {
   const {
     isOutdated,
-    isMissingAiTextFields,
+    isMissingAiTextFields = [],
     isMissingColorData,
-  } = photo.updateStatus;
+  } = photo.updateStatus ?? {};
 
   const cta = 'sync to update';
   if (isOutdated) {
@@ -103,13 +103,13 @@ export const getPhotoUpdateStatusText = (photo: Photo) => {
 
 export const getPhotosUpdateStatusCounts = (photos: Photo[]) => {
   const photosCountOutdated = photos.filter(
-    photo => photo.updateStatus.isOutdated,
+    photo => photo.updateStatus?.isOutdated,
   ).length;
   const photosCountMissingAiText = photos.filter(
-    photo => photo.updateStatus.isMissingAiTextFields.length > 0,
+    photo => (photo.updateStatus?.isMissingAiTextFields ?? []).length > 0,
   ).length;
   const photosCountMissingColorData = photos.filter(
-    photo => photo.updateStatus.isMissingColorData,
+    photo => photo.updateStatus?.isMissingColorData,
   ).length;
 
   return {