iMessages not saving photos in photo tab that have been shared

my iMessages haven’t been saving photos within the text conversation, I have storage on my phone and iCloud but new photos don’t save in the contact card under ‘photos’ next to ‘links’ etc - new contacts don’t even have the photo tab to click on, when I go and view large attachments in settings the photos are there (not in order), I’ve tried syncing iCloud but to no avail. Just abit annoying when I need to quickly refer to a photo that’s been sent/sent to me previously