Prvt. Donut

Q: Photos App - Why doesn't it sync everything from iCloud to my Macs?

So I have my little Apple-verse (Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro and iPhone) and have been fairly happy to let Apple set-and-forget it with regards to the photo streams (photo and video). But recently I notice that there are files that just aren't syncing down to my Macs. I like to have local copies that are locally backed up (especially since I only have the free iCloud storage limit).

 

Firstly the videos don't seem to be downloading from the cloud. I can see them on the phone (although it seems to be streaming many of the videos now, not just local storage) but they never even seem to attempt to download on the Macs.

 

I have them both set to download photos and video in the new Pictures App and the only other option I have would be to sync all my Mac photo library to iCloud (just over 238GB so that means I have to pay Apple $10 a month for their 1TB service.

 

Any thoughts?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 6:34 AM

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Q: Photos App - Why doesn't it sync everything from iCloud to my Macs?

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  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 25, 2016 6:52 AM in response to Prvt. Donut
    Level 10 (108,115 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 6:52 AM in response to Prvt. Donut
    Firstly the videos don't seem to be downloading from the cloud. I can see them on the phone (although it seems to be streaming many of the videos now, not just local storage) but they never even seem to attempt to download on the Macs.

    Are you using My Photo Stream to download your photos from the iPhone to the Mac?  (My Photo Stream FAQ - Apple Support)

    My Photo Stream does not transfer videos, only photos.

    To import your videos you can connect the iPhone to a USB port and download them directly to Photos.

     

    Or use iCloud Photo Library but then you need more iCloud Storage than the free 5GB.

     

    Shared albums would transfer your videos, but you would need to add the videos manually, and they would be reduced in size.  iCloud: Using and troubleshooting Shared Photo Streams

  • by Prvt. Donut,

    Prvt. Donut Prvt. Donut Sep 25, 2016 6:55 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (49 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 6:55 AM in response to léonie

    OK, so the videos that are in iCloud now but not physically on my device any longer, how do I get those replicated to my Mac?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 25, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Prvt. Donut
    Level 10 (108,115 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 7:26 AM in response to Prvt. Donut

    You did upload the videos to iCloud from your iPhone using iCloud Photo Library?

    Or how did you upload them to iCloud from your iPhone?

     

    You can access iCloud Photo Library on your Mac from the page www.icloud.com. Open the Photos.app there.

    Click "Albums", then select the Videos album and click select.  Select videos to download and click the Downloads button.

     

    But if you already deleted the videos on your iPhone while still syncing with iCloud photo library, they will have been deleted from iCloud as well.

  • by Prvt. Donut,

    Prvt. Donut Prvt. Donut Sep 25, 2016 8:11 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (49 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 8:11 AM in response to léonie

    None of these. The videos are in the cloud assumably via photo stream. If I login to icloud on the web, I can see the videos, but when I watch the videos on the phone, they download from the cloud before able to watch them. I have tried connecting my phone to the Mac and it doesn't sync any videos.

     

    the videos are in icloud, but not downloading to the Mac (because I guess that Apple doesn't allow syncing of video over photostream.

  • by LACAllen,

    LACAllen LACAllen Sep 25, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Prvt. Donut
    Level 5 (5,300 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 9:05 AM in response to Prvt. Donut

    Photo Stream does not support video, nor is it's content visible on iCloud.com

     

    If you can see them on iCloud, they did not get there via Photo Stream

     

    See >>> Archive or make copies of your iCloud data - Apple Support

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Sep 25, 2016 9:13 AM in response to Prvt. Donut
    Level 10 (108,115 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 25, 2016 9:13 AM in response to Prvt. Donut

    Photo Stream does not upload the videos to iCloud. If you are seeing the videos on the web at www.icloud.com, they are in iCloud Photo Library, and you must have iCloud Photo Library enabled on the iPhone;  this is consistent with your observation that the videos download from iCloud when you want to view them on the iPhone.

    If iCloud Photo Library is enabled on the iPhone, you cannot download them by a USB connection, because they are in iCloud and not on the iPhone.

     

    If your main Photos Library on your Mac is to large to be used as iCloud Photo Library, you could create a second library. Enable  this new, empty library as your iCloud Photo Library on the Mac, then wait for the videos to download to your Mac. Once the videos are on your Mac in the new library, export them from the library and import them to the library where you want them.

    Then disable iCloud photo library again on your Mac, and only then delete the new library.