VERY slow sync (hours!) for pictures via iTunes for Mac since last Mojave and iOS updates (3/2019)

This looks like a previous problem with iTunes has returned with the latest update.

Please report the problem to Apple:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

The more people that do this, the quicker something will be done.

For me this problem occurred after applying the update that took Mojave to 10.14.4.

I was previously running Mojave, at the version that was current prior to the 10.14.4 update.

iTunes is at 12.9.4.94

I have ipads and an iphone that are all at latest version of iOS, apart from one ipad at iOS 9.3.5

iTunes successfully synced photos to all these devices prior to the application of the Mojave 10.14.4 update (successful = completed in < 30 minutes, each device has >30,000 photos). That is it successfully synced using the previous version of Mojave.

After the application of Mojave 10.14.4 update, iTunes photo syncing to any and each of these devices takes > 10 hours, with most of that time spent with iTunes displaying the message "reading photos from ...".

If Mojave 10.14.4 update contains an update to iTunes, then maybe the issue is with iTunes, otherwise Mojave.

I tried backing out the Mojave 10.14.4 update, apparently not possible on my iMac (16GB RAM Retina 5K 3.2GHz).

I tried downloading an earlier version of iTunes, however the installer displayed a message saying it needs an earlier version of macOS.

I wouldn't mind seeing some comment from Apple on this issue

You are seeing exactly the same problem as I do, which is exactly the same problem that occurred some time back with a previous update to iTunes.

You cannot revert to an earlier version of iTunes.

if you have not already done so, please the problem to Apple:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

The more people that do this, the quicker something will be done.

There is still no fix for this problem. It took Apple a while to fix this problem the last time it occurred.

Please keep reporting it:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

The more people that do this, the quicker the problem might get fixed!

Same problem, after updating to Mojave 10.14.4, and using iTunes 12.9.4.94, syncing of photos that previously took minutes (somes times up to 30 minutes) now takes hours, generally more than 10 hours.

Running on an iMac with 16GB RAM Retina 5K 3.2GHz, and syncing to a variety of iPhones and iPads.

Prompt update from Apple appreciated

Same here! It's really frustrating because first it wouldn't sync right after updating all my iOS devices to iOS 12.2 then I had to delete the iPod Photo Cache folder to prevent them syncing (the photos were kept on the devices) until I need to add new photos using iTunes.

My 5K iMac is running Mojave 10.14.4 After updating my XsMAX to iOS 12.2 image sync (using iTunes 12.9.4.94) from iMac to iPhone is slow to the point of being unusable. I have one iPad Pro that I haven't yet upgraded to 12.2 and the sync works properly with the same iMac. This suggests the problem is with the interaction of iOS 12.2 and iTunes 12.9.4.94, not with Mojave.

I'm a business user, and Apple's increasingly buggy updates are causing me to consider abandoning the entire enviroment. They're no longer producing adequately reliable machines. Too bad, its been a long, productive run.

In addition to hanging for hours when trying to sync, when it finally completes there are photos /videos that have not been copied across in several albums (the number of photos shown on iTunes does not agree with the number of pictures on the iPad/iPhone ) historically when this occurred you would re-sync and wait for the final pictured to be moved across but this no longer happens. After waiting overnight for the final pictures to have been identified and copied across I now find the picture count to be the same and the photos to still be out of sync.

I am copying the same albums and pictures to my iPhone X and to my iPad Pro but it doesn’t even copy the same photos (And leave out the same photos) on the 2 devices i.e. it copies 399 photos from the folder on my Mackbook Air to my iPhone and 595 photos to the iPad Pro - the same folder ......

Correct: Only thing that helps is

1) deleting the iPod photo cache

2) sync iPad or iPhone with unticked "photos" box first

3) than tick "photos" and than starting sync

Unfortunately that works only once. If you want to update again you need to run through the whole process again....

Now I switches to the photos-app.

The problems are with the sync of the "filesystem-photos", so I tested it with the photos-app. And the sync is ok! So I imported all of my 28.000 photos into the app, created some albums and, last but not least, I activated iCloud-photos.

Because of a sync-problem I changed the complete process of the organisation of my photos. But it works and I'm happy.

Apple this night has published iOS 12.3 and macOS 10.14.5.

i just have installed both new versions of the operation systems on a iPhone and a MacBook. BUT (!) the problem, dicussed in this thread, seesm not to be solved. The synchronization of pictures needs time and time and time, remaining in status "reading photos from ...". :-(