iOS 13: Force iCloud Photos to download originals if it is stuck
It was very frustrating to see no progress when downloading originals from iCloud in photos app on iOS.
I tried everything: sevreral reebots, iCloud sign-out, plug power cable in, leave the iphone unused for a whole night, switching icloud photos off and on again. Nothing worked. I ended up with: "Downloading 5359 Originals". This was so frustrating. But then I found a clever trick.
Here is a solution to force downloading all originals:
- Create a new album and add all photos (it was not easy to select all photos, as in iOS 13 the select all button is gone, but you can do it manually by tapping, holding and swiping during selection, or you can do it on a Mac (cmd-a), this album will sync to your iOS device)
- Then open that new album and select all photos
- Tap the share icon on the left bottom
- Select "Save to files" ("In Dateien sichern" on german, don't know exact translation)
- Your photos app will now start downloading all originals, as it needs them for sharing and you will see the progress in a popup. Just leave your phone until it downloaded all originals.
Hope this really will help all with the same issue. This trick is just working fine for me on iPhone and iPad.
Cheers,
Fabian
iPhone 11 Pro
