Very slow first iPhone and iPad photo sync over usb-a with Catalina

Just to clarify, when I wrote:

• "uncheck syncing of photos", I meant uncheck sync to Photos app on Catalina with my selection of albums to sync
• "recheck syncing of photos", I meant recheck sync to Photos app on Catalina with my selection of albums to sync

One more thing, I forgot to mention that it took approx 1 hr to complete the sync of 13k worth of photos/videos.

This is not much of an update, but it is what I have. From my Apple senior support guy:

Hi Stephen!

I just wanted to reach out in regards to our case with long sync times. I’ve received a small update on the case from our engineering team. 

While we don’t have an answer yet as to what is causing the issue the engineering team has escalated it to a senior level within their department for further analysis. As soon as I hear more I’ll be sure to be in touch!

Best,

@Squiddz:

I agree with you that this needs to be fixed and has to work as designed. That is why I called the support hotline and spent a lot of time on the phone with Apple to make sure they understand what the issue is. That is the only way to ensure that the problem gets fixed in my opinion.

Unleashing one’s frustration in this forum here does not help anyone, it only distracts from those postings which are helpful (go and hug a tree instead).

The same with Apple bashing here, Apple does not monitor this forum, there is an official problem reporting site for that.

So if everyone would have called the Apple support number (I have posted he link) or created a problem report (I have posted the link) we would have gotten much more attention and the problem would have been raised internally within Apple a lot faster.

Anyhow, the very helpful, support engineer confirmed that Apple is working on a solution which will be released thru an update for Catalina in the (hopefully near) future.

Note: The full resolution photos and videos stay on my Mac where they are backed up via TimeMachine (local) and Backblaze (remote). So I’m not depending on Google Backup and Sync for a storage/backup solution, just as a conduit for sharing my photos with others and for viewing my photos on my phone.

Minor (useless) feedback:

Hi Stephen,

I’ve re-affirmed with the Engineering team that they are still working on resolving the issue. As of now I do not have an ETA but as soon as they provide me an update I will be sure to let you know right away. 

Best,

Mac+ Senior Advisor

On Nov 20, 2019, at 17:11 Stephen Wilson wrote:

Floyd,

Been almost a month since I heard from you last. Any Progress?

Steve

On Oct 23, 2019, at 9:02 AM, 

Hi Stephen!

I just wanted to reach out in regards to our case with long sync times. I’ve received a small update on the case from our engineering team.

While we don’t have an answer yet as to what is causing the issue the engineering team has escalated it to a senior level within their department for further analysis. As soon as I hear more I’ll be sure to be in touch!

Best,

Mac+ Senior Advisor

So, update 10.15.3 came out a couple of days ago and I immediately updated my iMac and tested to see if photos would sync like they did for years (but not the last year). No luck. Didn't work.

Photo management used to matter to Apple. The fact that such a lapse as this can go on for so long suggests that those of us who care about photo syncing are a dying breed and are such a small customer base for Apple that fixing our problem isn't worth their trouble.

There are a number of alternative ways to deal with photos on my iPad, but none are as good as what Apple used to do. Oh well. They are just better than what Apple does now.

Steve

Well, as expected, this does not seem to be going anywhere... The engineers already requested two sets of data (which I have already sent) and I have been told the issue has now been escalated to the highest level... but the disclaimer was than when this happens, it takes a lot of time to get issues resolved.

It took me awhile to get all 20K+ photos on both my iPhone and iPad (glitches occurred). I've only just now checked to see if it really works. I synced with a new audio book. Took 2 minutes. Didn't mess with the photos and the book went on, and the old deleted books went off. It seems like it is back to where it was 13 months ago, i.e. you can actually sync. I am, of course, happy that this basic function is back again. However, I cannot say I am pleased with Apple for letting such a basic function go bad for 13 months. It was nice to know I had company though. Thanks group. Steve

Unfortunately, synchronization still does not work reliably. Processes are canceled, new photos are not added. The process also takes several hours if there are many photos. Everything was very disappointing. Apple has to improve that again.