Photos app stuck on "Restoring" Screen after Catalina Update

I was wondering the same thing about the face scanning. I’ve left the computer on for 24 hours and it’s worked it’s way through about 26,000 of the 38,000 photos. I’m hoping after it’s worked through them all that may sort the problem. Like you I’m frustrated with not being able to turn the face scanning off. This is the first major issue I’ve had with Apple in 20 years of owning their computers and it’s been incredibly time consuming, confusing and draining.

do any of you have a pop up saying the “To use the java command-line tool you need to install a JDK” . I have had it before. But I don't remember what we did about it. Installing the latest version does NOT help get rid of it. I was wondering if the problems with Photo have anything to do with it?

External hard drive formatted to Mac OS Extended Journaled. (Only the photos library on it) Latest version of photos.

I let all the “face recognition” and the other 3 or 4 processes photos was going thru completely finish. Did a shutdown. After restart, opened photos, and “Restoring” started at 0%, and took hours to complete. (1.7TB of photos) Any restart or shutdown causes the Restoring to start over, otherwise Photos will open and work once restore complete.

Anyone fixed this yet? I thought it was all fixed after upgrading to 10.15.1 and letting it restore, curate and find people but on restarting today its back to restoring. So frustrating that the app is practically unuseable - expect better from apple

I have the same issue and have contacted Apple Support. Like many others here, I was shuffled to Creative Media. They had no good answers, but told me that keeping my Photos library on an external drive isn't recommended. Really? Do I have to go out and buy a new Apple desktop with over 2 TB of storage to handle my library?

I wish I could leave my computer on 24/7 to complete the process like Apple Support recommended. Despite setting all necessary System Preferences to never shut down my MacBook, it never seems to stay running when I'm away from it or not actively using some app.

I have similar problems with Catalina. When I first switched to Catalina, Photos performance improved, it was much quicker.

But it has gone to pot since the most recent update. Sluggish operation and repeated crashing followed by hours of restoration. Currently looking at "Restoring....." showing at 0% complete.

Please fix this Apple

I am Completely frustrated with this update issue!! Just because we are Apple Slaves , we keep upgrading the softwares and Hardwares. And when Apple updates its software, can't they simply check at least ones? I have all the photos and memories of my last 15 years on this external hard drive in the Photos Library. Which took 10 hours to Update after I updated my Mac Book with Catalina. Then for once, it showed me the photos and since then it says "Restoring"!! After I read all the chats here I tried "Repairing" it but again its just On "0%" for hours and hours. I don't understand.. what was the NEED of upgrading if Apple can't simply have a better working software?😡😡😡 I m really scared what If I lose all my Photos?😟 Also.. till it doesn't start working, I'm unable to sync my iPhone with my Mac and transfer the Photos.. My iPhone storage is getting full day by day! This apple and there Catalina has screwed my life badly!!

Thanks for posting your solution. My ~375Gb Photos library is stored on the internal drive of my MacBook Air, not an external drive, but otherwise I have had a similar problem since updating to Catalina around Nov. 15. After a week of the "Curating" etc. process, I tried repairing the library, and now it has been stuck on "Restoring from iCloud" for another 10 days. The progress bar filled in relatively quickly, but it isn't completing, and Activity monitor shows very little activity from Photos.app or any of the related processes. Per your last post, I tried adding Read/Write permission for the Administrators group to my "Pictures" folder and applied it to the contents, let that process complete, and rebooted the computer and opened Photos. No changes yet, but I'll let it run the rest of the day.

User -Michael- got this solution from Apple:

I had the same problem, with iTunes 12.8.2.3 (running on macOS 10.13.6) and iOS 13.2.3.

First, I went through the steps listed at If your computer doesn't recognize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support . That didn't fix the problem, but I felt it was important to try those things  first before calling in for assitance.

Then, I called Apple Support. After some research, the person I spoke with said to go to Download iTunes 12.8.2 for Mac and install this slightly older version.

I did. While the installer was running, it downloaded additional updates, as did iTunes 12.8.2 itself when I launched it. I then ended up with a re-updated version of 12.8.2.3 that was able to see my iPhone. 

This completely fixed the problem for me.

Apple Photos App suck big time after Catalina Update.... "Restoring" for the longest time! And even after you have done the restoring, you get excited and relieved, only that such relief is short-lived.... cos the next day, the whole process repeats itself.

Sucks big time

I'm not surprised. Macs do not need any "cleaning", "optimizing", "clean-up" or antivirus apps. If you peruse these communities you'll find time and again that these types of apps are responsible for compromising the system and applications performances. To paraphrase Nancy Reagan - Just say no to "cleaning", "optimizing", "clean-up" or antivirus apps.

It is not in the Disk Utility, it is in the Get Info window. Right click on the disk in your finder and go to Get Info. It should be at the bottom of the window, you will likely need to unlock the disk to make changes.

My Photos library (~350Gb, 68,000+ photos and 1,100+ videos) is on the built-in drive of my 2019 MacBook Air. It was stuck on "curating" etc. for about 10 days after I upgraded to Catalina. I tried repairing the library, and it has now been "Restoring from iCloud" - with the progress bar filled in all the way but never completing - ever since (more than two weeks). Last week, I tried changing the Admin permissions on my Pictures folder, applying the new permissions to the contents, and there was slight progress. Although none of the pictures I have taken since November 14 (upgrade day) have appeared, the count of photos and videos now changes to match the count on my iPhone and iPad (albeit after several hours, and only after the app has run for a few second).

I just tried changing the Admin permissions from "Read" to "Read/Write" for the entire SSD, but apparently I don't have the right permissions to do that. Given that I am the only person who uses this computer and I'm working in the only user account on the machine, I'm confused about who exactly would have permission to do that.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Yikes, 24 Hours for this process?!

I just launched Photos after upgrading to Catalina and I see an animation at the bottom of the App with a progress bar going from "Composing Layout...", "Gathering Favorites...", "Deleting Duplicates...", "Analyzing Scenes...", "Curating Best Photos". Seems to be taking forever, is this really going to take 24 hours?!