Syncing Photos with iCloud very long on MacBook Air / Syncing Photos with iCloud on iPhone/iPad = OK

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FlyOctopus Author

Level 1

19 points

Syncing Photos with iCloud very long on MacBook Air / Syncing Photos with iCloud on iPhone/iPad = OK

Hi there,

I am 48y old, coming from PC world, quite experienced on PC but decided to move to Mac.

I am completely new to Mac, new to Photos, but I love it so far :-)

My question is the following: I often have a HUGE delay between Mac syncing photos and syncing on iPad/iPhone.

Example: I take a picture on my iPhone, it appears quite immediately on iPad, but takes ~1h-4h on Mac. Same if I take a picture on iPad, appears quite immediately on iPhone, but takes 1-4h on Mac. Finally, if I take a picture on Mac, takes 1-4h to appear on iPhone/iPad.

I read plenty of things on the web, regarding "Photos Agent" process, but on my side, Photos application opened or closed, I do not have Photos Agent in the Monitor. Is that the problem ?

Thanks for your help,

***

My Config:

I have MacBook Air 2019 Retina, 1.6 GHz i5

MacOS 10.15.4

iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPad Pro / All my iDevices are also up to date.

WiFi for all iDevices + MAC, router on Fiber (very fast connection)..

I bought an iCloud space to store all my documents, as well as my photos.

So far I have 1200 photos and 36 videos

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Air

Posted on Apr 13, 2020 10:45 AM

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Answer 1

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Apr 14, 2020 8:14 AM in response to FlyOctopus

Thank you for trying those steps and getting back to us with that information, Fly_PetitPrince. It's appreciated. At this point I'd like you to contact Apple Support for help.

Apple - Support - Product Selection — After selecting this link, choose Music, Apps & Services > iCloud > Other iCloud Features > Troubleshooting iCloud Photos > No Thanks. Continue. Then select how you'd like to start the conversation.

Take care.

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Answer 2

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Feb 9, 2026 1:23 PM in response to FlyOctopus

Greetings,

I see that it's taking 4 hours for a photo you take with your iPhone or iPad using iCloud Photos to download to your 2019 MacBook Air. It takes 4 hours for a photo you take with your iOS devices to reach your Mac and vice versa. I'm glad to help with this.

About the status bar in Photos for macOS -- Review the information and apply the steps in this article to get to the bottom of this.

Let me know how that goes.

Take care.

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 3

FlyOctopus Author

Level 1

19 points

Feb 9, 2026 1:26 PM in response to chris_g1

Dear @Chris_g1,

Thanks a lot for answering. I had a look to the article you provided and applied the steps mentioned (however I have a problem of download/upload, not only upload and I have no referenced pictures).

If I understand correctly, I swipe to refresh the upload/download, but it's still saying "1224 photos / 13 videos" & "updating" and then "Last Update @ 13h10" (it's 16h24 now and therefore very long for a single photo to upload). On iCloud, I have 1225 photos / 13 videos, therefore the last photo is still missing (while on iPhone/iPad all 1225 photos / 13 videos are there). And the update "now" is missing, it will probably occur later on, but it's veryyyyyy long compared to iPhone/iPad (same network - all still connected the whole day, I am at home, did not move).

Any other idea ?

Thanks a lot for your help,

***

[Edited by Moderator]

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Answer 4

FlyOctopus Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 15, 2020 12:35 PM in response to FlyOctopus

@Starr.C

Just to let you know that I had other issues, and I finally decided to re-install everything from scratch.

So far, I am re-installing application one after the other, to see if I can reproduce the issue, and in such case I will let you know.

By the way, for my other problem, is the behaviour/reply of such people with high Level is normal ? I feel really offense by his word, it's not normal to treat people newbie like me who just arrive >> Link to his Post

Fly

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Answer 5

FlyOctopus Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 14, 2020 9:25 AM in response to Leanne_68

Thanks @Starr.C, I will do so and get back to you as per the solution provided, might interest other people as well.

Regards,

Fly_PetitPrince

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Syncing Photos with iCloud very long on MacBook Air / Syncing Photos with iCloud on iPhone/iPad = OK

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