iCloud photos not updating on Mac since Big Sur update

Hey there!

Good question, off the bat, thinking a few causes. But it may take time and effort to figure out.

Anyhow, Do you know if you have more than one Photos Library(s), in your Home/Pictures folder?

Also, do you happen to store your Photos Library on an external hard drive? Or just on your Mac?

You’d first want to make sure the library you’re trying to open is set as the System Library, as iCloud will only sync to that library:

Designate a System Photos Library:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

You May have already tried quitting and relaunching Photos, and restarting your computer, even restarting your router, or disabling iCloud Photos in System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud, restarting your Mac and enabling it again maybe a good step.

I’d say if still having troubles, you can quit Photos, hold the Option key while re-opening Photos, and re-select your Photos Library, then give it some time.

If that eventually fails, you can attempt to repair the library in case it’s got damaged somehow:

Quit Photos, relaunch while holding Command and Option and select the option to Repair the library. This may also take some time.

Although if the Photos Library are stored externally and not on you Mac directly, there maybe another solution, let me know!

Repair your Photos Library:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204967

Hope any of that helps.

If not, it maybe worth a try creating a new Photos Library, making that the System Library, as in one of the above articles, and see if it syncs there, it could be a corrupt library:

Hold down the Option key while launching Photos and choose, “New Library”, choose a location and name, the set as default/system in Photos Preferences, and test.

Id say if those failed and was given sufficient time, and load on your other devices fine, trying another network is a good idea, but disconnecting your router/modem from power for a minute/re connecting it, and waiting is also an easy step, although it may connect with other devices fine, I have seen this be isolated to one device on the same network before.

However I’ve had luck with the previous steps listed in the past, so hope those help!

Hey there!

Did you happen to go through my original post?

And yes, there is a way to take the photos from your phone onto your Mac, not using iCloud, AND to a different location than your library, (Such as a folder), you can use Image Capture:

Transfer Images in Image Capture on Mac:

https://support.apple.com/guide/image-capture/transfer-images-imgcp1003/mac

You’ll see a drop down menu as to where you want to save your pictures to, such as a folder you created. Likewise, you can pick and choose what photos you want to import OR import all new images, similarly to the Photos app.

Just to note though, if you use iCloud Photos on your phone, the phone storage is full, AND you have the Optimize Storage option turned on, you may not see some of the pictures you want to import, as they are solely stored in iCloud to save storage space on your phone.

Hope that helps!

Hey again! Sorry it’s been a while! Good to hear it worked itself out!

I know it took a while, but there are many factors to consider:

The amount of photos, (40,000 is a large amount).

The free storage on your hard drive.

Whether “Optimize Storage” is on as a result of low disk space.

Network speed, and also network interference.

As well as the amount of devices syncing these photos, etc.

And also other apps and processes using the network resources the same time the Mac is trying to upload/download Photos, which typically are large in size as compared to other file types.

Another factor maybe how busy Apple’s servers are at the time, which we can’t control, (As any server we don’t have control over, eg Dropbox, One Drive, etc).

I’m sure if they were all stored locally, this wouldn’t be as much an issue, but even so, in either case, once an upgrade/reinstall/backup restore is done, the system has to re-index the whole file system as well.

Sometimes it’s even a good idea to store the majority of your photos to an external drive, to access anytime just by plugging it in, they can even be set as the default library to import/download seamlessly without thinking about it.

Wish I had better advice, but it is what it is, relying on a cloud service and storing much data there, (Which makes things much easier on people in many ways), as opposed to a local hard drive, it can sometimes be a waiting game.

Utilizing an external SSD is a good idea though, considering the speed and functionality, plus you can get them fairly cheap with a large capacity, can’t go wrong there!

I updated my 2015 Macbook Pro to Big Sur yesterday from High Sierra. My Photo Library is intact but now I am unable to attach any photo to a message in WhatsApp. No photos appear in the Photos and Videos attachment option on my laptop app. None. Yesterday, it was easily accessible. Also when I go to attach a photo on Messages on my laptop, I am unable to choose albums from my library. It is very frustrating and after a visit to the Genius Bar at the local Apple store today, I was told to contact an associate in an online chat. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem which is why I am replying to your message, SG8765. I am sure that the Big Sur upgrade is the culprit because everything works the same on my iPhone with WhatsApp and Messages. Any other ideas????

SG8765 wrote:

...it is re-synching my entire 40,000 photo library. It took about 24 hours just to get to that point. I anticipate this will take probably 10 days to two weeks. I called Apple, and they said there’s no alternative to just letting it go.

Yes, I had this problem last year with a similar size library on a fast Mac running Catalina. I just let it run, which took more than a week. This turned out to have been a complete waste of time. When it was finally done, Photos worked so slowly and sluggishly that it was unusable. It would take 5 minutes or more just to open the library, and any operation (i.e. scrolling, clicking on a different view, etc.) would give me the beach ball for 2-3 minutes.

Since all of my photos were in the cloud, I finally deleted my Photos library and started a completely new one. I was up and running in just a few minutes! I keep copies of all of my photos locally on an ext. drive, and it took less than a day to re-download all of my photos (nearly 80,000) from the cloud. After that, Photos was once again snappy and responsive. It stayed that way for several months, until yesterday, when I was foolish enough to try opening an older library. Now my main library is once again hopelessly sluggish and endlessly "Updating..." again (24 hours, no progress so far).

I'm about to delete it and start again.

SG8765 wrote:

It’s a big big problem.

Yes, it's a major problem!

Really, Apple?

Is this the best you can do?

I was told by apple to update to Big Sur to be able to download my photos from my phone to the photo library. I have my main photo library on an external hardrive. As soon at the Big Sur update had finished i tried to open the photo library and low and behold mine is updating too, i'm on 2% after about 4 hours. I also have around 40,000 photos, i called apple and they have advised me to manually take all my photos out of the library and into folders. To move just one photo (which hasn't moved yet is taking over 20mins) I don't know what to do. I absolutely cannot believe that this is an ok problem for apple, i 100% would not have risked this if i would have known what's the situation with it.

Can anyone else shed any light on it or is there an easier way, i can't do this can I, its going to take me weeks. Nothing is in iCloud its all on this external hard drive. There are no other problems with photos or documents i have stored on there, not in the apple photo library its just that that's causing the problem.

Also does anyone know of a way to get the photos from my phone without using the Photo library....... im about to loose my mind!! I guess they don't want you to use external hardrives and would prefer the monthly cost of iCloud.

Thanks in advance.