Photo curation stuck at around 90% across all of my devices (macOS, iOS, iPadOS)

Hi guys,


Basically the title. I have an iPhone X, iPad Pro and MacBook Pro and on all of them the photo curation is stuck for weeks. I believe this started with macOS 11/iOS 14/iPadOS 14 since I recall that everything finished when I had iOS 13 etc. installed.


Anyone else also having this issue?


Thanks :-)

Posted on Dec 16, 2020 8:43 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 7, 2021 2:17 AM

I had this problem also, and finally solved it.

For me, the issue was that I had files (in my case videos) that the system could not process. How then to find these files?

Well, I searched for all mpg and avi files and converted them to mp4 files - But that still was not working. Then I opened the video-album and minimized the thumbnail-view, looking for grey/black thumbnails indicating that something was off.

That was the key for me, as I then stumbled across some videos with filetype "Apple Intermediate"?? I exported them, converted them to mp4 and re-uploaded them. The location and timestamp had to manually adjusted afterwards, but at least my library is now fully curated.. Finally....

Apple: Please make it simply for users to identify photos/videos that are causing problems... This "treasure-hunt" was long and agonizing for me...



P.S. My photo library is about 50.000 pictures and 2.000 videos

Similar questions

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 7, 2021 2:17 AM in response to chris4565

I had this problem also, and finally solved it.

For me, the issue was that I had files (in my case videos) that the system could not process. How then to find these files?

Well, I searched for all mpg and avi files and converted them to mp4 files - But that still was not working. Then I opened the video-album and minimized the thumbnail-view, looking for grey/black thumbnails indicating that something was off.

That was the key for me, as I then stumbled across some videos with filetype "Apple Intermediate"?? I exported them, converted them to mp4 and re-uploaded them. The location and timestamp had to manually adjusted afterwards, but at least my library is now fully curated.. Finally....

Apple: Please make it simply for users to identify photos/videos that are causing problems... This "treasure-hunt" was long and agonizing for me...



P.S. My photo library is about 50.000 pictures and 2.000 videos

Dec 20, 2020 12:02 PM in response to chris4565

How large is your Photos Library? On my Mac the smaller test libraries with only a few thousand photos and videos finished the 2curationg2 within three days. But my main library with 55000 photos and videos has never completed this process, neither while run-in Catalina nor Big Sir, and always has been stuck at roughly 90%. I am not really sure what is going on, but the size of the library seems to matter. as I am continually working with my photos and editing them , importing new phots, adding adjustments, Photos has continually to start over with the "curating" and probably never is able to finish this between system updates. Also, I simply cannot keep my potable Macs connected to power until this process has finished, The purpose of a portable Mac into carry it around.

You may want to check, if you still have items in your library that are not compatible with Photos 5 on Catalina or Phots 6 on Big Sur. Such legacy items will prevent Photos from finishing the analysis of the photos. See: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002727


Dec 24, 2020 2:55 PM in response to léonie

Finally found the solution. I noticed that some of my photos had a cloud symbol in the bottom right although the Photos app stated that the library was up-to-date. I couldn't get the cloud symbol to disappear so I fixed the issue by duplicating these photos and removing the ones with the cloud icon. Now 1 day after this the curation finally finished on my devices :-)

Dec 20, 2020 2:45 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for helping. So I created this smart album and checked for weird file types. The only thing that I noticed is that I have 1 .gif saved. Apart from this only .JPEG, .JPG, .HEIC, .PNG, .MOV and .mp4 files


Maybe the .gif is giving troubles, I don't know. I deleted it and I'll post an update if that helps. But unfortunately I don't think so since I had this .gif saved for many months and back in Catalina the photo curation did finish.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Photo curation stuck at around 90% across all of my devices (macOS, iOS, iPadOS)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.