How long should iCloud Photos sync take on Mac?

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How long should iCloud Photos sync take on Mac?

Last week I logged out and back in to iCloud and yesterday noticed the latest photos from my iPhone have not synced into Mac Mini. All photos appear synced between iPhone and iPad.

Then noticed I needed to go back to Mac’s Apple ID pref and check the box for Photos.

It has been “updating” for about 18 hours and still don’t have my iPhone pictures from the last few days on the Mac, and it still says photos is uploading. Is that normal? Is there a way to check status of update, ie. percentage done?

iDevices both 14.4.2; Mac Mini OS 11.2.3

Mac mini, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 20, 2021 7:54 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

24,088 points

Apr 20, 2021 11:36 PM in response to Marc Stergionis1

Yes, sync can take a long time - especially for a large library. For example, my 50GB 5000 image library (Not large) took 48 hours to do a full sync. This was on a fast connection, the sync process doesn't use anywhere near your full internet speed.

Leave your mac on 24/7 connnected to power, with photos open. And be patient. It is common for the progress indicator to not move for long periods of time.

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