Level 1

30 points

Syncing between Mac and iPhone stuck at "Reading Photos library"

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) macOS v. 11.3.1

iPhone 12 Pro iOS v. 14.5.1

I still backup and sync my iPhone via USB to my MacBook Pro. After the most recent OS updates, that no longer works.

I open a Finder window and plug in my iPhone. I select my iPhone from the sidebar and watch it begin Syncing as "Automatically sync when iPhone is connected" is checked. This is normally a step-saver, but now it's become a nightmare.

The progress bar indicates it is backing up. Then it gets to "Syncing (Step 5 of 6) - Reading Photos library." And that's as far as it gets. Even leaving it running overnight. And nothing works - the Skip Photos button does nothing. Clicking the X next to my iPhone in the sidebar does nothing. Even quitting or force-quitting the backup and backups-helper processes in Activity Monitor does nothing. Only unplugging the iPhone from the USB has any effect.

I was able to click the Sync button. But that just started the process all over. When the Eject symbol appear next to my iPhone in the sidebar and I clicked on it, it asked if I was sure I wanted to eject it because it was currently being synced. I click Eject, but nothing happened.

I can uncheck "Automatically sync when iPhone is connected" and all of the Sync photos, Sync music, etc. options; but the sync process never completes so those options never stay unchecked. So, every time I plug my iPhone in via USB, the process starts all over again.

As a result, I have not been able to complete a sync between my Mac and my iPhone. So, my Music playlists and Photos library aren't getting updated. And I can't trust the backup to be of any use.

I have seen this issue has been reported for the last several years. But there has never been a viable solution posted that I can find.

Please help.

Posted on May 4, 2021 7:27 AM

Top-ranking reply

janickkk

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Jul 15, 2021 8:29 AM

The problem is ( at least it was for me) with Referenced photos as pointed out by Eric Lane and others.

The last Mac OS update screwed up the syncing if the photos library has any referenced photos.

I had about 12K photos or older (referenced), a legacy of the switch over from Aperture to Photos (apparently).

I compiled the referenced pics using the create New Smart Album feature.

Then I had to go to old backups (I keep everything even old CDs with originals) and one by one erase and copy several older albums with missing photos.

It took a while, but got all the referenced photos out of the library.

Once the photos library detected 0 referenced photos the syncing proceeded with no more problems.

I am very disappointed that Apple Tech support did not flag the Referenced photos as the issue early on and wasted a lot of my time and others too.

The only positive thing about this is that now my library is complete and and I can edit older pics that before could not be edited because they were referenced. I also got to revisit some of these older pics bringing back older memories.

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56 replies

RFeather

Level 1

26 points

Jul 1, 2021 11:28 AM in response to steveald

Steve, thank you for trying to help, but unfortunately, it didn't help.

I have searched my entire mac system and external drives for anything with the name "iPod". I have nothing, so I can't delete nothing. I have rebooted everything, restarted everything a dozen times. It doesn't help. I can't enable iCloud Photos on my iPhone because I get an error message: "More iCloud Storage Needed. This iPhone is storing 6.7 GB of photos and videos......" so I would have to pay apple $$$ to get more storage.

BUT this is another BUG because I only have ONE small picture on the iPhone. I deleted all photos and videos yesterday, and have rebooted the iPhone twice since, yet it still thinks I have almost 7 GB of photos on the iPhone. Where could they be?

So NOTHING works and everything is so BUGGY. I just want to get my new music on the iphone before my vacation, but I can't sync it.

Thanks Steve, for your offerings of help. I appreciate it.

steveald Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 1, 2021 12:21 PM in response to RFeather

Glad to hear it. Hopefully, the issue doesn’t come back for you like it did for me.

As for the iPod Photo Cache, it’s not a file you can search for. Per the solution I linked to, you have to right-click on the Photos Library file and select Show Package Contents to see it. Keep that knowledge in mind. It might come in handy in the future.

Jul 5, 2021 12:08 PM in response to mmerckx

Identifying and removing reference photos did not work for me. I tried identifying reference photos in my ~20,000 photo library. It only found one. I removed it, but still could not sync with out it getting stuck on "Reading Photos Library."

Jul 15, 2021 9:55 AM in response to janickkk

Can you tell me exactly how you "compiled the referenced pics using the create New Smart Album feature"? I created a new Smart Album, and specified that it should "Match the following condition: Photo is referenced." Out of approximately 20,000 photos in my Photo Library it found only one matching the condition that it was referenced. I simply deleted it, but I still could not sync with out it getting stuck on "Reading Photos Library." Any further advice would be appreciated.

RFeather

Level 1

26 points

Jul 25, 2021 9:34 PM in response to ifff

I just upgraded to Big Sur 11.5, and guess what -- they did NOT fix it. I haven't been able to sync my phone for weeks. I can't get any of my new music on my phone. It just gets stuck reading photos library. Darn!!! I thought for sure they would fix it in this update.

Aug 16, 2021 5:31 AM in response to wim_vdb

Thank you for posting such detailed instructions. Your process worked for me. I can now sync photos to my iMac. However, every time I do, some of the photos are duplicated leading to multiple copies. I’m not sure how to stop that.

May 18, 2021 3:48 PM in response to steveald

I am having this exact problem. The suggestion to delete the IPod Photo Cache did not solve the problem. Did you solve it?

smdean

Level 1

4 points

May 20, 2021 2:02 PM in response to steveald

Deleted photo cache. Didn't help!

May 27, 2021 3:33 PM in response to janickkk

i have the exact same issue. the "sync" ran for 12 hours and never finished.

Jun 12, 2021 8:18 AM in response to ssd550

Stuck reading photo library, not able to complete syncing

Jun 13, 2021 5:00 PM in response to smdean

are all photos in my iPhone are from iCloud? How do you took them off from iPhone?

Jun 26, 2021 8:32 PM in response to janickkk

I'm having the EXACT same issue. Any Update?

Jun 26, 2021 8:33 PM in response to harryfrommansfield center

Any Update? I have it too

Jun 26, 2021 8:34 PM in response to janickkk

I am having this issue as well

Jun 27, 2021 4:34 AM in response to cbereznylee

Still waiting for the answer.

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Syncing between Mac and iPhone stuck at "Reading Photos library"