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User profile for user: pierrefr59
pierrefr59 Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Apple Photos sync issues between devices

Hi everyone,

Saw many posts about this, but no real solution.

I have an iPhone 11 + iPad pro + MB pro all connected to the same iCould account.

Sync between iPhone and iPad and also iCloud photos on the Web UI all sync perfectly. Photos library is updated, shared photos are updated, all works perectly.


but on my MBP, in Photos.. a total nightmare.

It updates on and off, when it wants.. 3 or 4 days delays.

If I toggle on/off the photo iCloud photos and/or the shared albums in Apple Photo prefs.. it can take 2 days to update.. sometimes it works, sometimes I have to do this 2 or 3 times.


For 2 weeks I have been trying to understand WHY this Photo application fails, I cannot understand..


Mac in on MacOS 12.4, could it be the cause ? some nasty bugs Apple is NOT fixing just now ?


Its really too bad. the iCloud sync is really cool, but if it fails this way on Mac.. maybe I need to stop using Apple Photos and sync with Google Photos... don't know


If anyone has a solutions, I would be VERY happy. Thanks in advance

Posted on Jun 24, 2022 12:52 AM

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User profile for user: mcgugisa
mcgugisa
User level: Level 1
22 points

Posted on Jun 30, 2022 10:27 AM

Pierre,

Any chance you recently installed Google Drive? I started having this problem immediately after installing Google Drive for Desktop. That's the only thing I can think of that has changed, so I'm wondering if it's related.

Thanks!

Susan

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User profile for user: pierrefr59
pierrefr59 Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Jun 24, 2022 2:30 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hello Tony,

Many thanks for your excellent answers. really appreciate your time and answers.


Toggle iCloud prefs setting : agreed, saw that.. indeed, forces full resync.. NOT a good idea (you se this many time reccomended out there.. Not a good idea)


Security : very good point, reading your comment I thought that must be it... Mac OS FW is off. But I use Bitdefender antivirus, these can cause many problems indeed. I just now quite Photos, deactivated Bitdefender protection and restarted Photos. Same :-(


I use a Netgear Orbi router at home, looked if i could find errors.. could not find any.

but tried to sync at the office, no Orbi.. and also tried using 4G connection, same problem..

it doesn't seem to be related to router security...


Back to your original questions :

  • if I take a new photo, they show up immediately on iCloud Web and on other devices (ipad or iphone) Zero problems with them and the photos are indeed on the iCloud servers.
  • In Photos Mac, the update info at the bottom of my library a) is missing photos b) says last update Wednesday. Which is indeed the problem. Last update Wednesday, we are Friday morning, why is it not updating ? Why has Apple not implemented a force update feature ? would seem like a very good idea....


I do have a rather large collection of photos :

  • 16.373 photos in my main library
  • +/- 60 shared galeries...


Last detail : in shared galeries, when I added photos and they show up correctly in mobile devices.

On Mac OS Photos I see 2 photo placeholders, a grey thumb and only an cloud icon at the bottom of where the thumb should be displayed. No image.


Not sure where to look.....

Try this in safemode maybe ?


Many thanks again for your help Tony.

Pierre



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User profile for user: pierrefr59
pierrefr59 Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Jul 1, 2022 2:47 AM in response to mcgugisa

Hi Susan, all

RIGHT ON Susan... you put your finger on the cause. Fantastic...


What I did :

  • Quit Google Drive, made a few new photos on iphone, checked Apple Photos : no sync
  • Restarted my Mac in SafeMode, more test photos : Immediate Sync of photos !!!!
  • Removed Google Drive with CleanMyMac, new photos tests : Immediate sync


Google Drive is the culprit. Not a new install for me, have used it for years. But never noticed at Apple Photo sync problems before.


Susan, GREAT JOB... Many thanks for your help


So continuing on with Google Drive, version is deleted from my Mac was v. 60.0.

After deinstalling, I went back to Google Drive (web), downloaded and reinstalled. And it installed v. 59.0 !!!

Interesting... Google downgraded their release version ?


I will report this issue to Google..

What is bad with Google Drive lately, they used to have an exclude function that would have allowed to exclude my Photos library, but now all I can do is exclude the entire Picture folder, not ideal... very strange that they removed the capability to exclude certain folders or file extensions.


Don't know yet if the reinstallation fixed the core issue, Google Drive after a reinstall is recalculating all folders/files.. will take a while...


Susan, MANY thanks again for identifying the cause of the problem...


All the best. Pierre




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User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,972 points

Jun 25, 2022 12:55 PM in response to mcgugisa

In finder, select the drive, then hit CMD-i. It will look like this.




The format could be the problem (and if it is not APFS or MacOS extended, you should fix that or you will get problems down the line.)


However more than likely you now need to set the moved library to be the system library. Open photos preferences, and check the circled button. If it is not greyed out, click it.


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User profile for user: TonyCollinet
TonyCollinet
User level: Level 7
23,972 points

Jun 24, 2022 1:50 AM in response to pierrefr59

Hi


First - stop toggling on/off iCloud photos. Every time you do this it triggers a full re-sync of the whole library - this as you have found can take days (or weeks for a large library - how big is your library?), and while it is happening, no new photos will sync.


Now - do you have plenty of free space - both on your mac, and in iCloud for your complete library? Syncing is likely to be unreliable if you have less than around 20GB free on your system drive. A full resync may require enough FREE space for a complete copy of your library, as the iCloud copy (or parts of it) need to be downloaded for comparison with your local copy.


Next for future tests first check that any ongoing sync is complete (sync status at the bottom of the all photos view should state "updated just now".)


If that is the case, try taking some new pictures on the phone. Do they transfer in just a few minutes (photos app on phone needs to be open and connected just as it does on the mac).


If not, first check at www.iCloud.com that they get there from the phone, then check how long it takes for them to get to the Mac - and don't forget, any ongoing sync needs to be completed before you test this.

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User profile for user: léonie
léonie
User level: Level 10
197,717 points

Jun 24, 2022 3:37 AM in response to pierrefr59

You did not yet tell us how much free storage is on your Mac. Tony mentioned that the download from iCloud may be paused or delayed, if there is no free storage to save the downloaded items.


What it file format of the items that are not appearing on your Mac?

Try to download some of the missing items (the original image files) directly from www.icloud.com and check, if Photos will let you import them.


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User profile for user: pierrefr59
pierrefr59 Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Jun 24, 2022 3:49 AM in response to léonie

Hi Leoni

Ahh, sorry.. Missed that question. I have +/- 1 TB free space on my HD, should work...

Photo format, I use the current reccomended format : HEIC


As you asked, I downloaded an image from iCloud, uploaded it to Photo and ERROR !!!

Photo is not so precise : Unknown error is displayed !!!

but very interesting..

I then tried to upload other images, photos, PNG, JPG.. and I cannot upload anything directly by drag & drop into Photos !!!


Please note : last week as I started working on this, I created a new photo library from scratch, just in case my old one was the source of the problem.


Permission issues maybe on the Photos Library ?

I think we are one to something here. Not normal Photos would not allow adding new assets via D&D..


And the last update displayed is still last Wednesday...


MANY Thanks

Pierre

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User profile for user: pierrefr59
pierrefr59 Author
User level: Level 1
7 points

Jun 24, 2022 7:01 AM in response to TonyCollinet

Hi again Tony


System Drive, Image folder, default location.

I have selected to copy high res images, so the library weights 93,89 GB.

HD is formatted APFS, 2 GB drive, 1 GB free


Small detail, FR OS. The library name has an accent.... : Photothèque.photoslibrary


Maybe... some applications don't like accents. But that the default name on a FR system....


I will try safe mode tonight, see if I get some other results...


A real headache..

Thanks

Pierre

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User profile for user: mcgugisa
mcgugisa
User level: Level 1
22 points

Jun 25, 2022 4:06 PM in response to TonyCollinet

Thank you. I had already set the moved library to be the system library, so I don't think that was the issue. The format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). My photos library last updated on Monday, June 20. I had this problem last week, too. I restarted the computer a time or two and eventually it updated, but I can't put my finger on why it decided to update and why it won't now.

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Apple Photos sync issues between devices

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