Downloading originals stuck

It’s been more than a week that my photos are stuck at downloading originals (from iCloud). It did download the majority at first but now it’s stuck at the same number.

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Mar 2, 2023 5:32 PM

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Posted on Oct 1, 2023 7:40 PM

Select all photos using [command] + [a], then right-click any photo and select [Play Slideshow] from the menu options. For me, all the originals that were stuck at downloading were forced to complete.

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30 replies

Apr 23, 2023 10:42 AM in response to chaiban

I had the same problem. Photos just stopped downloading originals at a point. Pause/resume did not work, nor restarting Photos, killing the photo library demon processes, logging out or even rebooting macOS.


I finally noticed that the disk space was rather low, so presumably the function stopped for this reason without further information on the cause. After freeing some space it automatically continued downloading until all originals were stored locally.


Apple should add an informative message in Photos when this happens.


PS: Sorry, I just saw that your question is about iOS Photos, whereas my problem was with macOS. But maybe the underlying reason is similar.

Dec 19, 2023 10:16 PM in response to chaiban

I am having the same issue on a MBP M1 Max newly configured with 14.2 and now 14.2.1. Downloading originals is not working and at the bottom of my photos library it is stuck at Downloading 42,822 originals. No amount of pausing and resuming or restarting fixes it. Selecting photos and playing a slideshow forces photos to download but this is not the way it should be working. Something in Sonoma Photos or in iCloud seems to be borked. I provided feedback here Feedback - Photos - Apple

and here Feedback - iCloud - Apple

. Older macOS devices seem to work fine.

Dec 29, 2023 3:48 PM in response to chaiban

Same on factory formatted iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 17.2.1. Stuck at 32,226. No progress in 12 hours, and the last time it changed at all was by only 15.


I am looking at the network activity and there's nothing that looks like a sustained file transfer most of the time.


I have tried

  • pausing and unpausing
  • restarting (this sometimes works)
  • with/without ethernet adapter (speeds at least 100 mbps up/down in both, better ping with ethernet, more bandwidth with WiFi)
  • disabling auto-lock or leaving it locked
  • connected to power or not connected to power (but also charged to 100% the whole time so that thermal throttling from battery charging is not an issue)
  • closing all apps except photos
  • closing all apps including photos
  • selecting a bunch of photos and making a slideshow (this sometimes works)


Size of library is around ~ 40,000 items, so it's not even synced the majority yet. It's been 2 days since I've started syncing the library from scratch (with download originals on) on a factory-reset phone.


Maybe it's getting hung up on organizing the library (faces/places/memories/other structures)? I'm at a loss.

Nov 14, 2023 12:57 AM in response to chaiban

I have the same issue with any idevice I restore. For example, an iPad that works before, it works flawless, but with my iPhone 13 Pro, that I have restored to test, it doesn’t work and with a new Apple TV it’s the same. The photos app is completely stuck. I have opened a case with Apple, I hope they can fix it soon.

Dec 20, 2023 7:25 PM in response to PavelAvs

I did it the first time and in downloaded all but 8. I repaired the library for the second time and it finally worked. I also think Apple did something on their end because I was having the same issue with my iPad. My iPad is almost done downloading all of my originals, and hopefully everything goes without any problems. It seems that finally this nightmare has come to an end.


That you so much for following up. It would've taken me wayyy too long to even think to repair the photo library after the latest update.

Mar 5, 2023 10:42 AM in response to chaiban

Hello chaiban,


"When there are one or more items that can't upload to iCloud Photos, Photos automatically creates a Smart Album named Unable to Upload." You can check this the photos album. If there are photos or videos in this album, try editing each affected item, then check to see if they uploaded to iCloud. Customers can learn photo editing basics in the this article: Edit photos and videos on iPhone - Apple Support


Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities, and have a great day!




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