TLDR: Thank you and I’m grateful for your ingenious, possibly perfect solution to this particular problem. Some might not consider it a perfect solution and I’ll explain below “a little bit” about why not.
This has been one of the fastest, easiest fixes I've found in a day long (8+ hours and counting) process of untying from the iCloud; a process that SHOULD/COULD (if Apple wanted it to) take anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes depending on an individuals’ situation. I've actually been WORKING on solutions for 8+ (and counting) hours for this and related iCloud issues while the download process (just for pictures) on my 1 year old Mac Mini has been going on for almost 24 hours. I haven't been able to afford the .99 this month for iCloud subscription due to countless recent setbacks and health emergencies. The problem you provided a 99% solution to is one of many problems that definitely seems purposefully overlooked by Apple; among many other reasons this seems especially true is the fact that this BASIC usability problem is coming from the leading company in an industry that gets so many of it's sales from bragging about it's camera. Apple is often characterized as the company that refines products as their original position as an innovator in the hardware space is becoming more difficult to hold onto now that others have had time to catch up. Apple is supposed to make things fast and simple, but instead, I’m using tons of time I could be using to solve one of my many other financial and health problems I am facing. Trying to save important documents and pictures at this time is an extremely unfortunate burden that I cannot afford and may cost me 1000's of dollars.
Now to explain the point of what I meant by 99%. I don't know if Apple read your message and thought "well we can't let this loophole get by or we'll lose a couple million a year on iCloud subscriptions." But now instead of being stuck on 1500 then 500 pictures- now I am stuck on 8- a mysterious 8 of which of course the photos app cannot identify. 99% doesn’t seem like such a bad number until you consider that the last 1% could be the most important and Apple doesn’t seem to have a mechanism for the computer to tell the user which ones it couldn’t download (also with picture recognition who knows which ones Apple may have chosen to punish me with and try to remind me NOT to stop paying iCloud again- if so, more mob style than they are so far.) So now when I stop backing up to iCloud it says It will delete the lower definition pictures (all those 8) and never download the higher quality unless I start backing up to the cloud again. If I start backing up to iCloud again (which I can’t because my iCloud+ subscription,50gb full, has ended) it will restart the process from the beginning (which is 24+ hours and counting for 17GB on a 400GB internet connection) - or actually way before the beginning bc it has to download all the lower quality and delete the higher quality before starting to do the opposite again (if I don’t try to speed up the process which could induce more gliches, oversight, or what is more likely: purposeful punishment for attempting to take my rightful property without paying them the ‘dues’ they demand.) I understand planned obsolescence as well as other factors that play into a companies long-term viability but this DEFINITELY seems like a step too far- and that’s saying a lot considering some of the other things Apple does which may be ethical.
The thousands I've spent on new Apple stuff does not seem to justify such a serious oversight and/or purposeful, brutal, cruel, and unusual punishment Apple has decided to inflict for its .99/month. I wiiiiiiisssh there was at least one more huge competitor in this space besides Android (maybe the Rabbit device in future years.) I have many reasons to love Apple and a growing list of reasons to dislike them. I built my first computer when I was 10 and I’ve used computers in countless ways for decades so I am extremely displeased when a company takes blatant advantage by charging customers because of its size and power- as opposed to charging for innovation or refinement- or more accurately: basic SEMI-modern functionality that Apple could easily provide, but chooses not to. They choose to be 10 years behind when it’s convenient.
