Why does it take so long for iPhone photos to appear on Mac?

Francis Carl wrote: Why does it take so long for photos taken on my iPhone to show up on my desktop Mac?

I have waited quite a while. But sometimes I've had a new picture from my phone appear on my Mac in about 3 seconds. It seems to depend on a number of things:

Since syncing uses the battery, and since lots of people are very anxious about battery drain, the iPhone will avoid syncing when not plugged in. And since syncing uses processing power, and people hate slow-downs, the iPhone will avoid syncing while you are using it. And since syncing requires bandwidth, the iPhone will avoid syncing when the internet connection is weak or being used for other things.

So, if you want faster syncing, then find good wifi, plug the phone in, and leave it alone. All this applies to a lesser extent for the Mac.

When I need a picture immediately (like when I do screenshots for use here,) I use AirDrop. It's very fast and dependable.

David Dalzell wrote: … how does one force a sync?

You could hit "sync now."

If your iCloud Photos aren't syncing to your device - Apple Support

Tried all those approaches, none work, even with new Apple products with the latest software. Can you comment further? For example, how does one force a sync?

One would think that would do the trick, however, sync-now does not launch after that button press. Which started me on this odd journey.