Why doesn't the Photos app synchronise properly across all Apple devices. Photos on OS15.4.1 works completely differently from Photos on iOS18.4.1 in terms of accessibility to Mail & WhatsApp. Files imported to Photos from elsewhere in iCloud seem to be stored in a 'recently saved' folder. Of course Photos on iOS doesn't have the useful weeks and months album, only days. Why is that?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac 27″, macOS 15.4
I would argue that iCloud Photos does synchronize libraries properly across devices, but different versions of the Photos app may present the common library in different ways, which can be confusing. Features can be introduced to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS at different times.
Both macOS and iOS versions of Photos have Years and Months views currently. In iOS, you have to scroll from the Photos view to the Library view to see the selector (and some view options). Where have you seen a Weeks view?
Recently Saved is a view of portions of the library. All photos are stored in the library.
Now, did you have a mechanical question about how to find photos to send from the Photos app, as suggested by the title of your post?
christopherfromemsworth wrote: … Photos from elsewhere in iCloud seem to be stored in a 'recently saved' folder.
Pictures are not stored in the "'recently saved' folder." In fact, pictures are not stored in any folder or album. The Library view shows all your pictures. And other views, as markwmsn said, offer ways to see selections of pictures from the Library. A picture you see in an album, in Recently Saved, in Favorites, or wherever, can also be found in the Library view. In the most recent iOS, you can filter the Library view to select certain classes of pictures, and you can sort the view by capture date or by saved date. (So, if you can't find a picture in Library, you should check the filters and sorting.)
About synchronization: all the pictures with all their information is stored at iCloud.com, and each connected device has access to all that information. How pictures and info are presented is constrained by the properties of each device. Macs work with the pictures with the advantage of a keyboard and mouse, while iPads and iPhones use touch screens and typically have less computing power, battery life, speed, and consistent internet access, so it's not at all surprising that they deal with pictures differently.
If you're having problems with WhatsApp, then you need to talk to those people. WhatsApp isn't an Apple product.
christopherfromemsworth wrote:
Of course Photos on iOS doesn't have the useful weeks and months album, only days. Why is that?
It doesn't have weeks but it does have months.
Pull down on "Photos" at the top of the screen until the title changes to "Library." Years and months is an option at the bottom of the screen.
Search has also gotten quite sophisticated. You can put in a date range, e.g. January 1 to January 15 2025.
I agree with markwmsn that the Photos apps on different operating systems are different. And the version on iOS and iPad OS did undergo a major change last September. However, I found it very worthwhile to spend a little time exploring the new versions.
The Weeks view is offered in the Library of the Photos App on the iMac, along with Months and Years. When you try to insert a photo to an email or to WhatsApp, you are shown a cut-down little window offering only 'albums' that you have created over the years and not the Library. The image insertion icon at the bottom of this window only offers pictures stored in the regular computer/iCloud filing system. Photographs imported into the Photos app from the regular computer/iCloud filing system are not allowed in the library but instead are stored in a separate folder called 'Recently Saved'. I expect there's some reason for this.
christopherfromemsworth wrote:
The Weeks view is offered in the Library of the Photos App on the iMac, along with Months and Years. ...
In Photos on macOS 15.5 Sequoia I am only seeing these tabs in the Library view: Years, Months, All Photos.
Clicking the Months tab will only reveal a few selected days, not all days.
Which version of macOS Sequoia are you having installed, Christopher?
IdrisSeabright wrote: I'm seeing exactly the same thing you are, leonie.
Me, too. (Well, mine's in English.) I've wondered where this "weeks" thing comes from. I never use those views, so I'm not really sure what they do. There is a Days view in Mac Photos-- I took 250 pictures last Sunday, and the Days view shows 89. I have no idea how it picked them.
Well, There you go.I have a 27" iMac and Sequoia 15.5 dowloaded last nigh and 'weeks' has gone. What on earth was Apple thinking? Everything else seems the same. The 'Recently Saved' is there for files that Photo doesn't want in either the Year or Month views. Still the same anomaly that they haven't fixed. So it goes. Thanks for your comments everyone/
christopherfromemsworth wrote:
Well, There you go.I have a 27" iMac and Sequoia 15.5 dowloaded last nigh and 'weeks' has gone. What on earth was Apple thinking? Everything else seems the same. The 'Recently Saved' is there for files that Photo doesn't want in either the Year or Month views. Still the same anomaly that they haven't fixed. So it goes. Thanks for your comments everyone/
You can certainly let Apple know what you think of the update here:
I'm seeing exactly the same thing you are, leonie.
Richard.Taylor wrote:
Me, too. (Well, mine's in English.)
Indeed!
Why is my Photos app not syncing across Apple devices?
