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iCloud Photo Library not syncing

Hi guys,


I have a question.

I am a developer and I've had the iOs 8 betas on my iPhone 4s and iPad 3 since the first one came out.

I've started with iCloud Photo Library since the summer uploading my photos.


Recently I bought an iPhone 6 were I was not able to active Photo Library.

Now I have updated my iPhone 6 and iPad to 8.1, and my iPad started to sync all photos again.

But my iPhone 6 does nothing.

In the Photos app on my iPhone it says 494 files uploading (in Dutch 494 onderdelen uploaden).

But no files are uploaded, and nothing is happening.

I dont have acces to iCloud Photos on icloud.com (also not on beta).


When I check my iCloud storage it says that my Photo Library is 10+ Gb (which is correct).

User uploaded file

User uploaded file

User uploaded file

I anybody else having problems that only 1 device syncs and the other ones are doing nothing?

Is this maybe a problem that it is still on rollout?

Thanks in advance,

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 3:57 AM

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Posted on Oct 21, 2014 6:39 AM

I had the same problem, my iPhone synced just fine but my iPad did nothing. Logging out of iCloud and in again on the iPad seems to have fixed the issue.

27 replies

Oct 21, 2014 7:28 PM in response to ReneBurggraaf

I Had the same issues. It took me shouting the IPL off and on 3 times. As long as you have a strong wifi signal, it'll upload them to the cloud, but it does take an awful long time. I had 494 pics and 27 videos. It stayed on 473 for a good hour. So I just let it sit, and the next time I checked it, it was down to 91. It jumps down dramtically, so I think if you do the SOP as in ******** the phone down, powering back up, close out all your other apps, and try not to use any other services, then it'll upload quick.


ONe way to know it doing something, is if you have the IPL Beta on, goto your photo app and see if you have the processing circle on next to your wifi signal in the top notification bar. If you see that constant circle processing, it working, but sure as **** taking its sweet time.

Oct 22, 2014 5:45 AM in response to Dame666

Hi Dame666,


When I am in the Photo's app I don't see the processing circle next to the wifi signal.

It comes for a few seconds and than goes away, so it is not constantly uploading.


I also restored my iPad (the only device that did sync).

So my iPad has no photos on the device but in the Photos Library there are 1884 photos, but it is not downloading any.


So none of my devices are uploading or downloading anything.

Oct 23, 2014 4:27 PM in response to ReneBurggraaf

I'm having a similar problem. I have over 4000 photos/videos and iCloud photo library will not upload. When I toggle iCloud photo library on, it says uploading but the status bar never shows up. When I check my iCloud storage its says 0 photos and 0 videos uploaded. I have tried logging in and out of iCloud and toggling IPL on and off. Nothing seems to work.

Oct 23, 2014 5:56 PM in response to d.maldonado

I can't really tell you what is going on here ... other than to make it clear to everyone that ANYONE who uses "iCloud Photo Library" is a BETA TESTER for a service that is not yet in its final stage. It's still not ready for release yet, since it is clearly stated as BETA! Remember that, and please remember that as a Beta Service, your photos are not to be considered "safe". All you are doing right now, as a Beta Tester, is letting Apple know (and not on this forum, because Apple is not here) when you encounter any bugs or problems, so they can work it out and get it to its final release to the public! You are actually helping Apple right now as a Beta Tester.


Having said that, I started with 4,700 pictures on the iPad, and started the service up, but, I also quit all the apps, had the iPad plugged in, went to Settings and reset the Network Settings ... and when the iPad started back up, I checked the count of how many it had stated with, and then left it alone for several hours, and didn't do anything on the iPad.


After about three hours, I saw that the count showed it had uploaded 2,450 photos. After that, I went somewhere else with no WiFi, and so that's where it was left yesterday. Today I went into icloud.com and saw that there was now a new folder called "Photos" and it had about 2,450 photos in it, which I presume (of course) are those it uploaded from yesterday. I've only been back on WiFi for a short time this evening, so there hasn't been any moveKent on the numbers. But I thought it did pretty good to get 2,450 photos uploaded in about three or so hours, yesterday.

Oct 23, 2014 6:15 PM in response to mszatny

I do believe that you won't get any uploading without being on WiFi. I'm not entirely sure if it requires being plugged in, but I would do that anyway.


ALSO ... be careful about referring to that as "synching" because that could give sone people the wrong idea about what is happening here with iCloud Photo Library. For one thing, it's not really "synching" the photos on your iPad with the Photo folder in the cloud. If it were actually "syncing", then what was on your iPad would be matched up with what is in the "Photos" cloud folder (seen in icloud.com). That would mean if you delete (let's say) ten photos on your iPad, those same ten photos would be deleted in your "Photos" folder in the cloud. And also, that would mean if you went to that folder in the cloud and deleted a different 10 pictures, those same ten pictures would be deleted from your iPad, as a result. "That" would be synching.


What's really going on though, is that it's just uploading the photos on your iPad to the cloud folder of "Photos" and doing nothing more with them, except to keep them there permanently ... no matter what you do on the iPad. You could delete half your photos on your iPad and it would NOT synch with your iPad and delete half of them "in the cloud" Nope! You can delete them ALL on the iPad and everyone of those photos that were "uploaded" into the cloud, will REMAIN.


Of course you "can" delete photos from the cloud, if you want. You'll just manage that from within the cloud, itself, if you want to do that.


Just ust think of the "iCloud Photo Library" as your permanent repository for all your photos, no matterwhatdevicethey came from ... and a repository in which any of your devices can "draw from" ... namely download from the cloud and put on your device.


AND THEN ... a real big WARNING for right now ... this is only a BETA SERVICE at the moment and if you use it now, you are a BETA TESTER, which means you should have NO EXPECTATIONS that any of your photos are safe during this beta testing period. You are merely "playing" with your photos right now, with absolutely no expectation that they will be preserved or safe or saved! You will only have that expectation when it is released to its FINAL form, to the public.

iCloud Photo Library not syncing

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