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"Unable to remove item" error on iCloud Photo Library on iCloud.com

Hey.


Was wondering if anyone is able to delete a photo from their albums on iCloud Photo Library on iCloud.com website?


I have some albums that for some reason are not syncing to my iOS devices and wanted to delete the photos in them and therefore delete the albums themselves, but whenever i try to delete a picture in that album, i get the

"Unable to remove item. An item could not be removed due to a server error" message.


Also, those of you who are using this service, are you able to place the pictures in a certain order in albums on your iOS devices? I see when i try, seems like something goes wrong when iPhone and iPad start to sync up and goes back to original order or some other random order.


Anyone care to chime in?


I'm aware that this is a half-baked-beta service, I'm not complaining here, just wanted to see is anyone else is having a similar issue or knows a fix.

Thank you.

Posted on Jan 28, 2015 12:26 PM

Reply
17 replies

May 6, 2015 7:44 AM in response to Robert Stone 123

Still have this issue when I select all 6421 photo's on my album on iCloud.com and press Delete.


User uploaded file


When I select 10 photos it's ok. When I select 20 photos I get this error. I have 6421 photos so it's not doable to delete all my photos in groups of 10.


Can't believe this is out of beta and still has this kind of errors. Especially with a company like Apple behind it..

May 24, 2016 10:55 AM in response to majidrouhi

I have the same problem. Turned off iCloud Photo Library on all devices for 35 days under the assumption that all photos would be deleted in 30. Turned on iCloud Photo Library on a new iPhone and uploaded 5 photos. Went to iCloud.com --> Photos and iCloud says I have 284 photos and videos. All photos and videos from before show grayed-out icons or grayed-out icons with a warning symbol. See following screen print:

User uploaded file

If I click on one of the grayed-out boxes,. I receive an error message indicating "Unable to Load" the photo. If I click one of the "Warning" images, the Photo app crashes. Here is the error message:

User uploaded file

This is extremely frustrating and needs to be addressed by Apple.


If not, I will be forced to use Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox for storing photos. Sad.

May 31, 2016 10:17 AM in response to Robert Stone 123

Same issue here I opened a ticket with apple on the issue and it was resolved within 4 hours.


Greetings,

Thank you for your patience. I was able to meet with engineers regarding the issue regarding deleted pictures in iCloud Photo Library showing as a grey box with an exclamation point when viewed on icloud.com.


After the Engineers ran a Health Check for Photos on your account in question, there was a failure reported that would require a rebuild to resolve. They want to repair the library before we troubleshoot the issue further, but before we do, we’ll need ICPL turned off on all their devices and computers. Here’s how you can do that:


- iOS: Settings > iCloud > Photos > Turn off iCloud Photo Library


- OS X: System Preferences > iCloud > Options next to Photos > uncheck iCloud Photo Library


- Windows: iCloud for Windows > Options next to Photos > uncheck iCloud Photo Library > Done > Apply


- Apple TV: Settings App > Accounts > iCloud > change iCloud Photo Library to Off


Once you have that done, reply back to me and I will have the engineer get started on the repair.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.


Jun 16, 2016 4:18 AM in response to dafzthewelshkid

Same issue here and in my case the 'Apple technicians are working on it'. They do that now for almost 3 weeks. But have not been able to find the cause. I also discovered that I have -36GB storage in the cloud. In fact it is about + 1GB but interestingly my iCloud drive gives me the info about minus 36 GB! In my settings, mac and iphone, I have 4,1GB of unused storage.


In the meantime I can't backup my iPhone, and my Mac beeps every now and then that my space on iCloud is not sufficient.


I do not understand why they don't rebuild my library. I think it is because I am not an Apple technician and as such not qualified to tell them what's wrong. Or they want to find out the cause before they take away the resulting problem. That would be a good approach.

Jun 16, 2016 1:10 PM in response to Peter Almere

I have had all of these problems. I opened a support ticket with Apple (via a phone call) and after multiple iterations and discussions with one of their senior iOS advisors and her eventual escalation to "engineering", resolved the problem. I was told that the iCloud Photo Library was "refreshed" (I'm guessing reorganized and/or repaired) but that didn't immediately solve the problem. The view on iCloud.com was still "broken" and crashed the "Photos" in the browser. I was told that "the iCloud photo library web cache had to be reset" to completely resolve the issue. Whatever this means, all is back to normal. Wish I could provide more specifics but I do know that the problem can be resolved once you get to the "engineering" team. The individual who resolved the problem was on their "escalations team". Good luck.

Nov 8, 2016 3:16 AM in response to wloatcc

I have had this issue for a few months now so contacted Apple support and after a call-back this seems to be the solution. I hope this information will be of use to others with the same issue.

Once you have disabled iCloud Photo Library on all devices you have the 30 days countdown period to make your backup etc. Obviously, don't use the iCloud Photo Library during this period because it defaults back to the 30-day period each time.

At the end of this period go to System Preferences / iCloud / Photos (ensure the box is not selected) / Manage /Photo Library / and on the box to the right there should be a Delete box (shown as Undo Delete in my image).

User uploaded file


Select this and all photos will be gone. Hopefully.


Best of luck

"Unable to remove item" error on iCloud Photo Library on iCloud.com

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