Photo app doesn't seem to sync the Faces

Not sure about other Macs, but the photos app on the phone does not support Faces.

Faces do not seem to sync. I have two computers (iMac late 2012 & MacBook Pro late 2013). I began tagging faces on the iMac, and they have not synced with the MacBook, however all of the pictures did. (I made sure to wait that they were all downloaded before confirming this). Seems like faces are locally stored? Tagging a photo with a face does however create a tag, and that tag is synced across computers. The problem is that when you click on "Faces" in albums, the bubbles are not the same on both computers (As I've expected to see)

Faces are not supposed to sync fully between Macs: See this support document:

Use Photos and iCloud Photo Library on multiple Mac computers - Apple Support

These items are available only on the Mac where you created them:

• Books, cards, and calendars
• Slideshows
• Keyword shortcuts
• Unused keywords
• Last imported album (this album contains photos you most recently imported on a specific Mac)
• Faces tiles and Faces data

Every now and then I do a clean install on my iMac. Now what am I supposed to to with my Photos data? I thought I could simply install a clean Yosemite and then login to iCloud and everything gets downloaded locally, but if I understand correct, that's not the case with faces info, right? So just for the faces meta info, I should backup/restore the complete Photos Library.photoslibrary package?

So just for the faces meta info, I should backup/restore the complete Photos Library.photoslibrary package?

You need a local backup of the complete Mac anyway, and backup regularly. iCloud is not sufficient as a backup. It is for syncing your devices. Any change you do on one of your devices will sync to iCloud and propagate to all devices. If you accidentally delete a document on one device, it will be gone from all devices. You cannot use iCloud as a backup to recover from mistakes or to retrieve older versions.

Restoring data from iClod is slow, and the internet may not be working, when you need it most to recover your data.

Apple recommends: Back up your Photos library

Every now and then I do a clean install on my iMac.

That should only be necessary, if you suspect, that malware or incompatible software installed system modifications, that corrupt the system. Or if you suspect harder problems, and want to be sure, that no software issue is causing the problems. Are you experiencing any performance issues with your Mac?

Is a possible solution to store your photo library in iCloud drive (separate from the iCloud photo library) and then access the same library from different machines via the cloud. Takes up twice as much space if you have iCloud photo library turned on but if you have extra storage it might work

Have you tried this?

I tried with several small test libraries, and all stopped working, as soon as I opened them in iCloud drive.

And iCloud Drive has a size limit of 1GB.

I have not tried it, just a thought. The max file upload size for iCloud drive is 15gb.

Could be a solution, thanks!

You're right. I'm also using Carbon Copy Cloner to create a full backup form my system partition, which includes the Photos library. So yes, I can restore from that. And regarding the "clean install" --> I think you're wrong. The system IS getting faster after a clean install. I'm not sure why, most probably because caching, application support, etc. is also cleaned up.

Yes, file size limit 15 GB, that was a typo, sorry.

No online storage for Photos libraries worked when I tested with small test Photos libraries, neither the fileserver in our department, the Shared folder on my other Mac, nor dropbox. In all cases the Photos library was unreadable and in an endless "repairing" loop, as soon as I opened it from a second mac.

iCloud Photo Library is working for me as advertised, but still too slow to sync.

I think you're wrong. The system IS getting faster after a clean install. I'm not sure why, most probably because caching, application support, etc. is also cleaned up.

I experienced a different thing. The clean install only helped, if the System had a corruption because of incompatible software. And usually after a clean install it is slower, because all caches have to be recreated, which needs a lot of background processing. But that is certainly up to you, if you want to go to that trouble.

You may want to have a look at this article: The Safe Mac » The myth of the dirty Mac

I am using Macs because the system does not require continually clean installing -o nly If I have hardware problems,

Well, maybe it's a placebo, but hey... if it works for me 😉.

Well, maybe it's a placebo, but hey... if it works for me .

If it makes you feel good 😁