iCloud Photo Library "Preparing Items"

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Level 1

24 points

iCloud Photo Library "Preparing Items"

I've uploaded my entire photo library (about 25k photos) to iCloud Photos library. (I did this a few months ago when it exited beta on OS X)

Today I noticed that my iPhone is "Preparing [25k] Items" (visible in Photos app and in Settings / Photos and Camera / iCloud Photo Library)

My settings are set to "Optimize iPhone Storage"

What is going on? Is my iPhone trying to re-upload all of these photos?!?

I noticed that my battery has been draining very fast and the phone is quite warm. No other apps are running.

Anyone else seeing this behavior?

John

iPhone 4S, iOS 8.3

Posted on May 29, 2015 7:38 AM

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Answer 1

May 29, 2015 7:40 AM in response to Kronkite

With that amount of photos you may want to disable photo syncing then turning it back on after you sign out and back in again.

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Answer 2

Kronkite Author

Level 1

24 points

May 29, 2015 8:04 AM in response to Averythomas

Thanks - what do you mean, exactly, by turn off syncing?

If I turn off iCloud Photo Library it asks if I want to remove all the photos on my iPhone or download all of the originals, neither of which I would like to do exactly.

meanwhile, the "preparing" count is down to 6k items...I am concerned it will try to do something dumb like re-upload all my photos in lower (iPhone) resolution and replace the original versions in the cloud. Am I right to be paranoid about this?

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Answer 3

Kronkite Author

Level 1

24 points

May 29, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Kronkite

I decided to turn off the iCloud Photos on my iPhone and remove the non-downloaded photos. At least this will stop the "preparing photos" process (and risk of uploading/overwriting the cloud library) for the time being.

Would love to know if others have seen this behavior and what ultimately happened.

Anyone know if Photos were somehow to get wiped out (say due to a software bug) does Apple back them up from iCloud in cold storage? i.e., is there a backup to the backup?

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