Old photos showing up as new on iPhone when plugging into computer

RIght, but how do I know when its finished? It certainly looks finished. I see everything on my iPhone now and the duplicate situation is gone after I set up my iPhone as new. When I go to Settings/iCloud/Photos/ there is never a progress bar anymore. It just says "Last updated" yesterday. The progress bar has also stopped on the Photos app on my iMac, which has been the case for days now. Unless youre implying that the software doesn't correctly state when it's finished (which seems like it may be the case from the first experience I was having).

I am able to edit files on my phone and see the changes immediately reflected on my Mac, as it should work. Occasionally, Ill get a "Cannot Download Photo: There was an error downloading this photo from your iCloud Photo Library. Please try again later" error, but I just say OK and then it works anyway. Seems likes its trying to edit it before the download is finished maybe (I think this is an issue with the current software though).

I should say, everything is mostly working fine now... except for this new issue. I dont have Photo Stream turned on, so my new photos dont automatically get sent to the cloud. I dont necessarily want them to either. I haven't synced with Mac because of the reason you say, I want to avoid duplicates.

These "new" images that are not clearing off on my phone are really bothering me though because I feel like it's symptomatic of a greater issue with the iCloud Photo Library environment.

Photos app on Mac:

iCloud Photo Library checked ON

Download Originals to this Mac ON (Optimize Mac Storage OFF)

My Photo Stram OFF

iCloud Photo Sharing ON

iPhone iCloud settings:

iCloud Photo Library ON

Optimize iPhone Storage ON (Download and Keep Originals OFF)

Upload to My Photo Stream OFF

iCloud Photo Sharing ON

You don't need photo stream on to send photos to the cloud, photos are sent to the cloud using iCloud photo library.

Then why show the option when iCloud is turned on? In fact, if I have this setting OFF, the pictures I take do not automatically sync to my Mac. A manual sync is needed to get it from my iPhone to my Mac. My Photo Stream option is there for a reason and I dont necessarily want every photo I take to be distributed to all my devices--that's why the option is there.

With all due respect, Id like you to try this test yourself. Turn off My Photo Stream on your iPhone and take a photo with your iPhone. Without plugging in your iPhone, open your Photos app and see if it shows up. It will not, because that is why you have the option to turn OFF My Photo Stream when still using iCloud Photo Library.

The photo stream option is there in case you don't want to use iCloud photo library or you have an Apple TV.

My Photo Stream is ALSO for people using iCloud Photo Library who do not want all their photos being automatically distributed to all of their devices. It is for people who want the benefits of iCloud Photo Library but would like more control, manually, what goes into the cloud and their devices.

Here's the scenario. I take a photo with my iPhone of a gift Id like to surprise my wife so I can email it to my friend. I use iCloud Photo Library because I LIKE the benefit of having all of the photos on my Mac being on all my devices, and being able to edit them from anywhere.

I do NOT like the fact that with My Photo Stream turned on, that the picture I just took will be seen by my wife who uses the family iPad. So this is why I turn it off and choose to decide manually what gets uploaded, through a wire, to my master Photos app on my Mac. It was designed to work this way of you want it to.

Please, do my test I asked you to try and I'll be curious to see what you find.

Thanks.

No it's not, it just seems that way to you because yours isn't working properly.

OK, so unlike when I edit a photo on iPhone I can watch it automatically refresh on my Mac, the new photos I take on my iPhone will only refresh when restart the Photos app on my Mac. So, you, I see you're right that even without My Photo Stream, it imports this way. I dont totally understand it, there should be an option to not upload everywhere, but I see there is not.

So, that still doesn't change that I have these old "new" photos showing up, but Since they're not that many, Ill sync manually and then delete them to get it cleared out. Maybe it was a one time problem when I was getting this all sorted out.

Yeah, Im sure they'll dupe. Not that many, I can delete and hope that it clears out the glitch in the future. I am 100% sure that I never edited these though. I remember specifically just looking at them yesterday when testing to see if everything was working. There were a small few that are also there but I didnt even look at too though. Im going to chalk it up to fussing with it before it was done syncing (even though I still have no idea to tell when its done because the progress bar will go away and say updated).

If you mean an option to upload to the cloud but not have it sync to other devices, there isn't such an option ,nor has there ever been one.

I mean there should be an option to manually upload what I want through a wire and have the Mac serve our to the devices. Thats what I thought turning off My Photo Stream would/should do. The main thing is that I take so many meaningless screen grabs for reminders, quick funny snaps of the telly to message someone, etc.--all things I dont want to keep in the long run, but also dont need them cluttering up all my other devices.

Thanks.