Why did iCloud stop syncing my iPhone photos midway through?

Question

Why did iCloud stop syncing my iPhone photos midway through?

I shot nearly two hundred photos today with my iPhone 5S at my daughter's school (special event day), but iCloud has less than half of them (60 or so) available on the web. In fact, I made numerous simple edits (cropping, shadow & exposure) to most of them on my iPhone and deleted lots (left with 100 pics total on my iPhone), but the web version seems to have none of the edits and also has all of the deleted pics. It's as if it stopped syncing halfway through while I was shooting the pics, since nearly all of the edits and deletions were done after the shooting.

Screenshot of my iPhone:

Screenshot of my Macbook Pro:

Screenshots show updated at 4:40 and 4:41, and it's been several hours since I stopped shooting/editing (approx. noon local time).

I need to create a shared folder and share with other parents/teachers, but I want to share only the ones I kept and with the edits. There was no gap in time when the syncing stopped (last one was 8:59 am and next one [not available online] was also 8:59 am, according to the time stamps).

Why did it stop syncing? Should I use Photos on my MBP to make it easier? If so, how do I do that? I can create a Shared Folder on my iPhone and share (the final 100 edited pics), but how can I trust it when I can't see it in iCloud online (the folder doesn't even appear)?

I'm using iPhone 5S, iOS 9.0.2 and MBP (2010), OS X 10.11, Safari 9.0.

The following settings are ON on my iPhone:

- iCloud Photo Library

- Optimize iPhone Storage

- Upload to my Photo Stream

- iCloud Photo Sharing

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Oct 16, 2015 5:38 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Winston Churchill

Level 10

122,517 points

Oct 17, 2015 2:53 AM in response to Dave from Seoul

Screenshots show updated at 4:40 and 4:41, and it's been several hours since I stopped shooting/editing (approx. noon local time).

iCloud.com seems (to me at least) to be like another device rather than the master version if you see what I mean. I've seen photos taken on device A show up on device B and not show up until later on iCloud.com, so i wouldn't rule out that they might yet appear. Also I'm wondering if editing them in any way until they have all synced might not be causing problems, I edit on my Mac so they've always synced before I start, but I have noticed that if I delete photos before everything is synced, they often come back again.

Should I use Photos on my MBP to make it easier? If so, how do I do that?

I certainly find it easier to shoot on the phone an organise and edit on the Mac, not only is it easier but you have abetter selection of tools. All you need to do is turn iCloud photo library and iCloud photo sharing on in your Photos preferences.

but how can I trust it when I can't see it in iCloud online

iCloud.com doesn't show shared photo albums but you can see them in Photos on your Mac.

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Answer 2

Oct 17, 2015 5:55 AM in response to Winston Churchill

Thanks for the reply. Certainly is helpful. Thinking of iCloud.com as another device makes sense. I'm still waiting for the rest to appear ... WAIT, they just appeared (with the edits and deletions) about 24-30 hours after I shot/edited the pics. I'll have to remember to not delete/edit any pics on the go until I check and make sure all are synced on iCloud.com, and then organize and edit on my Mac.

As for following your instructions in Photos preferences and using Photos, I get this:

I've used an external HD for years (since iPhoto), and I thought Photos automatically knew my main photo library. So I'm guessing I need to designate my System Photo Library here:

But then I get this warning, which I'm not sure I understand fully:

Regarding your last sentence about seeing shared albums in Photos on my Mac, I get this:

The good news is that I tested this by sharing the 100 edited pics directly from my iPhone (since the sync took so long) with my wife, and I successfully accepted the invitation and can now see the 100 edited pics. It took about 4-5 hours for the invitation to show up on her iPhone's Photos app. I'm not sure if that means that I can trust it even if I don't see it on iCloud.com (the last question on my original post), or if the sync completed before the invitations were sent out.

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