Photos stuck on "downloading x items"

Hello everyone,


Today I noticed that my Photos album was stuck on "downloading 1 item". I wouldn't go away and I could not find the photo/video which it was downloading. On the other hand, my iPhone's Photo library was working fine.

I could take new photos and they were uploaded to the cloud, and my Mac downloaded then correctly, but still on Mac it said "downloading 1 item".


FIrst things first:

- Macbook Air 13", early 2015, Mac os Sierra 10.12.6

-iPhone 6s Plus, ios 11.2.6 and I will upgrade to 11.3 as soon as possible...


I tried to troubleshoot this problem.

1.Turned off iCloud photo library

2.Deleted the existing photo library from my Mac

3.Created a new photo library (default) and set it as the system library.

4.Turned on iCloud photo library and photos and videos started to appear on my Mac's photo album.


+ ALSO tried to make a smart album (or what it's called) and selected the "unable to download to iCloud" --> 0 items there. But I think the problem is that my Mac's photo library is downloading something and does not have any progress going on...


Now, it is stuck on "downloading 7 items" !! I have no clue what items those are. Two video files will not download (error, try again later) but I'm sharing my iPhones network to my Mac so it might be the reason (the size of those videos is over 100Mb for both so maybe it need wifi connection to download them completely, I dunno....).


I'm just wondering what in the name of Earth is going on! Everything was working fine like few days ago, and suddenly BOOM. I have not taken a lot of photos since that.


Also, in iCloud.com the photo library is correct and working.


What can I do to make this work again! I am so mad at this problem now...

I am super worried about if there's like corruption etc. because what will I do about it? If there's corruption going on, what are my options? This is just overwhelming for me....

MacBook Air, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Apr 2, 2018 11:10 AM

Reply

Similar questions

4 replies

Apr 3, 2018 10:50 AM in response to wondering_97

Hi everyone,


I have the solution, at least for my case.


1. Turn off iCloud photo library

2. Delete the existing photo library at Finder -> Photos and there it is (as default)

3. Open photos and create a new photo library

The next step might not be necessary but I did it anyway

4. Sign out iCloud account and then sign in again

5. Open photos and turn on iCloud photo library and let it download photos and videos "in peace"


With these steps I got my library on mac working again 🙂


(edit: and most importantly, make sure you use wifi to accomplish this process!! No personal hotspot etc)


Yes, it took time and I have a working photo library but my iCloud Drive is on progress (1,09/ 4,00 GB)... 😀


ALSO when my library finished downloading the photos and videos it said "last update 16:30" (or etc I don't know what it is in English). I took a photo with my iPhone, and the photo was downloaded to the Cloud and to my Mac. After that my Mac's photo library updated actually, and it says "updated just now" 🙂


Thanks for everyone who helped me, I appreciate it!

Apr 3, 2018 10:50 AM in response to wondering_97

What is the status on your Mac - Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support


I tried to troubleshoot this problem.

1.Turned off iCloud photo library

2.Deleted the existing photo library from my Mac

3.Created a new photo library (default) and set it as the system library.

4.Turned on iCloud photo library and photos and videos started to appear on my Mac's photo album.

When you did this you started a new total download of all photos and videos which can take days or even weeks


What are the count of Photos and Videos on iCloud.com and each device?


LN

Apr 2, 2018 11:35 AM in response to LarryHN

Hi there and thanks for answering.


Te total count of Photos and videos is:

On my iPhone 654 (and more precise: 612 photos and 42 videos)

On my Mac 654 (and more precise: 612 photos and 42 videos)

On iCloud.com 654


Also, I can watch the problematic videos on iCloud.com with no problem.


Also: the status of my library on iPhone is atm: updated just now , and on my Mac it is: "downloading 7 items". The progress bar in Photos settings (settings-> iCloud) is not moving at all, it's grey and no hint of blue progress bar. It's been like that for almost 2 hours.

Apr 3, 2018 7:08 PM in response to wondering_97

I'm having this exact issue... about a month ago I noticed my photos stopped syncing out of the blue. iOS and iCloud.com is perfectly fine. So I created a new Photo Library and set it to download, it just sticks on Downloading items with no changes. I checked the Activity Viewer and ReportCrash appears immediately following Photoanalysisd... even on a blank library. Tried another user account on the machine and same issue. Have an open support case with Apple since it began, the latest 10.13.4 Combo has not fixed it yet.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Photos stuck on "downloading x items"

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.