Force syncing for photos

How can I force my Apple Photos to sync across all devices when iCloud fails at syncing upon editing a photo? This happens all the time and the syncing never rarely works immediately like Apple claims. Worst products ever.

Posted on Dec 25, 2022 02:04 PM

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4 replies

Dec 27, 2022 11:50 AM in response to RonnieFrey78

Hello RonnieFrey78,


To confirm, your photos aren't syncing properly across your devices. Is this only happening with the edited files? Or does all syncing stop when the edit occurs?


As general troubleshooting, we recommend the steps from Get help with iCloud Photos - Apple Support. If you follow these steps, do you see the sync status?


  1. "Open the Photos app.
  2. Select the Library tab, then tap All Photos.
  3. Scroll to the bottom to see the status bar."


Thanks!



Dec 28, 2022 07:00 AM in response to RonnieFrey78

Ronnie, Ryan already asked about the status bar. What does the status of the iCloud syncing show on all your devices?

On nur Mac, your iPhone, your iPad you will usually see a status message below All Photos, for example on your Mac: Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS - Apple Support

The status message can show you, if there are problematic items in the Photos Library on one of your devices, that need to be removed or converted to a more compatible format, before the syncing can proceed.

While one of the devices is still uploading the local library to iCloud and merging it into the existing iCloud Photos Library, it will not be able to download new items or updated items. All devices need to be in sync and showing "Updated just now", before you can expect new items to be synced quickly between your devices. When you first set up iCloud Photos, it will take several days, before all devices are in sync, depending on the number of items in your iCloud Photos library. For my Macs I had to wait two weeks with a library size of 55000 photos and videos.



Dec 28, 2022 06:02 AM in response to ryane77

Thanks for that info. I am talking about this: Sometimes the changes sync across all devices immediately (like you advertise) and other times - even deleting a photo, for instance - does not sync at all between devices. Or removing a photo from favorites or adding a photo to favorites. I check my iCloud photos when this happens and the change isn't even happening there. Why not? It would be one thing if this was consistent but there is no rhyme or reason for when it does work or doesn't work. This non-syncing happens more than not and it either never syncs or it takes hours to finally sync. I would like to know if, in that case, I can manually force my devices to sync. It would be a great feature if you could add that capability. Thank you!

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Force syncing for photos

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