Missing photos data on my MacBook Pro after macOS Sequoia 15.5 update

So the problem is really on your Mac..

You wrote "- No albums, no shared albums, trips, memories, people, etc."

Does this mean, that the albums etc. are missing completely from the sidebar or just have not been updated with the most recent items? Are the titles "Albums", Memories etc also missing from the sidebar?

Could you show us a screenshot of the sidebar in Photos?

Have you installed the most recent update macOS 15.6 from July 29? It has added quite a few bug fixes.

If the update did not fix the problem - some things to check:

• How is your Mac connected to the internet? Is it a Wi-Fi connection or a cellular Hotspot? Try, if the syncing will be better, if you connect the Mac to Wi-Fi, if you have been using a cellular Hotspot.
• Try to remember, what you have done on your Mac in Photos directly before the syncing stopped. It may be a coincidence, that the problem occurred right after the system update.
  • Try to identify the last item that has been synced to your Mac or imported - a photo or video shared with you or saved from the internet.. It might be corrupted or incompatible on block the processing on the Mac and needs removing.
  • Has anything changed with your Photos Library on your Mac? Have you moved it to a different location?
  • Have you enabled any firewalls orAntivirus software that could be intercepting the connection to Apple's cloud servers? Then turn them off.
  • Have you been running any cleaning apps to save storage? Such cleaning apps can damage a Photos Library beyond repair and cause all kinds of problems.

If your Photos Library library has become damaged I recommend to start over with a new, empty Photos Library an let it download a fresh copy of the library from iCloud. This will be aa lot faster then repairing the library, because a repair will cause a new upload and merging into iCloud. By downloading a fresh copy from iCloud you are avoiding the lengthy new upload to iCloud and can beside, that no damaged items will be uploaded, your library will only contain the items you are currently seeing in iCloud.

Keep a copy of your current library as a backup. your slideshows and other projects cannot be restored from iCloud. And some named faces may be missing., so it is good to have the old library, where you can look up the projects.

1. Turn off Sync this Mac in System Settings>iCloud>Saved to iCloud
2. Delete the Photos library in Finder.
3. Open Photos and have it create a new library.
4. Turn on Sync this Mac

macgirldc wrote:

1. Turn off Sync this Mac in System Settings>iCloud>Saved to iCloud

2. Delete the Photos library in Finder.

3. Open Photos and have it create a new library.

4. Turn on Sync this Mac

Ahh-- just as léonie said:

start over with a new, empty Photos Library an let it download a fresh copy of the library from iCloud.

Except that she suggested you keep the original Library as a backup…

Can you see the missing photos on your iCloud webpage at www.icloud.com in the Photos.app there?

This will tell you, if the iPhone or iPad have uploaded the recent photos to iCloud.

Sure, everyone should be backing up every day but creating a new library and setting it to sync with iCloud is not overly risky.

As for "repeating someone's stuff", that's ... an interesting take. I gave basic steps for a basic fix, steps that hadn't been given in this thread. Nothing to acknowledge.

Your energies are probably better placed helping those looking for help than micromanaging the helpers. Which is why this is my last reply to you.

I didn’t say empty the trash.

1. Actually, "Delete the Photos library in Finder" implies actually Deleting.
2. And trash is no place for a backup.

It doesn't hurt to acknowledge that you're repeating someone else's stuff.