Photos stuck on 'syncing' when trying to upload from macbook to icloud

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Level 1

6 points

Photos stuck on 'syncing' when trying to upload from macbook to icloud

I'm having real problems trying to get any photos added to photos on my Macbook to upload to the cloud, and therefore appear on my phone, and it's been a problem for months.

The status bar at the bottom says 'syncing', but it always takes several days for even one or two photos to appear in icloud. My wifi is fine and I can upload images on other platforms, and dropbox sync works in seconds with the same files.

There is no issue the other way, photos taken or saved on my phone will appear in icloud and then on the mac in seconds.

I've tried force quits, restarts, pausing and resuming, but nothing works. I've also done a complete reinstall and sync of my whole library from icloud, but the sync is still painfully slow - 4 hours so far today just to 'sync one 700kb photo. To get photos form my mac to phone in the meantime I'm saving them to dropbox and then opening them on my phone and downloading them there, which takes seconds. So it's definitely an issue with the photos app.

Can anyone shed any light on this? TIA.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Aug 7, 2025 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 10, 2025 08:35 AM in response to mijbil

Keep in mind that iCloud is designed primarily for mobile devices, and since syncing uses the battery, and since lots of people are very anxious about battery drain, the iPhone will avoid syncing when not plugged in. And since syncing uses processing power, and people hate slow-downs, the iPhone will avoid syncing while you use it. And since syncing requires bandwidth, the iPhone will avoid syncing when the internet connection is weak.

So, if you want faster syncing, then find good wifi, plug the phone in, and leave it alone. All this applies to a lesser extent for the Mac, especially mobile Macs.

Nevertheless, I'm sitting at a cafe with OK wifi, and I deleted a picture on my Mac, then opened my phone, and I saw that picture disappear from the iPhone about 5 seconds later. There was no outside power.

So first, how is your storage on your iPhone and on your Mac? Apple recommends keeping at least 10% of your storage free, otherwise some things will take a long time, some app will do crazy things, and some processes won't work at all.

You said you did a forced restart-- do you mean like this?

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

This is different from a simple Power Off. I had to continue holding the button down past the "slide to power off" message, and then I released the button only after the Apple Logo appeared indicating a re-start.

Have you tried operating the Mac in Safe Mode? This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

When you add a picture to your Mac, what do you see in Photos at iCloud.com? Does it get added there immediately? How about the other way?

Let us know about those tests…

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Answer 2

mijbil Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 10, 2025 09:30 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

It’s the MacBook that’s the problem, not the phone. I have iCloud open in a window as well Sonia see which images are on which device and in the cloud at the same time. MacBook Pro M3 is plugged in to the mains, connected to the same WiFi as the phone, and the iPhoto library is on the Mac SSD with over 75% of storage capacity on the MacBook free. So there shouldn’t be a bottleneck. iCloud is also only at 25% capacity of my 2tb plan. It has to be app related since if I add the same images to Dropbox they appear on the phone in seconds. iPhoto meanwhile just says ‘syncing’, yet nothing happens. I have to leave it running overnight just for it to sync a few photos to the cloud. The other way however is no problem- photos taken on the iPhone appear on the MacBook straight away.

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Answer 3

Aug 10, 2025 03:07 PM in response to mijbil

Are you using "Optimize" in Photos on your Mac?

And what happened in Safe Mode? And when you got out of Safe Mode?

Suppose on your Mac you select 3 or 4 pictures and choose Share>Copy Link. What happens?

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Answer 4

Aug 10, 2025 09:33 AM in response to mijbil

"When you add a picture to your Mac, what do you see in Photos at iCloud.com? Does it get added there immediately? How about the other way?"

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Answer 5

mijbil Author

Level 1

6 points

Aug 10, 2025 10:10 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

This is the problem- photos from the Mac don’t appear in iCloud straight away, but from the phone they do. It’s the photos app on the Mac that has the syncing issue.

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Answer 6

Aug 10, 2025 03:12 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Richard.Taylor wrote: …Suppose on your Mac you select 3 or 4 pictures and choose Share>Copy Link. What happens?

Maybe only try that if you don't use "Optimize."

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