Deleting Shared Library stuck and I cannot sync new photos

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Level 1

4 points

Deleting Shared Library stuck and I cannot sync new photos

My family and I are part of an iCloud Shared Photo Library. Last week I attempted to remove my daughter's from the Shared Library. The process now appears to be stuck and no devices including me and my wife's iCloud photo library are not syncing.

Both of my daughter's devices status say "Leaving Shared Library".

Settings->iCloud->Photos->Status Leaving Shared Library

All devices are showing "Uploading xx photos" from the Photos app, but no new photos are uploading or syncing between personal devices.

iCloud.com has no new photos on it since Friday, when I initiated the removal.

I tried repairing the library from my MacBook, but still nothing is syncing.

All devices are running the most current os.

I've seen similar post online, but none of them show a resolution. I spoke to an Apple rep on the phone yesterday, and was told that I need to wait for the process to complete.

Has anyone had a similar issue and were able fix?

Posted on Sep 29, 2025 5:06 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,387 points

Sep 29, 2025 10:52 AM in response to d.maldonado

iPad the same problem when I first started using the shared iCloud Library. It took more than a week, before iCloud Photos was back to normal. The only thing that helped has been to do nothing - wait for the syncing to finish. Signing out of iCloud Photos, deleting the system library etc, will just slow it down further.

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Answer 2

d.maldonado Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 23, 2025 9:01 AM in response to d.maldonado

Update 2 - Called Apple support and got in touch with a manager. Went through all the typical troubleshooting steps including signing in/out of iCloud, force restarts, etc. I was advised to purchase additional iCloud storage incase the issue was that with my family all downloading their libraries that our iCloud storage would be close to max. No luck.

Last night was advised to remove/uninstall all VPN apps from my devices and make sure all devices were plugged in on strong wifi overnight.

Currently being escalated to engineering.

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Answer 3

d.maldonado Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 29, 2025 12:26 PM in response to léonie

Thanks léonie. I will give it some more time.

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

200,387 points

Sep 29, 2025 1:05 PM in response to d.maldonado

Please let us know, how it goes. It may help others.

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Answer 5

d.maldonado Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 13, 2025 4:47 AM in response to d.maldonado

Just wanted to give an update, 2 weeks in. iCloud still says syncing on me and my wife’s device. My daughters’ devices still saying removing from shared library.

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