Stuck "Leaving Shared Library" on iPhone for 4+ Months (600 GB, Owner Deleted) — Need Help!

Hi Apple Community,

I'm facing a major issue with iCloud Shared Photo Library on my iPhone SE (2020, 128 GB, iOS 26.1). Since July 2025 (over 4 months now), my device is stuck on "Leaving Shared Library" in Settings > [My Name] > iCloud > Photos > Shared Library.

Details:

• 
  
• The Shared Library was huge (over 600 GB) and was deleted by the organizer back in July.
• 
  
• 
  
• Status shows "Preparing to leave..." or "Leaving..." and it NEVER completes — it's been looping for months.
• 
  
• 
  
• This seems like a "ghost" Shared Library issue: the library was deleted by the organizer, but Apple's iCloud servers still hold a reference/link to it in my account. As a result:
• • On iPhone: Stuck at "Leaving…"
• • On Mac Mini: Photos still show with "Shared Library" tags
• • On iCloud.com: Two libraries appear (personal + the ghostly shared one)
• 
  
• This is 100% a server-side bug from Apple. I can't fix it locally — only iCloud engineers can force-remove this "dead" library from the backend.
• 
  
• 
  
• iCloud Photos is basically unusable: can't disable it, sync is frozen, can't manage storage properly.
• 
  
• 
  
• My device has 20+ GB free space, and I've tried EVERYTHING:
• 
  
• Leaving on charger + stable Wi-Fi for 48+ hours (multiple times)
  • 
    
• 
  
• Hard reboot, network settings reset
  • 
    
• 
  
• Toggling iCloud Photos off/on
  • 
    
• 
  
• Signing out/in of iCloud (with "Keep on iPhone" for photos)
  • 
    
• 
  
  • Updating iOS, clearing cache, etc.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Apple Support (multiple chats/calls) says they "don't see the issue" and won't escalate to engineering. But this seems like a known backend bug with large deleted Shared Libraries — I've seen similar threads here.
• 
  

Has anyone else dealt with this? How did you resolve it? Is there a way to force-remove the stuck process without resetting the phone (I have a full encrypted backup via Finder)?

Any advice from Apple mods or users would be great — this is frustrating and blocking my photo sync!

Thanks

Country: Russia

Case ID: ***************

[Edited by Moderator]