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Can't stop photo synching between mac and iphone

I've turned off iCloud photos sharing on my mac by going to Settings -> Apple ID -> iCloud and un-checking the iPhotos icon.


I've turned off iCloud photos sharing on my iPhone by going to Settings -> [my name] -> iCloud -> Photos and deselecting iCloud Photos.


I also emptied my photos in iCloud storage on my iPhone by going to Settings -> [my name] -> iCloud -> Manage Storage -> Photos -> Disable and Delete


And yet I still see photos on my iPhone which were synched from my mac and which I can't delete in Library -> All Photos.


It's driving me crazy. II have duplicates from several synchings I think and I want them gone from my All Photos library but can't delete them.


Any suggestions? Everything I've seen online says that turning off iCloud for Photos should fix the problem but definitely not having any success with that.


I've also tried unchecking "synch photos to your device from Photos" in Finder but after hitting "Apply" and trying both options of keeping synched photos or removing them, they still turn up on my iPhone and I can't delete them (trashcan not an option).


I've also tried rebooting my iPhone several times.

iPhone 12, iOS 15

Posted on Apr 29, 2022 9:01 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 29, 2022 11:28 PM

The photos you cannot delete on your iPhone are shown in a the albums under “From my Mac”, right? Any items there have been synced from a computer, either with iTunes or from the Finder. To delete them you have to sync again with an empty selected of albums, or select an album with just one photo in it. The new selection of albums will replace the previously synced photos on your iPhone.


Alternately, if syncing with your Mac does not work, try to enable iCloud Photos on the iPhone, temporarily. If you enable it, it should automatically erase all synced photos from the iPhone, as it is incompatible with iCloud Photos. Disable iCloud Photos again on the iPhone, as soon as the synced photos have been removed and all albums from your Mac have vanished.

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 29, 2022 11:28 PM in response to matlaw

The photos you cannot delete on your iPhone are shown in a the albums under “From my Mac”, right? Any items there have been synced from a computer, either with iTunes or from the Finder. To delete them you have to sync again with an empty selected of albums, or select an album with just one photo in it. The new selection of albums will replace the previously synced photos on your iPhone.


Alternately, if syncing with your Mac does not work, try to enable iCloud Photos on the iPhone, temporarily. If you enable it, it should automatically erase all synced photos from the iPhone, as it is incompatible with iCloud Photos. Disable iCloud Photos again on the iPhone, as soon as the synced photos have been removed and all albums from your Mac have vanished.

Apr 30, 2022 8:38 AM in response to léonie

Yes, that worked. On my phone I went to Settings -> Photos then clicked the iCloud Photos slider "on". That brought up a message saying it would be deleting photos from my phone. I said OK.


Oddly enough, after that it brought up another message saying I didn't have enough room on iCloud so I clicked "Cancel". So the slider for iCloud Photos never made it to the "on" position.


But the photos are removed and I am now happy - thanks!

Can't stop photo synching between mac and iphone

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