Help turning off iCloud photos

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Level 1

15 points

Help turning off iCloud photos

Firstly thanks for reading this.

So the reasons I have turned off iCloud photos are at the bottom but the issues I am seeing and need help with are below... I keep a tidy photo album and folder structure on my iMac, I have albums stored in folders and before going to iCloud photos (inc albums and folder) synced to my devices no problem. I can see in iCloud photos stored with same structure (albums in folders) as per my iMac. But now I have turned off iCloud photos and am in the process of checking I have all my pics in my iMac (which there are still a couple of hundred missing) I am seeing issues...

When I sync photos for my iMac to a device, the folder structure I had is no longer showing, in fact the My Albums section is empty, I do have sync all photo and albums ticked
I can see the individual albums in the From My Mac section but have nothing showing in My Albums
My favourites is empty even though I have lots of pic and vids on my iMac that are favourites
The pets and people just has my dog, this does not match the pets and people for my iMac which I spent time organising previously.

I have kept the iPad plugged in and locked last night hoping the organisation would sync across but no luck yet. Will this go back to how it was before iCloud photos or is that it my organisation is buggered by iCloud?

How My iMac looks

how it looks on my iPad

How it looks in iCloud

iCloud photos turned off because...

I was running out of iCloud space (200gb)
While away from home (which I am a lot) Syncing photos around 4 devices was using lots of mobile data, I did turn off mobile data syncing on the phones until on wifi, but the iPads sync when connected to personal spot. So basically I would take a vid or pic on the phone and when it connected to wifi (coffee shop) it would upload to iCloud, later when using the iPad on my iPhones personal hotspot for safari or something else the pics and vids would download therefore still gobbling up data.

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Oct 18, 2023 12:32 AM

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Answer 1

Chris_V89

Community Specialist

Oct 18, 2023 07:41 PM in response to Smm1600

Hey there Smm1600,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities.

From the information you've provided, it sounds like photos on your Mac are missing after disabling iCloud Photos is that correct? If so, then this would likely be expected behavior unless you download the original photos before disabling iCloud. When you disable iCloud Photos, it would remove all the photos that are being synced to your Mac; however, if you still have the device where the photos were originally taken, you should be able to sync those photos back to your Mac.

Check out these links for more details: How to turn off iCloud Photos - Apple Support

If you no longer want to store your photos and videos in iCloud so that they sync across your devices, you can turn off iCloud Photos for one device, or for all of your devices. To keep your photos safe, download them to your device or save a copy first.

Before you turn off iCloud Photos

Before you turn off iCloud Photos, make sure that you have all of your original photos and videos on your device. To download the original photos and videos:

* On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and select Download and Keep Originals. Keep your device plugged in to power and connected to the internet.

* On your Mac, open Photos, choose Photos > Settings (or Photos > Preferences), then click iCloud and select Download Originals to this Mac. Keep your Mac plugged in to power and connected to the internet.

* On your PC, learn how to download photos and videos from iCloud Photos.

You can also select the photos and videos that you want to download from iCloud.com. After your originals download, you can turn off iCloud Photos and new changes like uploads of new photos, edits, and deletions will no longer sync across your devices.

Sync photos between your Mac and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Important: If you already use iCloud Photos on your Mac and devices, your photos are updated automatically. You can’t use the syncing method described here unless you turn off iCloud Photos in Photos settings on your device. See Use iCloud Photos to store photos in iCloud and What is iCloud?

Let us know if that's able to help.

Take care.

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Answer 2

Oct 19, 2023 05:50 AM in response to Smm1600

Hi Smm1600,

After the sync is complete, you can check the information in the articles below to help you further organize your photos on both your iPhone and Mac and the iCloud website.

Organize and find your photos on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Create and work with albums in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Find and identify photos of people and pets in Photos on Mac - Apple Support

Organize photos and videos in albums on iCloud.com - Apple Support

If you need further assistance, reach out to Apple Support directly to continue. Get Support

Best.

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Answer 3

Smm1600 Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 19, 2023 12:17 AM in response to Chris_V89

Hi Thanks for responding.

The entire time I used iCloud photos I had the box ticked to download originals to my Mac and still used my mac to organise photos into albums etc.

Do you think the reason my albums structure and favourites etc aren't not syncing to the My Albums section on the iPad is because the originals are not on my mac? even though they should be (is there any way of knowing that the software did its job and downloaded the originals as per the tick?)

I see the same number of photos in the cloud and on my Mac and almost the same when I sync on my ipad so I am hoping this is a sign that the original are all dowloaded from the cloud, I have around 19K pics and 900 vids.

The issue is syncing with my devices now iCloud is turned off (which I have done on all devices) seems to have messed up my organisation as per the pics I added above.

Is this it now once you use iCloud then you can no longer sync you albums and favourites people etc into the my albums section of the ipad? Or if I keep plugging the iPad in overnight the magic will happen and it will all look as per my mac.

Thanks, Sue

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Answer 4

Oct 19, 2023 05:21 AM in response to Smm1600

Hi Smm1600,

Downloading 19k photos can take some time if you have turned off iCloud Phtoos and opted to download all originals at that time. We suggest staying connected to Wi-Fi and power. You can check the status of iCloud Photo sync at the bottom of your recents album.

If issues persist, please reach out to Apple Support: Get Support

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

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Answer 5

Smm1600 Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 19, 2023 05:31 AM in response to justinb2603

Thanks, I didn’t download the 19k in one go but had the box ticked so that downloading should have been happening all the time.

Seems iCloud Photos has messed this up. Hopefully there is someone else with hands on knowledge around this .

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Answer 6

Smm1600 Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 19, 2023 10:18 AM in response to Smm1600

So an update on this.

After contacting apple support, despite the fact that the number of photos are almost matching in iCloud and iMac, they believe my iMac iPhotos library is corrupt, so I am in the process of restoring the library from iCloud (i am still in the period where i have time remaining to download from my iCloud library.

I will confirm if this fixes it.

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Answer 7

Smm1600 Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 22, 2023 10:39 AM in response to Smm1600

Update

So restoring the iphoto library from iCloud did not solve the issue of My Albums and Folders not syncing to my devices the photos do sync but in a library view with no structure. It seems using iCloud then turning it off again stripes the organisation from your photos and gives you a "library" of photos which is basically like the big box of photos we all have in the loft/attic.

I will be back onto apple support to discuss what next and see if this can be solved.

Update

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Answer 8

Smm1600 Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 19, 2023 05:34 AM in response to justinb2603

Also who is we?

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Help turning off iCloud photos

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