User profile for user: Phil86_
Phil86_ Author
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5 points

iPhone not downloading photo originals from iCloud

Hey everyone, I've recently upgraded my iPhone XS to an iPhone 15 Pro. Due to a number of issues with my XS, I opted to start the new iPhone with a fresh setup and only transferring what I need manually from the old phone by using iCloud.


This has worked for almost all of the data (calender entries, contacts, reminders, etc.) more or less without problems but now I'm having trouble with my photos.


I have roughly 15.000 pictures (+ some 50ish videos, in total about 28GB) on my old iPhone which I have synchronised to iCloud (with a 50GB plan that I upgraded to for this reason). I want them to be permanently on my iPhone, because I don't want to use the iCloud as a longterm solution. But the new iPhone simply isn't downloading the originals to the local storage.


When I check "Synchronise this iPhone" in the "iCloud Photos" setting the phone starts synchronising the pictures and videos and within a couple of minutes, everything shows up on my phone. But that's where it stops doing anything. I have had the phone for 6 days now and it hasn't downloaded a single picture to the local storage, it just keeps saying "14.831 originals are being loaded" and that's it.


What I've done so far:


  • Checked "Load and keep Originals" in the iCloud photos settings.
  • Turned the phone on and off
  • Turned the "Synchronise this iPhone" button on and off, restarting the whole process
  • Signed off and on again from my Apple ID
  • Clicked the "Stop synchronising" button and then clicked "Synchronise now"
  • Reset the network settings
  • Kept it near my router, while having the charger plugged in
  • Made sure the iOS is up-to-date
  • Made sure battery-saving-mode is off
  • Searched the web for other solutions and despaired a bit


I noticed that I can force the phone to download a picture by opening it and zooming in but I can't very well do that with nearly 15.000 photos.


Does anyone have any other ideas on what I could do to get my new iPhone to download all the pictures and videos from iCloud?


Any advice is highly appreciated, thank you very much.


Cheers

Phil

iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 17

Posted on Jan 1, 2024 7:51 AM

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User profile for user: Phil86_
Phil86_ Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Posted on Jan 8, 2024 12:51 AM

For anyone stumbling on the same problem: Apple support was not helpful at all but I found at least a workaround on my own.


You can force the iPhone to download photos to the local storage by either copying them or exporting them ("Export unedited original" or something like this"). Since both actions can be performed with multiple photos you can select as many pictures as you can without crashing the app (for me the sweetspot was around 700-800 pictures per round) and then click on "Export unedited original". The iPhone will then load all the pictures and offer to add them to iCloud Drive which you can simply abort. Select the next package of photos and so on ...


This way I was able to manually copy all my 15k pictures to the iPhone - although it took some time of course. Some pictures you have to do twice, I had to re-synchronise iCloud 2-3 times to identify all the pictures still not on the phone. Videos are a pain, because it doesn't work there. The only option you have (that I found) is to open the "Edit" mode, this will force the iPhone to download the video. Since I just had 50 videos I did it while watching Netflix, for someone with lots of videos the solution might be too time-consuming.


Took me two days but now all photos and videos are stored locally on my phone. Again it goes to show that Apple only works if you use the exact user journey they want you to. I will definitely never use iCloud again.


Hope that helps.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Phil86_
Phil86_ Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Jan 8, 2024 12:51 AM in response to Phil86_

For anyone stumbling on the same problem: Apple support was not helpful at all but I found at least a workaround on my own.


You can force the iPhone to download photos to the local storage by either copying them or exporting them ("Export unedited original" or something like this"). Since both actions can be performed with multiple photos you can select as many pictures as you can without crashing the app (for me the sweetspot was around 700-800 pictures per round) and then click on "Export unedited original". The iPhone will then load all the pictures and offer to add them to iCloud Drive which you can simply abort. Select the next package of photos and so on ...


This way I was able to manually copy all my 15k pictures to the iPhone - although it took some time of course. Some pictures you have to do twice, I had to re-synchronise iCloud 2-3 times to identify all the pictures still not on the phone. Videos are a pain, because it doesn't work there. The only option you have (that I found) is to open the "Edit" mode, this will force the iPhone to download the video. Since I just had 50 videos I did it while watching Netflix, for someone with lots of videos the solution might be too time-consuming.


Took me two days but now all photos and videos are stored locally on my phone. Again it goes to show that Apple only works if you use the exact user journey they want you to. I will definitely never use iCloud again.


Hope that helps.

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iPhone not downloading photo originals from iCloud

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