iCloud so slow its unusuable

jedoralive wrote: … Why is it that every other service such as OneDrive or DropBox actually sync files between shared users reliably at a near instant speed, while iCloud takes hours upon hours to update?

We aren't Apple, and no one here knows "why" things have been designed the way they are. But, at some peril, I'm going to suggest this: Much of this iCloud stuff is designed with portable devices in mind. You're using a Mac Studio, but people with iPhones (and, to a lesser extent MacBooks) are very anxious about battery drain, slow-downs, bandwidth, and such things that aren't of much concern for you.

That said, your experience seems more extreme. Most of the time I can edit a picture on my MacBook and have it show up on my iPhone in about 3 seconds-- the worst case, minutes. But it's true that when I add an album with, say, 30 pictures to my Photos Library (~1 GB,) it may take an hour or more to be completely synced, though being plugged in and locked speeds things up.

I'm not collaborating with anybody, so my needs are minor, and my knowledge even less. But, since no one's responded in a while, I thought I'd throw in a cent or two. Sorry I don't have a solution. If you want to let Apple know what you need, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple