iCloud Photos not syncing iPhone to iMac, Photos app stuck

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iCloud Photos not syncing iPhone to iMac, Photos app stuck

Hi, I have recently noticed that photos that I take on my iPhone 15 (iOS 18.71) and are automatically synced to my iCloud account, which has almost 2TB of available storage, are no longer syncing with my iPhotos on my iMac (Retina 4k, 21.5", Late 2015) which has 1.6TB of storage. I have never had a problem with photos syncing before but sometime in October the photos stopped automatically appearing in the iMac when I took them on my iPhone. My Daughter has an iPad Pro and her saved images no longer synch either. We are all on the same iCloud account and the same Wi-Fi.

I can still upload new photos by manually connecting my phone to the iMac via cable but obviously there is an issue between the iCloud and my iMac. The iCloud Photos option is ticked on the settings for iPhotos on the iMac and it is set up to Download Originals to this Mac. I also have the Shared Albums option ticked although maybe I don't really need that.

For clarity, my iPhotos on the iMac says I have 46,216 Photos, 385 Videos and is stuck on Updating... The iCloud app on my iPhone and my iCloud account say that I have 44,950 photos and 393 videos. I may have a few duplicates on the iMac, so that might explain the difference.

Can someone please advise me what to do to get everything syncing again please?

Many thanks,

Jon.

Posted on Jan 3, 2026 2:57 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 4, 2026 7:10 AM in response to jonnietonto

You've included lots of good information, but I don't see what OS you're using on your iMac. You refer to iPhoto, an app that was discontinued 10 years ago. Could you mean the app Photos, which replaced it? You say, " iPhotos on my iMac (Retina 4k, 21.5", Late 2015) which has 1.6TB of storage." Is this internal storage, or are you including an external drive? Where is your "Photos" Library located-- is it in your user's Pictures folder, or is it on an external drive? If so, how is that drive formatted? How much free space is available on the Mac's internal drive?

When you say, "I can still upload new photos by manually connecting my phone to the iMac via cable," I wonder how you do that. Using Finder does not allow transfer by cable when a Photos Library is using iCloud Photos.

Are you using "Optimize Storage" with iCloud Photos?

I suspect your Library is over 300 GB-- is that right?

Let us know-- that should help narrow thing down a bit…

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