Five hours to sync four photos… and it's still not done. Or: WTF is wrong with Photos' sync?

[auxbuss]

I went out for a short walk today and took four photos. Returning around 15:00, I loaded the Photos app to make sure the phone was syncing, and left it to it. Five hours later, at 20:00, it's still sync'ing four photos. At 20:20, hallelujah, one photo sync'd. Now. at 20:30, it's still sync'ing three photos. Wi-fi is fine. I'm using it for all the usual stuff without a hitch, and every other Apple iCloud sync is working just fine.

This is a regular occurrence now, and it's hacking me off: WTF is wrong with Photos' sync?

 

[ManuCH]

My photo sync has been working really well lately. You say your Wi-Fi is fine, but just to be sure, can you run a speed test and post the screenshots, including upload speeds?

 

[HDFan]

Wi-fi is fine.

You say your Wi-Fi is fine, but just to be sure, can you run a speed test and post the screenshots, including upload speeds?

That's the first place to start.

 

[q3anon]

I went out for a short walk today and took four photos. Returning around 15:00, I loaded the Photos app to make sure the phone was syncing, and left it to it. Five hours later, at 20:00, it's still sync'ing four photos. At 20:20, hallelujah, one photo sync'd. Now. at 20:30, it's still sync'ing three photos. Wi-fi is fine. I'm using it for all the usual stuff without a hitch, and every other Apple iCloud sync is working just fine.

This is a regular occurrence now, and it's hacking me off: WTF is wrong with Photos' sync?

Look the problem is not on your side. I am experiencing iCloud sync problems also. Beside being very slow iCloud sync with me is a mess in the last week. Never experienced nothing like this! However, in my opinion the problem is in iOS 17.5.1. Even deleted calls records from weeks ago are reappearing in Recents, imagine that!

 

[auxbuss]

 

[q3anon]

My internet speed is always around these values and iCloud Sync is a mess anyway.

 

[ManuCH]

View attachment 2386517

Yeah that will take forever. 4 Mbit/s upload speed will be very very slow to sync your photos.

 

[ManuCH]

View attachment 2386570

My internet speed is always around these values and iCloud Sync is a mess anyway.

With that speed it should be very fast. If it isn't, there may be some other issues. What are you experiencing exactly?

 

[q3anon]

With that speed it should be very fast. If it isn't, there may be some other issues. What are you experiencing exactly?

When I turn Safari's iCloud sync off and ON again on my iPhone, all the bookmarks appear outside the folders, which means that not only are the bookmarks organized as they are on the other Apple devices, but all the bookmarks links appear repeated outside the folders.

Beside that, if I save a website in the Reading list on my iPhone or MacBook Pro, I can make a trip from Tokyo to New York that I will be faster than the Reading List update on the rest of my Apple devices.

I've also noticed that the call records I made weeks ago are now reappearing in Recents. What annoys me is that I had already deleted these records weeks ago.

For me, the problem lies with iOS 17.5.1.

 

[gigapocket1]

That’s weird.. usually for something like that. It’s also trying to upload a video that you may have taken…. Check your recently deleted. And see if any recently deleted videos are in there.. permanently delete those if one is in there

 

[ManuCH]

When I turn Safari's iCloud sync off and ON again on my iPhone, all the bookmarks appear outside the folders, which means that not only are the bookmarks organized as they are on the other Apple devices, but all the bookmarks links appear repeated outside the folders.

Beside that, if I save a website in the Reading list on my iPhone or MacBook Pro, I can make a trip from Tokyo to New York that I will be faster than the Reading List update on the rest of my Apple devices.

I've also noticed that the call records I made weeks ago are now reappearing in Recents. What annoys me is that I had already deleted these records weeks ago.

For me, the problem lies with iOS 17.5.1.

Ah ok, so what you're seeing has indeed nothing to do with line speed or anything. You are encountering some weird bug it seems. If I was experiencing something like that, I would honestly just turn iCloud off on all devices, wait a few minutes, then turn it all back on, and see how it goes.

Yes, iCloud has some weird behaviors sometimes and I'm not too much of a fan of that either.

 

[HDFan]

View attachment 2386517

Years ago while traveling when the hotel had an upload speed this slow my photos were not uploaded. Needed something in the order of 50 Mbps or so at the time. Best thing to do is find a place with a much higher upload rate so the upload can finish.

 

[q3anon]

Ah ok, so what you're seeing has indeed nothing to do with line speed or anything. You are encountering some weird bug it seems. If I was experiencing something like that, I would honestly just turn iCloud off on all devices, wait a few minutes, then turn it all back on, and see how it goes.

Yes, iCloud has some weird behaviors sometimes and I'm not too much of a fan of that either.

Well, I solved the problem making a fresh install of macOS Sonoma!

 

[auxbuss]

Yeah that will take forever. 4 Mbit/s upload speed will be very very slow to sync your photos.

And yet it worked fine for years until two months ago. 4 Mbps isn't that slow.

Just to test, I uploaded 79 photos (size 127.1 MB) to iCloud Drive – obviously outside of the Photos app – and it took 17 seconds.

 

[auxbuss]

Today's stats: 3 photos, 5 hours.

It's actually quicker to switch off iCloud for Photos and download the entire library than wait for a handful of pics to sync.