iPad Pro Sync’d my photos to iPad but can’t edit them…

[Willie Heckaslyke]

Hi all ?

I spent quite a while getting all my photos from Google onto my Mac (only recently got Apple devices) After I’d got them sorted, I plugged in my iPad (empty of any pics) and synced everything over.

Ive got a Google One subscription so don’t use iCloud and just back up onto my Mac. I noticed last night, when wanting to make a slight change to a photo on my iPad, that it wasn’t editable (unless making a dupe) After doing a quick search, I found it was because ‘it was synced from another device’.

I thought to sync something was a 2-way thing, and any changes I’ve done on my iPad would be copied over to the Mac…obviously not though ?

Or is there something I’ve not ticked somewhere in the sync settings, that would correct this, or they all only editable on my Mac ONLY…? ?

 

[ericwn]

So on your Mac the photos reside in the Apple Photos app?

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

Hi…yes they do, don’t know if it makes a difference but it’s not called just ‘photoslibrary’ but ‘google-photos-imported.photoslibrary’

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Images that are synced from a computer to an iPad or iPhone as Albums will not be editable (or deletable). I guess the design decision was that synced Albums/images are for display, and that any editing would be done on the computer prior to syncing. (iPad/iPhone Albums that were created on that device from images that are in the device's library/Camera Roll can be edited.)

This goes back to the basic approach of syncing with iTunes (back when it was just syncing songs to iPods) - the computer is for organization/manipulation, the iPod/iPhone/iPad is for playback/display of whatever was transferred. If you want to change which items are synced you can't just delete them from the device, you have to change the sync settings on the computer and then re-sync.

Further, syncing of media is a one-way process - always from computer to the device. You can't make changes on a device and then have those reflected later in the sync settings/library contents on the computer. (Well, if you made iTunes purchases on the device you will be asked if you want to add those purchases to the library on the computer - that's validated by your iTunes purchase history before any "additions" are made.) (Importing images from the device to computer is not the same as Syncing.)

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

Thanks for that explanation @ApfelKuchen

It just shows how Apple are often so waaay behind the times though, when nowadays, the ‘device’ is often more powerful than the computer it was sync’d with. It should surely be an option (at the least)… to have it two-way.
I bought into the ‘Apple Just Works’ mantra, that’s so often cited as the reason to choose them over others. Over the last year or so of getting Apple stuff (Mac, iPad and an iPhone) I’ve found that that just isn’t the case. I’ve had umpteen times where something didn’t work or do what it should and I’ve had to restart my phone or whatever! At least on Android there was always a work around to a problem…with Apple it is what it is! ?

 

[Blowback]

Thanks for that explanation @ApfelKuchen

It just shows how Apple are often so waaay behind the times though, when nowadays, the ‘device’ is often more powerful than the computer it was sync’d with. It should surely be an option (at the least)… to have it two-way.
I bought into the ‘Apple Just Works’ mantra, that’s so often cited as the reason to choose them over others. Over the last year or so of getting Apple stuff (Mac, iPad and an iPhone) I’ve found that that just isn’t the case. I’ve had umpteen times where something didn’t work or do what it should and I’ve had to restart my phone or whatever! At least on Android there was always a work around to a problem…with Apple it is what it is! ?

No. Something is set up wrong. I have no problems editing photos taken on any device. I have my phone/iPad synched and can edit photos taken from the phone. You have a setting which might be off. Are both/all devices on the same wi-fi account ?

Think about it...if syncing didn't work how would anyone , or me as I do daily, use Numbers or Excel on different devices...make changes...and (almost) immediately see the changes on the other devices?

 

[ericwn]

No. Something is set up wrong. I have no problems editing photos taken on any device. I have my phone/iPad synched and can edit photos taken from the phone. You have a setting which might be off. Are both/all devices on the same wi-fi account ?

Think about it...if syncing didn't work how would anyone , or me as I do daily, use Numbers or Excel on different devices...make changes...and (almost) immediately see the changes on the other devices?

You are comparing iCloud syncing and document management to local photo syncing, a relic from the iTunes and iPod days.

If you don’t use iCloud Photo Library to store all your original photos in the cloud and instead sync with a local Mac holding the “masters” this is likely to happen.

 

[0128672]

Thanks for that explanation @ApfelKuchen

It just shows how Apple are often so waaay behind the times though, when nowadays, the ‘device’ is often more powerful than the computer it was sync’d with. It should surely be an option (at the least)… to have it two-way.
I bought into the ‘Apple Just Works’ mantra, that’s so often cited as the reason to choose them over others. Over the last year or so of getting Apple stuff (Mac, iPad and an iPhone) I’ve found that that just isn’t the case. I’ve had umpteen times where something didn’t work or do what it should and I’ve had to restart my phone or whatever! At least on Android there was always a work around to a problem…with Apple it is what it is! 😩

As others are saying here, you have two choices:

- If you want to be able to edit your photos on all of your devices and keep them in sync, you have to use iCloud Photos.
- If you want to keep your Mac photo library as the master library and sync some or all of the photos or albums to your other devices as view only, use Finder syncing (or iTunes depending on your macOS version).

My choice is to do Finder syncing from my Mac after deciding I didn't need all my photos on all my devices. Now I just sync the Favorites and save a lot of space on my other devices. I also stopped using iCloud Backup and do encrypted Finder backups to my Mac. Those in turn get backed up via Time Machine onto multiple external drives.

 

[Slartibart]

when your iPad and Mac are on the same network you can just use snapdrop.net, sendanywhere, etc. to copy the pictures to the iPad.
Or you use a SSD, SD Card (Reader) or Lightning/USB-stick: connect it, and use the Share-menu in Apple Files to add the pics to the photo library on your iPad.
Or you use something like AirDisk on the iPad and connect and copy from your Mac whatever you want.

in any case that allows you full access to your photos and pictures.

 

[ericwn]

when your iPad and Mac are on the same network you can just use snapdrop.net, sendanywhere, etc. to copy the pictures to the iPad.
Or you use a SSD, SD Card (Reader) or Lightning/USB-stick: connect it, and use the Share-menu in Apple Files to add the pics to the photo library on your iPad.
Or you use something like AirDisk on the iPad and connect and copy from your Mac whatever you want.

in any case that allows you full access to your photos and pictures.

No syncing of course.

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

when your iPad and Mac are on the same network you can just use snapdrop.net, sendanywhere, etc. to copy the pictures to the iPad.
Or you use a SSD, SD Card (Reader) or Lightning/USB-stick: connect it, and use the Share-menu in Apple Files to add the pics to the photo library on your iPad.
Or you use something like AirDisk on the iPad and connect and copy from your Mac whatever you want.

in any case that allows you full access to your photos and pictures.

No syncing of course.

Thanks for your input and options guys ? As I'm said coming from the Android world, I'm used to 'work-arounds' so I'll look in these ways. My intention was to just get all the pics onto my Apple stuff from Google, rather than 'just' being on the Cloud.( @ericwn I'm not that bothered about syncing afterwards, as any future pics can just be exported/shared..)

So it will then be a case of just deleting all the 'un-editable' photos on my ipad, and re-copying them from the mac via the suggested methods?

 

[ericwn]

I gotta say I’m done with manually moving files around. I’m on the iCloud Photo Library for maybe half a decade and manage my photo collection of about 400 GB in the cloud quite nicely.

Manual copy and paste onto another device of course is a workaround but I suggest you also check out if maybe the cloud solution is financially ok for you, as it’s so damn convenient.
Best success!

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

400gig? Wow! ?.....mine's only a measly 48gig, and that's 20yrs-worth probably, so as you can see, I'm not a prolific photo-taker, plus I'm retired, so have the time to copy a few pics over now & then. In your case it's definitely a no-brainer though ??

 

[Willie Heckaslyke]

OK, so I've got my library backed up onto an ext drive, so I've been messing with different things. I did an edit on my mac of a single photo where I just converted it to B&W. I reconnected my ipad to the mac, did another sync, but the photo on my ipad is still in color? What's all that about? I'm really not impressed with how the sync is tbh....☹️