How can I force the Mac to download the latest photos from iCloud?

Question

Level 1

14 points

How can I force the Mac to download the latest photos from iCloud?

Since late 2010 (iPhone 3GS), I have been backing up my iPhone to Mac via USB cable, including syncing photos there.

Now, I finally broke down and paid for the 50G iCloud plan to offload photos from my phone in order to free up space, and also to include photo captions in the sync process. (which doesn't work when sync'ing via cable)

But the Mac Mini silently fails to download photos from iCloud, as it is trying to upload the last 14 years of photos first.

How can I force the Mac to download the latest photos from iCloud?

(without having to delete a decade of photos off the Mac)

Or maybe I cancel iCloud and go back to USB-cable sync'ing and lose all my captions. :-(

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone XS, iOS 17

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 8:11 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Richard.Taylor

Level 6

12,198 points

Nov 12, 2024 6:26 AM in response to n8leon

n8leon said: But when I try to enable it, I get:

This library exceeds your available iCloud storage.

I don't believe you mentioned this earlier.

You don't have to delete pictures from the Mac. Macs can have more than one Photos Library. You can just create a new Library, name it something clever, designate it as the System Library in Photos' Settings>General, and turn on iCloud Photos in Settings>iCloud. You can create a new Library by closing Photos and then option-clicking on the Photos icon.

Then just double-click on whichever Library you want to look at in Photos.

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 5, 2024 10:34 AM in response to n8leon

The process will take awhile, like days, but it's well worth it. You should watch what's happening at iCloud.com-- pictures have to go to iCloud Photos before going to the Mac, so you can see how it's working. Pictures will be transferred before albums, so it may look a mess at first. It's also transferring pictures to your phone, so there's lots to be done.

Be sure to keep your Mac turned on and to not have Photos active. If Photos is running it needs to be in the background with another app, maybe Finder, the active one. Photos doesn't want to interrupt your work for downloads, so it needs to think that you're not using Photos. Also, keep the phone plugged in.

If you're out taking pictures with your phone, you may find those pictures already on your Mac when you get home. But sometimes it's slower. When I take screenshots that I want to immediately use on this site, I use AirDrop to get them to my Mac quickly.

As with lots of things, it's slow to get going…

Reply

Answer 3

n8leon Author

Level 1

14 points

Nov 11, 2024 3:13 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately, it is not just a matter of time. (it's been weeks now)

In fact, iPhone photos do sync to my iPad, so the basic flow is working

Moreover, when I go to Settings on the Mac, I see iCloud / Photos sync is off.

But when I try to enable it, I get:

This library exceeds your available iCloud storage.

So that's the crux of the issue.

I want to sync/download new iPhone photos to my Mac,

but the Mac appears to insist on uploading everything first.

I don't want the last decade of photos synced back to my phone, as there isn't enough storage there!

The only solution I can think of is to start deleting Photos on the Mac,

so that it will start sync'ing new photos down.

But I am hesitant to do that as it will take a *long* time (manual process) and I risk losing photos that I may not have exported.

Is that what people are doing?

Surely I'm not the only one that doesn't want or have room for the last 15 years of photos on the phone.

Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks,

n8

Reply