Photos not syncing with macOS

I'll take a bunch of photos thru the day and come home to my Macbook PRO Retina and find that the iPhotos has "NOT" sync'd them in! It's on the Internet all day ... what's up? It used to work fine.


There is no obvious "button" to get it to wake up and sync, so I don't know what to do ...


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MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Sep 1, 2025 4:42 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 1, 2025 6:00 PM

This explains.

If your iCloud Photos are not syncing - Apple Support


  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Select Library in the Photos sidebar.
  3. Click All Photos in the toolbar at the top of the window, then scroll to the bottom.


4 replies

Sep 2, 2025 8:20 AM in response to Rich Allcorn

Keep in mind that iCloud is designed primarily for mobile devices, and since syncing uses the battery, and since lots of people are very anxious about battery drain, the iPhone will avoid syncing when not plugged in. And since syncing uses processing power, and people hate slow-downs, the iPhone will avoid syncing while you use it. And since syncing requires bandwidth, the iPhone will avoid syncing when the internet connection is weak.


So, if you want faster syncing, then find good wifi, plug the phone in, and leave it alone. All this applies to a lesser extent for the Mac.

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Photos not syncing with macOS

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