"mac needs to cool down" in macos photos on 2018 macbook air

Question

"mac needs to cool down" in macos photos on 2018 macbook air

i have a 2018 macbook air running macos sonoma 14.8.1. it is a fresh install done just last week. i am trying to import a bunch of old photos to the photos app to sync with icloud so i opened photos for the first time, connected to my icloud account and imported the photos, which all went perfectly well.

it is, however, giving me an error that says "mac needs to cool down". it periodically seems to sync for a few minutes then goes back to this error.

the macbook is not overheating. i have tried leaving the fan on its automatic setting and i have also installed "macs fan control" and tried running the fan at maximum for a while, which doesn't seem to change anything.

my average cpu core temperature spends most of its time around 60-70c and my airport proximity temperature is about 50c. with the fan control on auto it never needs to turn the fan up so it's not feeling like it's overheating.

i have it sitting up on two wooden sticks to get better airflow and that also doesn't appear to be making any difference, nor does allowing the display to sleep.

i have spent hours looking at posts on various boards detailing similar issues and i have tried every solution they've proposed, as above. but i am at a loss for where to go from here.

MacBook Air (2018 – 2020)

Posted on Oct 3, 2025 12:51 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 4, 2025 10:05 AM in response to infamousprankster

Seven years old? It could be that the sensors have gone bad. Do they work at all? If you set it on an ice pack, doest the message go away, or does it never go off once it's on? Of course, it could be software. But neither really makes sense-- your utility is reading the same sensors.

Do you have an Apple Store nearby?

I've seen my MacAir's warning come on when I left it in the car trunk in Texas' summer, but that's extreme. Newer MacAirs with M's rather than intel don't have fans.

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Answer 2

Nov 17, 2025 1:41 PM in response to markwmsn

it faded in and out of paused status, probably about 60% of the time paused from what i could tell. i didn't watch it all the time but it eventually finished. it took maybe two weeks. but i was only looking for it to sync the preview images and upload, not to download anything so i can't necessarily give an estimate on the speed in the other direction. if i had to guess, though, i'd say it will eventually finish. i've never actually synced a library in the other direction, getting full-resolution images down for the whole thing. but i often upload large batches.

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Answer 3

Oct 4, 2025 11:38 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

i assume they're working because they're returning reasonable numbers. even if they were inaccurate, though, i assume the software would act according to the values they're returning.

they're certainly not high enough for the fan to turn itself up because it's running around 2700rpm pretty much all the time, which is its minimum speed. that's what's so strange about it.

the message comes and goes. i've put it on a cooling pad and that doesn't change anything. lowers the temperature on the sensors but the message doesn't change with the temperature readings, weirdly enough. sometimes it's there and sometimes it disappears for a few minutes but it seems to have no relationship to the temperature being reported by the sensors, making me think it's something in the photos app rather than in the os itself.

sadly no apple store nearby.

i've certainly seen temperature errors on the macbook air before but not when it's not actually running hot.

yes, i have a newer macbook pro and it rarely even turns the fan on at all and runs in the 20c range most of the time.

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Answer 4

markwmsn

Level 6

16,715 points

Nov 17, 2025 11:04 AM in response to infamousprankster

Did your MacBook Air ever finish its initial download? How long did it wind up taking, and how much of the time did it spend in "paused" status?

I ask because I've been experiencing similar situations on a 2020 iMac downloading an even larger Photos library from iCloud, except that the "Needs to Cool Down" status shows up near the end of the download, when all of the photos and videos have their metadata and preview images downloaded but not their full-resolution original images, so I get "Download Paused for 35,765 Originals" (or whatever count remains) before "Mac Needs to Cool Down" instead of "Restore from iCloud Paused".

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