iPhone iCloud Original Photos Not Downloading

[Z6128]

I've been trying since Friday to download my pictures onto my new 11 Pro Max. My photos show up, but at the bottom it just says downloading and the number either never moves or downloads a few and then stops.

I've tried signing in and out, turning iCloud off and on, restarting, nothing works. Anyone experiencing anything similar?

 

[atlchamp]

I've been trying since Friday to download my pictures onto my new 11 Pro Max. My photos show up, but at the bottom it just says downloading and the number either never moves or downloads a few and then stops.

I've tried signing in and out, turning iCloud off and on, restarting, nothing works. Anyone experiencing anything similar?

I am having a nightmare situation with this....something is VERY wrong

 

[Z6128]

At least I can see them, but I like having the originals on my phone. I have a relatively large library of about 6,700 photos and 300 videos, but you think leaving the phone plugged in overnight connected to wifi would be enough time. It didn't download a single photo, still says the same thing that it's downloading. Very frustrating.

 

[Strelok]

Put it on a charger and just leave it there for a while. It took about 30-40 mins for it to download all my messages (1.5gb or so) so I would expect photos to take a while.

 

[sani_atl]

I’ve been having the same issue. I have about 7500 pics and 1200 vids that have been stuck. It was on the charger all day yesterday and it didn’t budge.

 

[4492865]

Same here. Restarting it may also help.

It's definitely a process that Apple should reorganise and fix. Especially with a fast internet connection it shouldn't take this long.

 

[sani_atl]

I’ve restarted the phone so many times ?Even restarted the modem/router.

 

[4492865]

Me too. I waited for the whole night and it only downloaded 3000 photos or so. That's ridiculous.

Photo Library is extremely poorly engineered for it to take that long.

Also Apple not providing any log files or other feedback isn't helpful either.

 

[Z6128]

still no luck, maybe dowloaded 1,000 pictures throughout the day while connected to wifi and charger. it hasn't moved for an hour or two now. no fixed found yet.

 

[atlchamp]

Put it on a charger and just leave it there for a while. It took about 30-40 mins for it to download all my messages (1.5gb or so) so I would expect photos to take a while.

try 60GB of messages...

 

[Strelok]

try 60GB of messages...

Damn that’s a lot. I’m going thru and probably going to delete some actually since I don’t need all of them. My earliest only goes back to 2016 though, I don’t think I ever saved anything from before then.

 

[GreekFeeling]

Having the same issue here! Restarting the phone downloads a few Originals and then stops again! Hope iOS 13.1 will help!

 

[apvanderwaal]

Same problem here since Friday! Not possible to download the complete library. Just updated to iOS 13.1 public beta 4 on my iPhone 11 Pro to see if the problem still exists, but no luck! Also seeing different problems with other icloud services like calendar. I think apple has blocked some services because of the launch of iOS 13 and the new iPhone. I think this problem is gone in a few days.

 

[atlchamp]

Started the restore last night and left phone on charger for 8 hours connected to WiFi and NONE of my message threads have a single picture in the info area. And then the download images now icon is 10% of the total picture total that I know is really there. WTF is going on Apple?!

 

[adrianlondon]

My four photos synced immediately. I guess you lot are slowing each other down

With only the default 5GB of iCloud space, I download all my photos to my Mac (and keep them in the Photos app as referenced) and delete them from the cloud.

 

[hirsthirst]

There seems to be a general problem here, all of the above posts are very similar (which is reassuring, in a way ...). I too have updated my new iPhone 11 Pro Max to iOS 13.1 Beta 4, and done multiple soft-resets, reset Network Settings etc, but no difference.

I've always had my original full-sized Photos & Music on my phone, which is why I buy a 256GB handset. I have 23,000+ images in my most recent Apple Photos Library synced to iCloud, and the number still to be downloaded is coming down very slowly since Friday night from 8,000 to 6,000 etc.

Now that I know it's not just me I'll relax - I can imagine that iCloud servers are getting a hammering this weekend (millions of iPhone backups / restores) and they're melting, or maybe it's an iOS 13.x issue? Either way it'll get fixed & nothing appears to have been lost.

A good reminder that you always need (at least) a second physical backup of all of your photos and/or phone & not just a single cloud copy ...

EDIT: hmmm, "Downloading XX Originals" showing on my iPad now too - also on 13.x Beta - which I think are the new photos from the weekend, so probably not "a new iPhone" fault? My bet is iCloud constipation.

 

[apvanderwaal]

It looks like there is progress. Not very fast, but I have a result from 8894 items on 11:00 to 8204 items on 13:41. Storage space from 2,73GB to 32,03 GB.

 

[hirsthirst]

It looks like there is progress. Not very fast, but I have a result from 8894 items on 11:00 to 8204 items on 13:41. Storage space from 2,73GB to 32,03 GB.

Yes, me too - I am now down into the 5,000s ... ?

Still a way to go on the overall data volume though. Multiply this up by all the users globally who are backing-up, wiping, re-installing, upgrading right now & it's nigh on a miracle it works at all:

EDIT: this is my Photos library downloaded items onto my (new) iPhone 11 Pro vs my (existing) iPad:

 

[apvanderwaal]

It looks like it’s stuck again, anyone experience this behavior? Also calendar app is giving errors. Looks like iCloud problems again!

 

[Nimoy]

My library is 6000 photos and 300 videos. Currently there are 600 photos left to download. Every night the phone seems to make progress on downloading more and more photos. Not sure why it's taking so long, but at this rate I think it will be finished tomorrow morning.

 

[4492865]

I find it utterly unacceptable. We pay through the nose for these new devices. I also pay for iCloud storage. This stuff should work. If it doesn't then Apple should communicate that and provide a service discount.

I still have 22K photos to download.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Several things at play here.

You all forget there are thousands of people doing this now with the new phones out.

Downloading and uploading is not parallel. It’s one or the other according to Apple. So if you have iCloud messages or apps updating, that will complete first. Same with any upload or indexing. Those jobs will complete first. Then the photos will finish.

Lastly, you must remain plugged in for it to complete. Period.

Be patient and DO NOT GO OFF WIFI!

 

[apvanderwaal]

Plugged in or not makes no difference in this process. I test this out. This afternoon in the Netherlands it looks like the problem was solved. At this moment nothing can be downloaded. Still calendar is stuck. Apple has serious troubles with their services.

 

[atlchamp]

none of my photos or videos are showing up in imessage threads under "info"..phone on wifi and plugged in for a long time...

 

[4492865]

Plugged in or not makes no difference in this process. I test this out. This afternoon in the Netherlands it looks like the problem was solved. At this moment nothing can be downloaded. Still calendar is stuck. Apple has serious troubles with their services.

Yes they do. They like to go all-in with their services approach, but they suck at it. iCloud Drive was a massive mess during the beta, iCloud photos is mess. I get it... lots of new people have new phones, but still. You either get in the game of the service business, or you don't. Half-baked, unreliable solutions are just not acceptable.