iCloud Photo Library stopped syncing My iCloud Photo Library was working great, but I ran out of space and it stopped syncing. Now I’ve bought more space and restarted my devices, but it is still not syncing.

How can I get it to start syncing again? I vaguely remember this happening before and having to do something like deleting all photos from my iPad and doing something on my Mac.

Update: I have tried rebooting into safe mode and it still doesn’t sync.



I am running OS X Yosemite.
The surest way to resolve this is to create a fresh Photos Library by following these steps:


⌘ cmd-Q out of Photos.
Go into  → System Preferences → iCloud → Photos Options… and uncheck iCloud Photo Library.

Reboot if you want to be safe, though it shouldn’t be necessary.
Launch Photos with ⌥ opt-click.
Click Create New… and name your new Photos Library.

Go into Photos → Preferences → General and click Use as System Photo Library.

Go into Photos → Preferences → iCloud and check iCloud Photo Library.
Wait for your photos to be redownloaded from iCloud.


If you’d rather try to keep your existing Photos Library, follow these steps instead:


⌘ cmd-Q out of Photos.
Create a backup of your Photos Library.photoslibrary file.
Launch Photos with ⌘ cmd-⌥ opt-click.
Click Repair.

Wait for macOS to repair your Photos Library. A full sync should take place once the repair has completed.


Some screenshots courtesy of OS X Daily.