iCloud shared photo library - can't leave/delete Shared Library???

Hi, I'm on an iOS 14 Pro Max. We were so eager to try the iCloud Shared Photo Library, my wife and I. She is on an iPhone 14 Pro. All was fine when we were on the beta, but when we switched back to regular iOS 16 public release I noticed that our photos were no longer syncing. I tried to remove her from the photo library and start over after upgrading us both to iOS 16.1 Build 20B5056e, but now nothing works.

We have 41,160 photos & 4,354 videos all told. Right now, your beta is hung up somewhere on my iPhone 14 Pro Max on "Deleting Shared Library", and moving everything back from my shared library back to my personal library in order for me to go back to "normal." On her Pro, it's stuck on "Leaving Shared Library". In my personal library I can see 19,056 photos and 3,092 videos.

In my shared library at beta.icloud.com I can see 22,104 photos & 1262 videos. All of these totals of course add up to 41,160 photos and 4,354 videos as you can see. But it's stuck. It is stuck, and I don't know where...it will not transfer the remaining 22,104 photos and 1,262 videos back into my personal library in order for me to start fresh. I can still see them on beta.icloud.com, but my iPhone will not budge as far as moving them back, and neither will hers as far as leaving the shared library. Please tell me my photos are not lost nor unrecoverable.

I've tried suggestions such as those at https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/shared-photo-library-risky.2359656/ posted by Fibrozyt, but to no avail. Nothing triggers the sync to resume, and so I have 22,104 photos and 1,262 videos that are stuck in some phantom zone "Shared Library" online now.

Please tell me a future iOS Beta solves this, because we cannot sync our photos. I've up-down-rebooted both iPhones, I've killed off the apps, I've turned off iCloud photos and turned it back on on both devices...I've looked for a way in beta.icloud.com to move them back to my personal library so that we could start again. Nothing is working. HELP please. These are precious memories of course, of my wife, our family, our wedding, our kids, our homes, our lives.

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Posted by
istariwhiterider
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  • Just popped in to say...same issue here. iPhone 12 Pro Max. 26 days now and no fix. There are folks in reddit who have had this happening for LITERAL months.

    I popped a ticket in with Apple so that I can add to the list of people having this issue. This is infuriating especially since one of the people I experimented with this feature with is oversees and they are stuck too. :(

    —
    doublequote
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Hi. i do have exactly the same problem. I even reseted whole iphone and configured it from zero and still photo library cannot sync due to being stuck at deleting shared library. This happened when i shared that new library with iphone on ios 15 and then deleted it as it was not working. Now my photo sync is stuck on iphone and mac for few weeks.

Here also people have this problem but no solution. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/shared-photo-library.2352670/page-3

Posted by
Tytanick
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  • Yep, I've seen that forum, which is what led me here. I've tried deleting the last, most recent photo out of both shared and personal library and then deleting them out of deleted items...still nothing. It's just ridiculous. Thanks Apple. Really hoped this would be more streamlined. Feels like the sluggish old days of trying to sync through iTunes.

    —
    istariwhiterider

  • I'm having the same problem did you have any luck?

    —
    webwolf37

  • Same issue here, we have 100k photos in our shared lbrary

    —
    gmc74
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I have exactly the same issue. Have tried everything but nothing works. Hoping they fix the bug asap

Posted by
Draamirmushtaq
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After todays beta 7 nothing happened but suddenly later today i spoted that my lib is finally synced and my photo lobrary is unstuck ! Finally after 2 months wow ! You guys have it fixed as well ?

Posted by
Tytanick
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  • How large was your library before everything synced? I’m stuck at “Deleting Shared Library” after 15 days, and I have over 35,000 photos and 7,000 videos. Also running iOS 16.1. Guess I need to keep waiting?

    —
    dmk337
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Nope.

Posted by
istariwhiterider
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No progress yet. My shared library on beta.icloud.com is empty. Still not syncing. But the personal library says 4617 photos, 54 videos and 1 other item that I don’t seem to understand… i feel this other item might be preventing the sync but I can’t seem to find it…

Posted by
Draamirmushtaq
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Now i have deleted all photos from personal library. There are no photos in shared library as well. Hope everything syncs now

Posted by
Draamirmushtaq
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same thing happened to me and my boyfriend. After the update, we tried and created a shared library but deleted it right after. Since then, I transferred 4,000+ photos to my hardrive then deleted everything on my phone because we were going on a trip. After doing so, I noticed that my icloud photos are not syncing anymore. When I go to icloud settings, it still shows that i have 4000+ photos and status is on: Leaving shared library. I initially tried to delete the photos on my pc on icloud but i was getting an error so i decided to erase them on my phone coz i thought it was just taking some time to sync. We have tried everything but nothing works!!!

Posted by
NikkieLouise
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I am also having the same problem on 16.2. I tried updating to 16.3 public beta but it is having the same problem. Anyone find a solution?

Posted by
SpiritSoul11
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  • Have you tried iOS 16.4 beta? Still not working?

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    youngthugg
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I have the same problem all the time. Has anyone managed to solve this problem?

Posted by
norbek-r
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Apple… Cook… anyone?! 4 months and still deleting shared library!

Posted by
Lukatalin
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I am having the same problem too. I just reported it. I got notified that my photos were last uploaded a few days ago. Is there anything I can do? I'm trying downloading to my Mac, turning off iCloud photos, and then deleting it. I'm curious if that'll work.

Posted by
webwolf37
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I have the same problem from last 4 months. Someone please help me suggest solutions.

Posted by
ssiliverDevsti
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This is what shows at the bottom of my Photo Library on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. I have also tried everything that has been mentioned in this group chat, and nothing has worked! Also, the Shared Library that this is trying to Sync from has been deleted from my phone and the creator of the shared library. So frustrating!!

Posted by
caydenpark
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I have had the same problem for exactly 6 months now. I urge ALL faced with this to contact technical support and open a ticket. Maybe the mass of the problem will encourage to solve the problem.

Posted by
GlutenFreeGeorge
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Well i have fixed this problem. After all devices updated to stable ios i deleted the sharing library on both devices. And then created it again and it worked and still ok.

Posted by
Tytanick
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