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Why can't I access my photos in iCloud from iPhoto in Sonoma?

After downloading and installing IOS 14.0 "Sonoma", my photos folder in iPhoto is now empty. My photos are still stored in iCloud, but I cannot access them. The instructions for accessing the iCloud folder do not work. When I try to Sync with my Mac, a popup takes me back to iPhoto, which tells me to sync my photos. It is a failure loop that is maddening. I am about to uninstall Sonoma to avoid this problem. No problem accessing the iCloud photos from my iPad and my phone.

Mac mini (M1, 2020)

Posted on Oct 15, 2023 9:19 AM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2023 12:32 AM

Hello I’m having the same issue. I got a dialog box saying I need to move my photos from iCloud to my computer. I did that. Still didn’t open. I tried you fix of option click on iPhotos. It opened but my latest photos weren’t loading. When I shared via airdrop from my iPhone to iMac the photos went to download folder on my computer. I manually dragged them to photos and they show up as imports…


When I try to open photos from iCloud I’m getting the same initial error message. I’m asked to move the folder to my computer. I still have to option click from my computer


Does this mean I will no longer be able to use/store photos in iCloud? I have a monthly subscription of 2tb that I use largely for photos. I’m feeling ripped off since it looks like I won’t be able to sync my photos anymore.


This is really going to impact my work as well I often need to transfer photos from apps like Procreate from my iPad to iPhone to iMac to post things online for sale.


At this point I don’t know what to do. I’m pretty afraid of losing my photos and videos. Please advise. Please help. How can I restore iPhoto access via iCloud????

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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 20, 2023 12:32 AM in response to muguy

Hello I’m having the same issue. I got a dialog box saying I need to move my photos from iCloud to my computer. I did that. Still didn’t open. I tried you fix of option click on iPhotos. It opened but my latest photos weren’t loading. When I shared via airdrop from my iPhone to iMac the photos went to download folder on my computer. I manually dragged them to photos and they show up as imports…


When I try to open photos from iCloud I’m getting the same initial error message. I’m asked to move the folder to my computer. I still have to option click from my computer


Does this mean I will no longer be able to use/store photos in iCloud? I have a monthly subscription of 2tb that I use largely for photos. I’m feeling ripped off since it looks like I won’t be able to sync my photos anymore.


This is really going to impact my work as well I often need to transfer photos from apps like Procreate from my iPad to iPhone to iMac to post things online for sale.


At this point I don’t know what to do. I’m pretty afraid of losing my photos and videos. Please advise. Please help. How can I restore iPhoto access via iCloud????

Oct 18, 2023 11:29 AM in response to muguy

Wow thanks very much. It worked instantly. All good.


However, downloading a new OS should not cause such a fix to be necessary. It strikes me as a "bug" that the previous setting would be undone by the download. I guess I could understand if this were a marketing ploy; but I don't see what Apple gets out of the disruption (except lots of complaints like mine about an unwarranted interruption of photo editing). Hoping that version 14.2 will fix this problem for others.

Dec 6, 2023 6:47 PM in response to felecia295

Just finished 2 hours on the phone with Apple Support. The last support specialist insisted that there were only a few users impacted by this issue (there are more than a few).


I also have the 2TB plan, really just for photos. Maybe it is anyone that has the 2TB plan that is experiencing this issue when upgrading to Sonoma.


All of the error prompts in iPhoto are incorrect or dead-ends. And the iCloud prompts to solve put you in a circle.


And it is not easily resolved. muguy is what I started with. But then I had to download my entire iCloud photo library down onto my Mac (it is big) and use that to get iPhoto on the Mac functioning (partially) again. The past several weeks of photos are missing on my Mac, but hopefully that resolves over the next several hours.


If the product manager is monitoring feedback, please...next time there is an OS upgrade, invest in doing UAT instead of just basic regression testing. This is not an edge case scenario (all photos disappearing from a Mac). I do not like to use the word 'glitchy', but this iCloud/iPhoto Mac issue exposed several glitches (random reboots, unable to shutdown, having to use safe mode) while getting iCloud/iPhoto resolved.

Why can't I access my photos in iCloud from iPhoto in Sonoma?

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