Help with Sync Error (that doesn't actually cause any problems)

[KingCornWallis]

"Photos cannot be synced to the iPhone because your iPhoto Library could not be found. Open iPhoto to create or update your iPhoto Library."

I have had this annoying sync error on my iPhone for a while. It is an XS running iOS 17 connecting to my MacBookPro11,5 running macOS 13.3.1 (via OC). The iPhone model and iOS version is irrelevant as this has plagued me for many years across several phones.

Clearly iPhoto has long since been replaced by Photos on macOS so I am unsure why the computer can still throw this error message. The only explanation as for the origin of this error may be due in part that I have restoring new devices from a backup that has originated from one of my first iOS devices...which may be either an iPod touch 3rd or iPhone 5S.

I am not syncing any photos to my iPhone inside of Finder. And to be clear, it is 'just' annoying. As despite blocking the screen when it pops up the phone still syncs fine.

 

[MarkNewton2023]

Interesting error. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[orvn]

And to be clear, it is 'just' annoying. As despite blocking the screen when it pops up the phone still syncs fine.

In my case it's more than just an annoyance, it interrupts the iPhone from syncing altogether. My Photos app import actually does go smoothly, but the Finder backup is interrupted by this same message.

I tried creating a new Photos library, importing my photos into the new library, deleting the old library, then running a repair for good measure, and finally setting the new library as my default system Photos library (via Photos preferences).

Unfortunately syncing the iPhone (through Finder) still doesn't work.

macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, iOS 17.4.1, syncing via OEM Thunderbolt 4 cable

 

[orvn]

After troubleshooting all day, I managed to get my syncs working. The error is still thrown, but only once the backup is complete, and to no apparent ill-effect. So I'm now in the same situation as OP.

I believe the error occurred because I have too many photo libraries in `~/Pictures/` matching the extensions `.photolibrary`, `.photoslibrary`, or `.migratedphotolibrary`. Some of these were my backups from the older generation of Mac OSX (Lion and earlier).

In case others have this issue, here's a more detailed process than the one I outlined above:

• Create a new Photo Library by opening the Photos app while holding the option key (also note the libraries is already knows about)
• While in your newly created library, which should be empty at first, import each of your .photo(s)library files one by one
• If an import fails, go to that photolibrary in Finder and options + cmd click it, it'll open it in repair mode, complete the repair and then option + click Photos to open the library selection modal again, select your new library (which was created in step 1)
• Once all libraries are imported, move them to somewhere else on your machine and change the file extension (I was surprised to find that is was able to discover the libraries when outside of my user folder, so I resorted to adding a number to the extension of the photoslibrary instances that I wasn't using)
• Now quit and open photos, and then go to Photos → Settings → General → [Use as system library] (click this button if the newly created library from step 1 is selected)
• Give the whole computer a restart for good measure
• Now try backing up importing Photos from a connected iOS device
• Finally, try syncing the device via Finder as you normally would
• The error should still be thrown, but this time, it'll only appear once the backup is actually complete