Photos "Syncing 2 items..." indefinitely since iOS 26.2

[collin_]

Okay, this is driving me nuts, possibly chewing through my battery, and it's not the type of thing I can bring myself to just ignore. Since updating to iOS 26.2, the Photos app has been stuck "Syncing 2 items...". There is seemingly no way to find out which 2 files are stuck without manually inspecting the status of 132,000 photos (an intentional choice by Apple rather than a bug...), and it's not anything that I've recently saved. I'm not even sure if these photos actually exist, or if they're some half-duplicated corrupted zombie files that wouldn't appear on the interface.

I've tried restarting my phone, toggling iCloud Photos on and off, and signing out of iCloud completely, singing back in and waiting 2 days for it to "Restoring from iCloud..." my entire Photos library -- only to discover that it still got stuck once it got down to 2 items. I'd rather not reinstall the entire operating system right now, but it's looking like that might be my only option and possibly still not fix this. My Photos library is also synced to my Mac (also on 26.2), yet my Mac doesn't have the same problem. The devices in question are an iPhone 15 Pro Max and an M4 Max 16" MacBook Pro.

Has anyone else experienced this or been able to fix it?

 

[gigapocket1]

My guess is that it would be 2 really big videos….
I also would clear out my recently deleted folder.

 

[ibookemo]

I’ve had this issue. How I fixed it was by going through my recent photos one by one and finding the ones that hadn’t synced. Most of the time it would be a live image that had been edited and was in a stuck state (not live anymore).

You can try to remove edits from recent photos to see if that kickstarts the process that is stuck.

Also, you can check the Photos ‘app’ within a browser (open your iCloud account in Safari and then the Photos section there). Check the photos there against the Photos app on your phone to find the ones with the issues. You can delete those or apply small edits to them which should make them upload.

To be honest, I’ve seen this issue a number of times in the last 4 years. I have a huge Photos library and take a lot of pics - that might be part of the cause.

 

[ibookemo]

…oh, and one of the main triggers of this issue, I find, is batch—applying edits to multiple photos via the ‘paste edits’ action. Almost always what causes the jam for me.

 

[cynics]

Phone and iCloud storage sufficient? Remaining device storage needs to be larger than the largest sync'd item. 2x the size to be safe, it will cache then marked for the app folder.

Sync'ing is conditional to preserve performance and battery. Large files only sync on wifi, low battery (including low power mode) can prevent syncing as well. Has the phone been on wifi while plugged in overnight? Although its sync is a different process (cloudphotosynd) might be worth setting auto-lock to never and leaving it plugged in on wifi overnight (reduce the screen brightness to its lowest setting).

Compare amount of photos/videos between devices and iCloud.com to identify if one has 2 more or 2 less. On the one with more scroll through looking for a black thumbnail. Open it and see if it's corrupted (might just remain black). Delete it.

I've had this happen with a very large video that was heavily edited. Eventually it sync'd but I gave up waiting for it, just one day it finished I guess.

 

[3TrenchcoatRaccoons]

The Photo Library on my phone had been stuck "syncing 4 items" for the past few days. Compared the number of photos available on iCloud.com via a browser, & sure enough, the count was off by 4. While not directly related to an update (been running iOS 26.3 since it was released), the issue was definitely phone-to-cloud.

I went into the Photo Library on my phone, opened a photo from around the time when I first noticed the perpetual sync message, & swiped up to see the photo's info (you can also use "i" button). From there, I just kept swiping through my photos until I found a photo that wasn't synced, as indicated by a Cloud icon w/ a slash through (instead of a Cloud icon w/ a checkmark). Stayed on that photo for a few seconds & then noticed that the browser thumbnails in my iCloud.com library updated to show the newly-synced photo from the phone. Now the message was "syncing 3 items". Continued to swipe through my phone library until I found a total of 3 additional photos that fell under the same scenario. Device library now matches the cloud library…no need to delete photos, sign out of iCloud, rebuild the library, or do anything else. Just found the photos that hadn’t synced, remained on each photo for a few secs, et voila.

For additional (& perhaps anecdotal) context, the failed photos in question were from a much larger batch of photos taken at a conference. The photos that hadn't synced were from the first 20-30 minutes when I was snapping & uploading solely via cellular, prior to latching onto the conference's Wi-Fi connection. Sync failure possibly just caused by a connectivity hiccup, which required the photo to be opened in order to remedy & have it attempt that file again? I haven't had the chance yet to go through & review all of those photos for editing & such...but it stands to reason that if I had, these failed uploads would've tried again & completed during that review process & I never would've even noticed.

 

[j2sheck]

I've also seen this happen a few times. As long as albums are syncing, this should be solvable.

The best way to solve the issue is with another device signed into the same iCloud Photo Library (iCloud.com will work, too, but it doesn't support Shared Libraries).

1. Select all the recent photos in your library that may not have synced—it can be thousands, it won't make things more difficult.
2. Add them to a new album. Name it something obvious, like "Sync Issue."
3. Wait for the new album to sync. If you look at the total photos and videos on both devices, there should be a difference that matches the number that hasn't synced.
4. On the other device with fewer photos (not the iPhone), select all the photos and remove them from the album (don't delete them!).
5. Once those changes sync, you should be left with just the problematic photos on your iPhone.

From there the problematic photos usually just need a nudge. Try opening them to load the full version, or editing them with a slight tweak. You should soon see them sync and show up on the other device.

 

[collin_]

I've also seen this happen a few times. As long as albums are syncing, this should be solvable.

The best way to solve the issue is with another device signed into the same iCloud Photo Library (iCloud.com will work, too, but it doesn't support Shared Libraries).

1. Select all the recent photos in your library that may not have synced—it can be thousands, it won't make things more difficult.
2. Add them to a new album. Name it something obvious, like "Sync Issue."
3. Wait for the new album to sync. If you look at the total photos and videos on both devices, there should be a difference that matches the number that hasn't synced.
4. On the other device with fewer photos (not the iPhone), select all the photos and remove them from the album (don't delete them!).
5. Once those changes sync, you should be left with just the problematic photos on your iPhone.

From there the problematic photos usually just need a nudge. Try opening them to load the full version, or editing them with a slight tweak. You should soon see them sync and show up on the other device.

Thank you. I was able to fix it this way. (It was just two random photos. No special attributes.)