How long does iCloud photos upload take and how to speed up the upload process? Find answers in this article. Or you can use the professional to help you fix the issue easily.
Why are my iCloud photos taking so long to upload?
I have like 30,000 photos and videos left to upload, says uploading...always says uploading...internet speed is 100 MB/S down and 30MB/S up...That’s pretty fast enough for uploading...left MacBook on for days!! For a whole night, it ends up loading like 500MB only!!!! How can I speed up iCloud photo upload?
- Question from Apple Community
iCloud enables users to upload and sync photos across Apple devices, so you can easily back up your data to avoid data loss or seamlessly view them on different screens. But when you need to add a large number photos to your iCloud, the slow transfer speed can trouble you a lot.
On average, it might take approximately 6 to 8 hours to upload 1000 photos to iCloud. However, if you have a slow or unreliable internet connection, it could take even longer. It's worth noting that you can pause and resume the upload process to fit it into your schedule.
When your iCloud is stuck in the photos uploading process, it can be caused by some common reasons.
Now you can try these ways below to find the most suitable way to speed up iCloud photo upload.
If your iCloud is always waiting for the upload, a stable and quick network connection can speed up the upload process.
For your iOS devices, activating the zero-sleep method is one of the most effective and practical approaches to consistently upload photos to iCloud. And there are how to make iCloud photos upload faster by enabling it.
Step 1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone/iPad, then navigate to Display & Brightness > Select Auto-Lock and set it to Never.
Step 2. Return to the Settings menu, click on your profile, go to iCloud, then select Photos > Enable the iCloud Photo Library, and choose the photo size that suits your needs.
When your iPhone/iPad is in low power mode, it conserves battery by reducing performance and restricting background activities. However, this can also result in slower photo uploads. To disable low power mode, follow these steps: Go to Settings on your iPhone/iPad, select Battery, and toggle off the Low Power Mode option.
If you're using a computer to upload photos, it's also a good idea to keep your device plugged in to ensure there's enough battery power during the upload process.
If iCloud's upload speed is too slow for you, you can use a more efficient tool to assist with your uploads. And the all-in-one iCloud data management app - FoneTool will help you a lot.
Just click and download it on your Windows PC to speed up your uploading process.
Move iPhone/iPad photos to PC
Step 1. Connect your iPhone/iPad to the computer via a reliable USB cable > Launch FoneTool on PC.
Step 2. Go to Phone Transfer > Choose iPhone to PC and click Get Started to continue.
Step 3. Check and click each icon to preview and select the files you need to upload to iCloud > Then click OK to continue.
Step 4. Click Transfer Settings to change the storage path > Click Start Transfer to start the process.
Upload files to iCloud
Step 1. Go to My iCloud > Log in with your Apple ID > Choose Manage iCloud.
Step 2. Click the file icon you need to upload > Choose Upload to continue.
Step 3. Choose the targeted files from the computer > Click Open to begin the task.
The size of your photo library can affect the speed of uploading photos to iCloud. If you have a large number of photos to import, it will naturally take more time to upload all of them to iCloud. To address this, you can reduce the size of your photo library by deleting some similar photos and videos from your devices.
If you need to use FoneTool to remove similar iPhone/iPad photos, you can go to Toolbox > Choose Photo Deduplication to make it.
If you don't have enough storage space on iCloud, it can also affect the transfer speed. You can follow the instructions below to manage your iCloud space.
Just open the Settings app on your device and tap iCloud from the settings page > Scroll down and select Manage Storage from the iCloud settings page to review your current iCloud storage and potentially free up space by removing old backups.
Or you can use FoneTool mentioned in Method 4 to delete iCloud data efficiently. (My iCloud > Log in with your iCloud account > Manage iCloud > Choose data to delete.)
If the device is running an outdated operating system, it can also affect the upload speed of iCloud. And you can update it to learn how to speed up iCloud backup.
For iPhone or iPad: Go to Settings app > General > Software Update > Choose Update Now to start.
For Mac: Launch the Apple menu (Apple logo) > System Settings > Choose General on the left side of the System Settings window > Select Software Update on the right > Click Update Now to begin. Or turn on the Apple menu > System Preferences > Choose Software Update > Update Now.
For Windows 10: Click on the Start button (Windows logo) > Click on Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Choose Check for updates to make it.
For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1: Click the Start button > Windows Update > Check for updates to finish the process.
Now you can know how to make iCloud photos upload faster. 7 ways here can help you easily speed up the upload process. And FoneTool will be a great helper in the process. Hope you can have a great experience in the using process.