The whole purpose of iCloud syncing in iPhotos is your snapshots are instantly available from any Apple device after you take a photo. That’s what Apple likes to tout in their marketing messages. I want to believe it’s true but it’s simply not.
Granted, everything works great when you’re home on your home internet connection. Most of the time. But when I’m on vacation I don’t want things to fall apart, and iCloud syncing just falls apart once you’re out and about. The last thing I want to do when I’m engaging in a few days R&R is troubleshoot IT issues.
I took a bunch of photos during our vacation day yesterday. We also had quite a few photos taken by Disney cast members which I imported into iPhoto via my iPhone.
None of these photos showed up on my iPad nor my MacBook Air. Yes, I’m a fool that brought along both on vacation because that’s what I do.
I took a peek at my iPad and it had paused iCloud photo sync to preserve battery power. The iPad was plugged into the wall. iPhoto sync on my MacBook Air had been paused due to “poor network connection”, though a speed test shows Disney’s Internet connection is more robust than what’s found in most of the United States.
A bit of cajoling and tapping on messages and things got moving. Almost. Then the imported photos didn’t appear on the iPad but they did appear on the MacBook Air.
I had also created a shared album with my husband so we could easily share photos between our accounts because after all, “It Just Works”. Though it’s not working. It needs more cajoling and noodling. AirDrop is a crap shoot at best.
So we send text messages back and forth with the photos.
I like what Apple is trying to do, and I’m willing to pay the premium price so I don’t have to think about these things because after all, I am on vacation and I don’t want to spend our vacation troubleshooting IT issues.
But Apple needs to step up their game here.
