iOS upload failing and sync status seems blocked, app fails and requires OS level quitting

[j-baker]

I have searched the existing issues, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate report.

• Yes

The bug

On iOS, my sync and backup are stuck and won't move. Most Immich features are broken unless I disable access to photo library in privacy settings.

The OS that Immich Server is running on

NixOS

Version of Immich Server

2.0.1

Version of Immich Mobile App

2.0.0

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Device make and model

iPhone 14 Pro Max

Your docker-compose.yml content

I deploy Immich using the NixOS module

Your .env content

Irrelevant

Reproduction steps

1. I have a large Apple Photos library - 50k photos, a lot of them are raw, total size in region of 750GB.
2. I'm trying to upload it. This is (and is expected to) take a very long time.
3. Half way through it gets stuck (this has happened twice, but at different points). The symptoms are:
4. When I start the app, there's a sync-related spinner. If I click into the foreground backup UI while it's spinning, I see my progress but it'll never move. If I click into the foreground backup UI after this, it shows the 'select folders to back up' ui and you are now locked in this screen.
5. If I go to the 'sync status' settings page, it just shows spinners - local and remote sync might succeed but hashing (which is not done) just spins forever and I never see the numbers.
6. I cannot set settings anymore - they are unset when i return to the ui.
7. If in Apple privacy settings I remove ability to view the system photo library, I can set settings, set finer log levels, etc, but when i re-enable library access it breaks again.

The only other hint is that before this happened, I did see #22601 in my logs. But I don't think the two can really be relevant as this seems like something is breaking the whole app.

Intuitively I assume that something's taking out a mutex or database lock which then is not being released, or something similar.

Relevant log output

Full device sync took - 2470ms
Device sync took - 2470ms
Resuming backup tasks...
Found 0 tasks
Start a new backup queue

That's kind of it.

Additional information

It's now failed on two different syncs in a way like this.

[SuBra98]

I observer the same, latest app and immich version, ipados 26.0.1.

One observation to add: images added to previously selected backup albums are still imported to immich, but switching to backup screen does not show the previously selected album, while moving to album selection section app hangs.

[ORMT03]

Mine is doing basically the same as the first person.

Server version 2.0.1 on docker desktop on macOS
Mobile app version 2.0.0 build 229 on iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 26.1 beta

This has been happening for a few days now.

I have 75+ thousand pictures, at about 500GB.

Numbers 4-7 are exactly what's happening for me.

[alextran1502]

For those with large iCloud library we likely hit iCloud rate limit there since we request resource from iCloud to download and then upload them to Immich. I believe it will eventually resolve

[alextran1502]

@Suspectxyzz maybe you have reverse proxy large file problem and not running into the same issue as OP.

[j-baker]

@alextran1502 I would flag that this hasn't resolved over a period of 24 hours (and I believe 14 days though it's possible that those issues were caused by server/client incompatibility). I would additionally add that this has pretty negative effects on the rest of the application. For example going into the backup settings leads to the app being in a broken state, settings can't be changed, images not already cached on the device can't be loaded.

I wanted to load a photo from a few years ago and had to go and manually block access to the rest of the photo library in Apple settings before it'd correctly load.

So maybe it's to do with rate limits, but certainly the rest of the app is responding in an unfortunate way to this.

[alextran1502]

@j-baker Thanks for more information, it is on our high priority list to resolve some of the issues with large iCloud library initial ingestion

Can you give some more information such as the mobile app logs as well as check how much storage does your phone have left?

[j-baker]

I would have provided more logs... but there's not much relevant even at 'finest'. I have 350GB free storage overall. Hopefully this is helpful.

2025-10-05 19:00:41.637612 | fine     | socket_io_client:engine.Socket | flushing 1 packets in socket |
2025-10-05 19:00:41.637592 | fine     | socket_io_client:engine.Socket | socket receive: type "ping", data "null" |
2025-10-05 19:00:20.988239 | info     | DriftBackupNotifier  | Start a new backup queue |
2025-10-05 19:00:20.988228 | info     | DriftBackupNotifier  | Found 0 tasks |
2025-10-05 19:00:20.959828 | info     | DriftBackupNotifier  | Resuming backup tasks... |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.957022 | info     | DeviceSyncService    | Device sync took - 2483ms |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.957007 | info     | DeviceSyncService    | Full device sync took - 2483ms |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955563 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Device album ALBUM has not changed. Skipping sync. |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955554 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Syncing device album ALBUM |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955503 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Device album ALBUM has not changed. Skipping sync. |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955498 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Syncing device album ALBUM |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955489 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | No asset changes detected in album Videos. Updating metadata. |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.955463 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Syncing Videos. 0 assets to add/update and 0 assets to delete |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490444 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Local album has modifications. Proceeding to full sync |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490439 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Fast syncing device album Videos |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490435 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Device album Videos has changed. Syncing... |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490429 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Syncing device album Videos |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490410 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Device album ALBUM has not changed. Skipping sync. |
2025-10-05 19:00:18.490398 | fine     | DeviceSyncService    | Syncing device album ALBUM |
# note - i'm skipping a bunch of albums here because they're personal
2025-10-05 19:00:16.639064 | info     | SyncApiRepository    | Remote Sync completed in 156ms |
2025-10-05 19:00:16.589930 | fine     | SyncStreamService    | Processing sync data for SyncCompleteV1 of length 1 |
2025-10-05 19:00:16.571357 | fine     | socket_io_client:engine.Socket | socket receive: type "message", data "2["on_server_version",{"options":{},"loose":false,"includePrerelease":false,"raw":"2.0.1","major":2,"minor":0,"patch":1,"prerelease":[],"build":[],"version":"2.0.1"}]" |
2025-10-05 19:00:16.569995 | fine     | socket_io_client:engine.Socket | socket receive: type "message", data "0{"sid":"ulkxRphcnASxApUiAAHo"}" |
2025-10-05 19:00:16.560936 | fine     | socket_io_client:engine.Socket | flushing 1 packets in socket |

[wfryan]

I'm experiencing a similar thing with two samples, I'm trying to backup <7200 photos and a family member is trying to backup about 40,000. Both client and server are on 2.0.0 (I'm using the truenas app which is one release behind main). For myself, less than 3000 have uploaded and the backup settings says the remainder are ready for upload but it's been like this since even before 2.0.0. I'd be happy to share my logs if the added data will help

[alextran1502]

@Suspectxyzz cloudflare tunnel has 100MB upload file size limit

[alextran1502]

@wfryan do you both use iCloud?

[wfryan]

@alextran1502 yes but both of us have it set to keep the original media on the phone as well

[alextran1502]

@wfryan do you mind open your own issue with these information and screenshot of the back up and sync stats page? Info of keep original turning on is also helpful, and how long ago was this toggle is switched on?

[tjhorner]

My uploads have been pretty reliable but I noticed that a bunch of my assets suddenly weren't uploading (based on the last uploaded asset, around October 4).

Backup status looks like this, stalls forever:

And sync status looks like this:

Occasionally I see this at the bottom of the backup status:

But there are no relevant messages in the logs (my log level is set to FINE).

The toggle to turn off backup is unresponsive.

When I tap "View Details", the remaining files never populate, I just see a spinner forever. All of assets pending upload are recent captures, so iCloud download isn't necessary.

I am on app version 2.0.0 on iOS 26.0.1. If this is a different issue let me know and I can file it separately.

EDIT: The backup for these succeeded overnight. I'm not sure what changed.