-- recent / grabs oldest photos

[DriessenbeeR]

Hi all,

I started using icloudp in Ubuntu and downloaded my complete iCloud photo library locally (35000 photos).
My aim is, to have icloudp check upon startup, if new photos are in my iCloud library and download these.
Since I work at least every 3 weeks with my desktop, icloudp only needs to check the last 21 days.
I have configured now icloudp accordingly:
--recent 21 \

But now icloudp checks the oldest photos in my library and then finish the job. These pictures are from november 2017.
Do I use this command wrongly?

Thanks for your support!

[AndreyNikiforov]

What command parameters are you using? What symptoms suggest that icloudpd checks for assets older than you specified?

[DriessenbeeR]

Hi Andrey! Thanks for your answer!

When I run my script, then icloudp showed in the log, it checked the first 21 first days of my iCloud library:

2025-08-17 01:28:24 DEBUG Downloading /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/11/04/IMG_0006_HEVC.MOV...
2025-08-17 01:28:25 INFO Downloaded /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/11/04/IMG_0006_HEVC.MOV
2025-08-17 01:28:25 DEBUG /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/11/04/IMG_0004.HEIC already exists
2025-08-17 01:28:25 DEBUG Downloading /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/11/04/IMG_0004_HEVC.MOV...
2025-08-17 01:28:26 INFO Downloaded /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/11/04/IMG_0004_HEVC.MOV
2025-08-17 01:28:26 DEBUG /home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone/2017/09/23/WP_20170923_16_55_12_Pro.mp4 already exists
2025-08-17 01:28:26 INFO All photos have been downloaded
===== 2025-08-17 01:33:03 Ende icloudpd =====

Please find below my script:

#!/bin/bash

Pfade & Variablen

VENV_PATH="/home/xyz/icloudpd/venv/bin"
DOWNLOAD_DIR="/home/xyz/Bilder/iPhone"
COOKIE_DIR="/home/xyz/.icloudpd"
LOG_FILE="/home/xyz/icloudpd/icloudpd.log"
USERNAME="xyz@xyz.xyz"

Virtuelle Umgebung aktivieren

source "$VENV_PATH/activate"

Startzeit ins Log schreiben

echo "===== $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') Start icloudpd =====" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"

icloudpd direkt ins Zielverzeichnis ausführen

"$VENV_PATH/icloudpd"
--username "$USERNAME"
--directory "$DOWNLOAD_DIR"
--cookie-directory "$COOKIE_DIR"
--recent 21
--size original
--live-photo-size original
--folder-structure "{:%Y/%m/%d}"
| tee -a "$LOG_FILE"

Dateien umsortieren: Live-Photo MOVs in "Live"

find "$DOWNLOAD_DIR" -type f -name "*_HEVC.MOV" | while read FILE; do REL_PATH=$(realpath --relative-to="$DOWNLOAD_DIR" "$FILE") DAY_DIR="$DOWNLOAD_DIR/$(dirname "$REL_PATH")" mkdir -p "$DAY_DIR/Live" mv "$FILE" "$DAY_DIR/Live/" done

Endzeit ins Log schreiben

echo "===== $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') Ende icloudpd =====" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"

Just FYI: The initial download worked flawless (without the recent parameter).

Thanks for your help!

[AndreyNikiforov]

what version of icloudpd are you using? What is your goal in limiting incremental sync? there are pros and cons with either incremental or full sync, so it worth to have your goals clear before evaluating approach.

--recent 21 will take 21 assets added to icloudpd last. The folder structure is built from the date assets was created. You can use --skip-created-before 21d for your scenario. I cannot find date the assets were added in icloud.com, so it may be tricky to validate what was added to icloud recently.

[AndreyNikiforov]

also, there is an option --until-found for your incremental sync

[DriessenbeeR]

I need to check, which version of icloudpd I am using; I have downloaded icloudpd last Saturday, so I would think a current version.

--recent 21 will take 21 assets added to icloudpd last.
OK, and in my case the last 21 first assets are the first pictures in my iCloud photo library?

The reason for the incremental sync is the size of my iCloud library. I have around 35'000 pictures. If I run the full sync, it takes 1.5 days, to have the most recent pictures to be synced (it downloads the photo and afterwards notices, that the picture exists and moves on to the next one, etc.). Or am I doing it wrong?

[DriessenbeeR]

So in the meantime, I checked the version of icloudpd. I have the following version:
version:1.29.4, commit sha:7483c4e, commit timestamp:Tue Aug 12 16:47:52 2025 CEST

--skip-created-before 21d
This resulted in downloading more pictures the just the ones from the last 21 days (I automatically upload my pictures every day to iCloud).

Do you have a better idea, how I could accomplish my aim. I just want to ensure, that only pictures are downloaded, which are not stored locally and prevent that the whole library is downloaded for nothing. Thanks a lot :-)

[AndreyNikiforov]

Icloudpd checks assets in local storage and does not download them again. You can run icloudpd periodically to maintain local clone of your icloud library - there is even —watch-with-interval to do that in the app

[DriessenbeeR]

Many thanks for your reply Andrey. I have found the issue, which I created myself:
I moved the Live-MOVs file after being downloaded by icloudpd in a separate directory:

find "$DOWNLOAD_DIR" -type f -name "*_HEVC.MOV" | while read FILE; do REL_PATH=$(realpath --relative-to="$DOWNLOAD_DIR" "$FILE") DAY_DIR="$DOWNLOAD_DIR/$(dirname "$REL_PATH")" mkdir -p "$DAY_DIR/Live" mv "$FILE" "$DAY_DIR/Live/" done

For this reason, icloudpd downloaded the live-MOVs again with the next sync. I was, wrongly, under the impression icloudpd did not recognize the previous downloads.
I will move the live-MOVs back and in that case the sync should be OK.

In the meantime I have opened a request (this would be cool :)):
#1219

Many thanks for your support! I will close this discussion.