Error when trying to list contents of PrimarySync directory in iCloud Photos

Suspected Bug
1

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

When trying to list contents of "PrimarySync" directory in iCloud Photos (with either ls or lsd) I'm getting following erros:

rclone lsd iphotos:PrimarySync/
2026/07/12 16:42:03 ERROR : error listing: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool
2026/07/12 16:42:03 NOTICE: Failed to lsd with 2 errors: last error was: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool

rclone ls iphotos:PrimarySync/
2026/07/12 16:44:18 NOTICE: Failed to ls: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool

Root of the remote is listed correctly:

rclone lsd iphotos:
          -1 2026-07-12 16:45:43         0 PrimarySync

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.75.0-beta.9911.c6cdb8993
- os/version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 22H2 22H2 (64 bit)
- os/kernel: 10.0.19045.5131 (x86_64)
- os/type: windows
- os/arch: amd64
- go/version: go1.26.5
- go/linking: static
- go/tags: cmount

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

iCloud Photos

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone lsd iphotos:PrimarySync/

rclone ls iphotos:PrimarySync/

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[iphotos]
type = iclouddrive
service = photos
apple_id = REMOVED
password = REMOVED
_auth_session = 
cookies = REMOVED
trust_token = REMOVED

A log from the command with the -vv flag

rclone -vv lsd iphotos:PrimarySync/
2026/07/12 16:50:28 DEBUG : Setting --config "rclone-standalone.conf" from environment variable RCLONE_CONFIG="rclone-standalone.conf"
2026/07/12 16:50:28 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.75.0-beta.9911.c6cdb8993" starting with parameters ["rclone" "-vv" "lsd" "iphotos:PrimarySync/"]
2026/07/12 16:50:28 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "iphotos:PrimarySync/"
2026/07/12 16:50:28 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\Leo\\Downloads\\rclone-beta-latest-windows-amd64\\rclone-v1.75.0-beta.9911.c6cdb8993-windows-amd64\\rclone-standalone.conf"
2026/07/12 16:50:28 DEBUG : iclouddrive: reusing session with cached endpoints
2026/07/12 16:50:29 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: refreshed 1 libraries from API
2026/07/12 16:50:29 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "iphotos:PrimarySync/" to be canonical "iphotos:PrimarySync"
2026/07/12 16:50:30 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: refreshed 1 in-memory libraries from API
2026/07/12 16:50:31 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: user album query failed for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool
2026/07/12 16:50:31 ERROR : error listing: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool
2026/07/12 16:50:31 DEBUG : 3 go routines active
2026/07/12 16:50:31 NOTICE: Failed to lsd with 2 errors: last error was: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool

rclone -vv ls iphotos:PrimarySync/
2026/07/12 16:52:41 DEBUG : Setting --config "rclone-standalone.conf" from environment variable RCLONE_CONFIG="rclone-standalone.conf"
2026/07/12 16:52:41 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.75.0-beta.9911.c6cdb8993" starting with parameters ["rclone" "-vv" "ls" "iphotos:PrimarySync/"]
2026/07/12 16:52:41 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "iphotos:PrimarySync/"
2026/07/12 16:52:41 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\Leo\\Downloads\\rclone-beta-latest-windows-amd64\\rclone-v1.75.0-beta.9911.c6cdb8993-windows-amd64\\rclone-standalone.conf"
2026/07/12 16:52:41 DEBUG : iclouddrive: reusing session with cached endpoints
2026/07/12 16:52:42 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: refreshed 1 libraries from API
2026/07/12 16:52:42 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "iphotos:PrimarySync/" to be canonical "iphotos:PrimarySync"
2026/07/12 16:52:43 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: refreshed 1 in-memory libraries from API
2026/07/12 16:52:43 DEBUG : iclouddrive photos: user album query failed for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool
2026/07/12 16:52:43 DEBUG : 3 go routines active
2026/07/12 16:52:43 NOTICE: Failed to ls: query user albums for zone "PrimarySync": json: cannot unmarshal number into Go struct field ckBoolField.records.fields.isDeleted.value of type bool
2

hi, for a deeper look, try --dump flags

3

Hi, what flags do you suggest to use and what should I look for?

4

This is definitely a bug.

If you could do your failing command with -vv --dump bodies --low-level-retries 1 --retries 1 that will show the response rclone can't parse.

If you could put that in a GitHub issue along with the initial comment you wrote here we can take a look - thank you.

5

@leo here is a speculative fix for the problem. It is speculative because I need to see the output of --dump bodies to be certain it is correct, but it is the most likely thing - namely Apple are sending true/false or 1/0 for the deleted field.

v1.75.0-beta.9945.d3f9a705b.fix-iclouddrive-album-isdeleted on branch fix-iclouddrive-album-isdeleted (uploaded in 15-30 mins)

Let me know how you get on. If it works for you no need to make an issue!

6

Hi Nick,
I'm sorry for the delayed reply.

It's very strange. I tested the version that you suggested and it worked, however, then I tried the current release version and it's also working. So it seems like the issue got resolved by itself, maybe it was something on Apple's side.

If I encounter this issue again, I will post output of --dump bodies, but for now I think we can consider it solved. Thank you for the help!

7

It turns out I saved the output of --dump bodies when there was the error in my Notepad. I will clean it up and post it a little bit later, I think it still can be useful.

8

Thanks for testing @leo

Maybe it was just a bug...

If you can't reproduce it I'm inclined to let sleeping dogs lie but if you want me to take a look at the log share a link here or email info@rclone.com with the log and a link to the forum post and I'll get it.

Thanks

9

I sent the sanitized dump to your email just in case it contains something useful