Why is it taking so long to upload photos to icloud from iPhone/iPad?
If you want it right now, why not plug the phone into the Mac &amp; use Image Capture, in the Applications folder - which is the importer 'behind' Photos.app.

You can also set it to auto-launch any capable app, including itself, when a device is connected [or do nothing] &amp; set exactly where your imports should be saved. You can also dictate whether it should auto-delete from the device afterwards, or alternatively you can manually delete any selected pictures.