iPhone video goes black on camera roll

Hi ollie89,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities! I understand you are unable to play a video within your Photos app on your iPhone. I'd like to help.

Do you have iCloud Photos turned on? Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support. You can confirm this under Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos > iCloud Photos. If so, are you signed in on any other device using the same Apple ID account? If you are, can you test to see if you are able to play the video from another device without issue, please? If you don't have another device, you can also log into the iCloud website and click Photos, to test if the video plays from there without issue.

If you can play the video from the iCloud website, or another device, I would suggest following the steps below, on your affected iPhone:

-Restart your iPhone: Restart your iPhone - Apple Support.

-Connect to a different Wi-Fi network, and see if you can load/play the video without issue: Connect iPhone to the Internet - Apple Support. This can help rule out a network-related cause.

-Consider updating to the latest supported iOS for your iPhone model: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support.

Keep us posted on the results, if you need continued support. Regards.

ollie89,

If this is the only video that is affected, it might be corrupted. Have you logged into iCloud.com to test and see if the video plays from there? Please let us know the results of that test.

Did you have a backup of your device prior to realizing this video was black and prior to turning on iCloud Photos? If so, you could try restoring from your backup to see if it brings the video back: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support. Now keep in mind, this would replace your current data, with the data that is in that backup.

Keep us posted. Thank you.

ollie89,

Thanks for the update.

With this being isolated to one specific video, and the issue occurs in numerous areas (Photos app, Files app, iCloud.com, etc.), then this file is likely corrupt. Without a previous backup, I don't have a way to help guide you through recovering the video itself.

Now that you've turned on iCloud Photos, your photos will be synced to iCloud. Keep in mind, this is not a separate storage space. It's main purpose is to provide syncing across all devices using the same Apple ID in iCloud. When you delete content from Photos, it will also delete on iCloud. Learn more about how iCloud Photos works in this article: Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support.

It's recommended to back up your device often: How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support. Keep in mind, any data synced to iCloud, is not included in backups. Learn more about this here: About backups for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support.

Thank you for your time. Take care.

ollie89,

Thanks for your reply back.

To clarify before moving forward, did you have iCloud Photos turned on previously when you were experiencing this issue with your video? Or, was this your first time turning it on when we asked? Also, it's important to know if you tried any of the troubleshooting steps supplied to you in the initial reply, to help us isolate the issue. This includes restarting your device, testing on a different Wi-Fi network, and updating to the latest iOS.

In the screenshots you shared, are the first two images what you see when you log into iCloud.com from a computer's browser? If you haven't tried that yet, please do. Are all videos affected or just this one? Also, the last image shared is showing a QuickTime logo. Are you trying to play this video through QuickTime app, or the Photos app on your phone?

We look forward to hearing back from you.