iMessage showing place holder instead of actual photo thumbnail for received pictures

Hi crearl85,

We really appreciate you sending these additional details over. Just so we're on the same page, what is the switch set to now when you open Settings > [Your account] > iCloud > Messages ? The reason we ask is that when this switch is in the green/On position, all of your messages and attachments are stored in iCloud, and no messages data is stored directly on the iPhone. In this situation, it may take some time for the data to sync. If you turn this feature off, it will attempt to download all of the content to the iPhone if there is room.

Thanks!

I am having the same problem. I am having it mostly with screenshots because if my wife takes a pic and sends it to me, it comes thru fine.

Same thing is happening to me with screenshots. What’s the fix Apple? We haven’t heard a response in a while.

Hi crearl85,

We understand that your photos can contain a lot of information, and your privacy is incredibly important to us. From what we're able to see in the link you've provided, it looks like the images are waiting to download in the conversation history. Do you currently use Messages in iCloud or iCloud Photos to optimize storage space on your iPhone? If so, it's possible that the images are awaiting download in order to save space. We have more information about both features in the articles below.

Manage your photo and video storage

Keep all your messages in iCloud

Does the behavior seem to change at all when the iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi compared to cellular data? If you wait a few minutes before tapping on the images, do they eventually load on their own? This can help us eliminate potential network issues as well.

We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

I too am having this same issue. Some photos come through and some do not and only show an icon for (IMG_XXX.jpeg). I've not changed any settings since coming over to IOS14 with messages. This is slightly annoying. Once selecting the area where the image should be the photo then pops up in full screen.

I’m having this same problem. Super annoying. I do notice it especially with numbers that are not saved in my contacts. But it often happens, lately, with any messages coming in, that I don’t message with on a daily basis, and/or from non-iPhones.

Also, in relation to the suggested/inquiry about iCloud data uploading/etc:

1- these images are in the message body, not the list of photos that have been shared between that contact/group when you tap the “i” at the top

2- my wife and I are both noticing that passwords that have been updated on on device, and asked to be saved an updated in the keychain thing, are taking days and longer to update across all devices. (i.e.- Update my Facebook password on MacBook Pro, go to log in on my phone a couple days later, and the password doesn’t match. MacBook Pro, with iCloud Keychain active, has the new password saved, but iPhone still has old password in its saved passwords. Have to manually change the password there to match MacBook Pro)

Not sure if any of this is related. But given the response was “data syncing on iCloud it taking a while” seems like with iOS 14, iCloud is not syncing anywhere near what it should or was.