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Photos thumbnails blurry after ios 15 update

I am not sure why, but after I updated to the latest ios: the thumbnails of all my photos and videos in the Photos app became blurry. Like when I open them the quality is normal, but I am not particularly fond of the blur thumbnails. Is there some way I can fix this and get back to the way it was?

iPhone 11, iOS 15

Posted on Nov 4, 2021 11:47 PM

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Posted on Nov 11, 2021 3:23 AM

This literally happened the moment I updated my phone to the IOS 15.1. It's really frustrating me that my photos in my camera roll as thumbnails are blurry but zoomed in are okay. This is clearly a bug because I tried everything. I'm getting the new iPhone 13 soon and I do not wish for this issue to be on that as well. If so, I hope Apple will do something about this bug soon with another software update to fix those issues because clearly I'm not the only one with this problem on my iPhone.

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Nov 11, 2021 3:23 AM in response to armokid77

This literally happened the moment I updated my phone to the IOS 15.1. It's really frustrating me that my photos in my camera roll as thumbnails are blurry but zoomed in are okay. This is clearly a bug because I tried everything. I'm getting the new iPhone 13 soon and I do not wish for this issue to be on that as well. If so, I hope Apple will do something about this bug soon with another software update to fix those issues because clearly I'm not the only one with this problem on my iPhone.

Nov 9, 2021 1:57 PM in response to divyanshsati

I’m having this exact same issue since 15.1. I tried restoring, clean installing, downloading all pictures vs optimizing them… nothing makes a difference. This started as soon as 15.1 was installed so clearly it’s a bug. My photos look fine when I open them but on the camera roll themselves they look blurry. This needs to be fixed because it makes me feel like I’m using a 16 year old android.

Nov 4, 2021 11:52 PM in response to divyanshsati

You probably use iCloud for Photos. It appears that Optimize iPhone Storage has been set to ON and that resulted in your iPhone attempting to save original resolution photo files on iCloud while saving low resolution images on your iPhone. This saves tremendous amount of space on your iPhone. As you have learned, when you click on a photo then it is quickly downloaded and the photo is displayed in original resolution.

If you do not like this process and have low resolution thumbnails, then you can turn Optimize iPhone Storage to OFF. The way to do this is to open Settings ➔ Photos ➔ Download and Keep Originals : Put a check mark here.


Axel F.

Dec 5, 2021 4:21 AM in response to divyanshsati

exactly the same problem is happening with me too , i had iphone xs i updated it to ios 15 the issue rises that when you click photo from camera and from camera app you want to view that photo it shows blurry image and even in photos app you open pictures it shows blurry image sometime after 5 6 seconds it gets ok sometimes it does not. I thought my device is slow to process now , so bought brand new iphone 13 pro and guess what same problem appears in this phone too. That is really embarrassing for me some of my android users laughing on this. Please do something on this issue really quick.


note : iCloud photos sync is off too.

this is the genuine problem. Please solve this as soon as possible.

Dec 11, 2021 5:45 AM in response to divyanshsati

Exactly the same issue and its nothing to do with iCloud.


Never happened before, where we need a good New iPhones, when photos looks like taken with iPhone4.


I thought the problem was in me, but I see these issues are much more wider. I dont really get this, why you release the updates if you havent test these before enough?


I thought you supposed to provide us solutions not problems. First time in the longlasting relationship with Apple products, I have thought, should I give up.


Frustrated 🙁



Nov 4, 2021 11:49 PM in response to divyanshsati

If your Photos and Videos are stored in iCloud and you share it before downloading the original then it may appear blurry but it is not.


Your photos and videos are stored on your device in their original, high-resolution version. This means that they use a lot of space on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. With iCloud Photos, you can make more space available on your device and have your entire collection, everywhere you go.

Get started with iCloud Photos:

  1. Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos.
  2. Turn on iCloud Photos.
  3. Select Optimize iPhone Storage to save space on your device.

With Optimize Storage, smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your device while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud, you can store as many photos and videos as you want.

Dec 13, 2021 7:46 PM in response to Abdulmoiz25

This is exactly my problem. 100%. It manifests in the iPhone 7 and iPhone X which I have. I also was able to acquire a 13 because I thought those 2 phones cannot handle iOS 15 anymore but annoyingly, said issues are also present on the 13 phone.


Again, this is a genuine and legitimate problems. Please Apple, fix this.


Summary of Problems:

1) Thumbnails of images in the Photos app and any other app where you have to choose a photo, they are blurred and pixelized.


2) Upon taking a photo in the Camera app and immediately viewing them takes somewhere from 5-15 seconds for the image to load. During that time where it loads, the image is completely blurred and pixelated and cannot even interact with the image.


Again, this is a genuine and real issue. Apple please fix this. Have been sending Feedback through the Feedback app as well before during the betas and no results really being seen so far.


Also, iCloud Photos is off

Photos thumbnails blurry after ios 15 update

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