iMessage "Tap to Download" Issue

F**king SOLVED!!!! I’ve been having this issue on and off for years. After my upgrade to a new iPhone everything’s always fine. For a little while. And then inevitably one day I’m feeling nostalgic and search my text convos for that some random old image, and it’s showing me one of the following: attachment icon showing file icon and file name (IMG.***), attachment icon which reads “Tap to download,” or an attachment icon with a question Mark on it. It’s worth noting than none of these will lead to the image. Sometimes “Tap to download” does nothing, and sometimes it downloads and then levels up to a question mark. Every piece of advice I’ve ever recieved on this issue has had the same thing in common: WiFi. Connect to wifi. You MUST make sure you are plugged in and CONNECTED TO WIFI.

WELL. today it started working. When I was nowhere near wifi, but had cellular.

When I got home I plugged in my phone excited to continue, but it wasn’t working again. Cause I’m home now and it connected to my wifi.

i disconnect from the wifi, force quit (swipe up) messages, make sure I got cellular bars, and sure enough when I click “tap to download”, they actually do.

Hope this helps.

note: before any of this, first I toggled off and on Messages in iCloud under settings. A message will pop up, press continue, then try what I said above.

Has this issue been resolved? I have the same issue that many on here are having. Plenty of storage. iMessage active. All senders get a “not delivered” message when photos are sent to me. This phone is linked to another phone that has no issue. So messages with photos on both phones show photos on one and not in the other. This is maddening. There’s no reason for this to be happening. Has apple come across with a solution or is this on their back burner. Appears it’s been an issue for over a year.

Same issue for weeks with my Iphone 13 Pro Max iOS 16.3. All of a sudden (no apps or new changes) my emails from Yahoo or Gmail or Outlook wouldn't download an attachment or even open it to view it. It would spin when clicked on but no progress would begin.

SOLUTION, for me at least, was to delete the Bitdefender VPN app which I've had for a long while. It instantly allowed me to download and view email attachments. At first I tried to simply flip the VPN switch off in Settings, but it would immediately turn itself back on, so that's what led to the deletion of the APP. I hope this helps someone with a similar issue.

I deal with this all the time and it’s so frustrating. Today I went into iMessage settings and turned off and on again the MMS settings. Now I’m back in messages and can tap to download?? This seems like a glitch with this iOS, I am currently running 16.4.1 on an iPhone 11 and this issue only started coning up when I did a factory reset on the phone recently.

You’re definitely not dumb - this is obviously an issue across the board, so no worries! To find your iCloud, go to your settings - click your name/profile at the top - and then you should see an iCloud tab about half way down the screen. I hope that helps!

I contacted apple support and they told me to turn off iMessage all together. Turn off the phone, then turn it back on and turn messages back on. I checked my iMessage and was able to see the photos. It resolved my issue.

I just tried what Apple suggested with turning off iMessage all together. Turn off the phone, then turn it back on and turn messages back on. I checked my iMessage and was able to see the photos. It did not work.

I am beyond frustrated! I have a new iPhone 13 with iOS 16.4.1 and plenty of storage!

Thank you so much! It worked! Not to be a negative Nelly, but I have tried other "fixes" and they worked for a week or so, and then it happened again. Here's to hoping this is a permanent fix! Thank you again!

Hi All, I am still having this problem like many of you. I did see on another website someone mentioned Apple are aware of a glitch with Screen Time creating this issue. The fix was to turn Screen Time off. This is not an option for me as I have kids linked via family sharing but thought I would post just in case it helps someone out there.

Had this issue after getting off a plane. Had the issue for a week, but was able to fix it by turning both Wi-Fi and cellular data off and waiting maybe 30 seconds then turning both back on like normal

Hey!

You can try this way to fix this issue. I will mention the two things which worked for me earlier.

First, you need to reset the iMessage app on your iPhone. If there is any glitch, it will be fixed once you restart the iMessage app. Second, sign out and sign in to your iMessage app to work properly.

You need to make sure that your phone has enough storage space. Go to Settings app >>> Select general >>> and click iPhone Storage. Check your storage space. Also, it is important to keep your iPhone updated as well. You may find issues if your iPhone is not up to date.

If nothing works, you can contact Apple Support for assistance.

Have a nice day!

Yea I’ve had the same issue for months I have the same iPhone, I factory reseted my phone that worked for like a month then it came back it’s really annoying..

Having same issue! Lots of memories are locked into my texts and not being able to download them for more than 8 months is unacceptable. Apple, please address this issue or provide a solution!

what worked for me is I went to iCloud and turned off messages and turned it back on and when I checked my messages my photos had been downloaded