Why do pictures in backed up Messages show question mark?

I was on phone call with customer support for 45 minutes and they basically told me this was the only option. Did ALL of your question marked pictures come back to normal after the restore? I want to do this now but I am worried. Thank you!

Has anyone figured out what’s caused this? I sent pictures yesterday and they said they were delivered but I noticed today it was all question marks, I’m currently up to date with my IOS at 15.5 in oregon USA.

A relative texted me photos of the family burying my recently deceased father.

After about 3 days, the pictures on my iPhone turned into question marks.

Obviously, we tried tracking down the relative and that is still going on (92 years old, lives on a farm with no internet).

Anyway, I found the photos on my iPad's text messages. So, we are relieved.

What a screwed-up problem. Why doesn't Apple fix it?

I have tried all the steps including taking my phone to the At&T, speaking with Apple tech and still no one could fix the issues. I have the iPhone 13 Pro max. this do not happen on my IPhone 11 pro max. So i'm thinking it the 5g issue. can someone please explain.

My meassages are synced with my iCloud and photos are still showing as “?”. And it’s not all of them…just some. This only started after the most recent update. Is there perhaps something else I need to sync as well? The update turned off stuff randomly which I thought was strange. Perhaps something else got turned off I just am not figuring out.🤷🏽‍♀️

My pics are also turning to question marks with no way to view to retrieve them. It is unreal that Apple has not fixed this bug over a year after it has been reported. I have a new Iphone 13 max pro with 256 gigs of memory.

I have a brand new iphone 13 max plus with 256 gigs of memory. Every since I got it my pics in messages are turning i to question marks. It is unreal that apple has not fixed this bug after all this time.

That’s untrue, because it’s happening to me on a brand new iPhone SE 3rd Gen, Set Up As New with loads of free space still on it, a couple of hours after sending the photos. Not a substantial amount of time, not an issue of low available storage. Sounds like your Apple “genius” was just speculating or making something up because they didn’t want to admit they didn’t have an answer.

Could you please explain the steps in more detail? I don’t understand what you mean by “go onto your iCloud.” I’m already using iCloud and my device is already logged in to iCloud. Edit: I followed your steps, but all of my apps are already enabled for iCloud. I guess I could try toggling the setting off and then on again.

Yeah, Apple support needs to get this fixed. All my pics and videos sent in text messages are like this now. I have lots of storage on my iPhone, have updated to latest IOS version, have made sure settings are correct…..fix this issue!!!

I am reassured to have found this thread. I thought I was going crazy. Last week I was looking for an older message thread on my phone only to discover that 3 whole years of message threads had disappeared. I have since been able to get them to intermittently reappear on my phone by marking those threads as “unread” on my MacBook, but they disappear again in a matter of hours.

Apple support had me turn on iCloud Messages which did nothing to help, and since I did that I have question marks for random images everywhere.

I even have question marks for photos in threads from last month.

I’ve owned iPhones and upgraded every 2 years, transferring all my data, since 2014 and I’ve never had anything like this happen. This is very disappointing. I’ve wasted so much time and energy trying to fix, but everything I do seems to make something else worse.

I am not having any problems with message threads or images on my 2017 MacBook. Everything seems to be there.

I’d ask for further advice but everyone seems to be perplexed just like me.

Since my previous post seems to have gotten cut off:

I am not having any problems with message threads or images on my 2017 MacBook. Everything seems to be there.

I’d ask for further advice but everyone seems to be perplexed just like me.

It would be nice if apple actually addressed this rather than the stock standard “update thus update that blah blah blah”

my phone is the latest, my software is the latest, my connnection is either 5g (200mbps or greater) or a fixed line connection of 100mbps or greater).

the dozen upon dozens of people posting here are asking for you to do you job and fix the bug.

thanks for the chat!

This is totally acceptable. I have had this problem on and off for at least 4 years. This only goes to show that Apple is respectful of it's users. I bought my first iPhone in 2008 and although my current phone is a 2012 Pro, I managed to convince my family (with in laws) of nine to use iPhone, iPads, Mac, HomePod watches, Airpods etc.

Why should I be erasing and then resetting my phone to fix what I as a lay person assume is a software problem.

The question mark issue may have fixed itself when I changed phones.

Yesterday 01/10/2023 I sent some pics that I took to my company. Today they all show the "BLUE question mark". Will this issue be ever fixed? Why does it affect some phones and not others. It is frustrating!

Apple we are awaiting your response.

Exactly! No point restating same issue we are ALL STILL having with this issue!

What amazes me is STILL NO SOLUTION posted from Apple!?!?

No need for me to stay with iPhone. More trouble than they’re worth.

Yes. I said it.