iPhone not sending or receiving pictures

Nothing I do is helping :( this is soooooo annoying. Reliable text massaging is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN A GOOD SELFIE CAMERA. Yet, here we are, I have a great selfie camera but can’t send text messages with my phone. I tried restarting, updating, shutting off iMessage, turning iMessage back on, clearing all storage, turning MMS on and off, restarting all apps… NOTHING. It’s so frustrating, Apple. I missed several messages in a group text message as well, which makes me just want to chuck my iPhone into a lake. First and foremost I need my phone to be a… working phone. You know?

I have NO idea what to do.

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. I think I should expect a device I paid $1000 for should just work…

I read some of these comments and i powered off my device for 5 minutes and when i turned it on i was able to send and see the picture again. I would try that first before bringing in your phone to apple

Hey caylan2815,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

First, we suggest making sure the MMS and Group messages are enabled in Settings > Messages. Once there, scroll to the section labeled SMS/MMS. Beside MMS Messaging and Group Messaging are both enabled.

If the iPhone storage is almost full, you may experience this issue as well. Another reason this may be happening if there isn't enough iPhone storage to be able to send and/receive MMS messages. You can check your iPhone storage by opening the Settings app > General > iPhone Storage.

If your storage is close to full, you may see some recommendations that may help free up space. This article also provides great information regarding iPhone storage: How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad.

When High Efficiency format, photos and videos are reduced in size. If Most Compatible is selected, JPEG/H.264 is used. You can check this setting by going to Settings > Camera > Formats. The information in this article may be helpful: Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices. According to the article, having it set to High Efficiency format is recorded.

If you continue to experience the issue, restart your iPhone and test again. Restarting refreshes the device's system software, and has been known to resolve some software related issues. After restarting attempt to send a new MMS. Also, have a contact send you a new MMS. Hope this helps.

If you continue to have issues, or you're experiencing a different issue, providing more details may help you get more answers.

Take care.

This is what I get when I try to move a photo to text, email, or AirDrop.

Same problem. just did the ios update to 17.2 and it made no difference :(

Hi Anthony,

I called Telstra and they said it is an iPhone problem in WA and Apple was working on a patch.

I just noticed an OS update to 17.2 became available 2 hours ago, so give that a go in Settings and the then General, Software Update.

let's hope this does the trick!

Cheers,

Jazoo

Mine and my husband’s iPhones are too ever since last couple of updates. My phone is a iPhone 14 Plus and iPhone XR and I have a MacBook Pro 14” and a MacBook Pro 13”. None of them are getting pictures or videos and some we’ve sent aren’t going out. Seems like most frequently between different phones and providers.

phone going up and down frequently in rapid succession as well. Doesn’t happen with our tv network which is through same provider as our Apple products.

apple needs to test updates before implementing them. This is obnoxious that I can’t send stickers or use my old functions like sending photos or the apple anvatars after the last update. You need to fix this and do it soon. Also why did you move the bar. I was happy where it was. Just leave our features alone. You have enough money to do more market research before changing things. Do it .

I was having this issue, actually twice now. First time I contacted apple support and we did all the things and I explained that it was only with other iPhones, not androids. And in my group chat with my family we have two androids so photos in that were fine even with three iPhones in that chat. That’s when she realized it was an issue with the iMessage itself. She had me go into settings and turn off my iMessage and hard reset my phone (volume buttons then power) and when it turned back on turn iMessage back on and it was fixed. Did it again the second time it started and it’s working again 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m the only one of my family and friends with this problem though 😩

I’m having this issue also, ios 16.5, so frustrating as I’ve tried everything even restarting the phone several times. It’s on all platforms and not just one

I have the 14 plus and I’m having the same issues since the update. I’ve tried everything and nothing has worked.

Same is happening to me after the updates

I’ve turn off my phone like 100xs and turned it back on. Still I can’t receive pictures or even group texting 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

Why is my iPhone not receiving pictures?