iPhone 15 pro photos getting cropped automatically

I was also annoyed by this stupid issue.

I've checked entire thread and tested 100s of solutions.

offcourse I cant use 4:3, i need default 16:9.

so one workaround I found is, go to

Settings -> Camera -> Formats -> PhotoMode

change 24MP to 12MP

I am now 100% sure why only few tech nerds getting this issue, its because this setting defaults to 12MP, we techies have been playing around and changing it to 24MP.

Reproduction Steps:

Above settings must be 24MP to be able to see this,

I have captured 2000 photos with sunlight with 6 different places in last few days and none has this issue.

Issue is only reproducible under normal photo mode, under low lighting like a room with no sunlight and few 12w lights turned on.

It’s been happening when I use 16:9 (which I need to use most of the time). I have tried it on different formats and still have the black lines around. I don’t have the stripe pattern though. It happens on the phone and when I view it on my computer. It must be something to do with the cloud as I’ve had 3 phones now and they’ve all done the same thing.

FYI a potential work-around. I have also observed over the past week or so, that every time I encounter the photo corruption, the camera app has the HEIF MAX icon crossed out at the top of the screen. When I manually turn HEIF MAX on (which the camera app therefore immediately turns 'Live' photos off), and then take the photo, the photo is taken captured correctly and synced correctly to my iCloud Photo Library without corruption. Watching to see if this observation holds true over time.

Hello AlexDru,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities.

It sounds like you were on the right path by reaching out to Apple Support to get some insight to the issue. It sounds like the may have restored the device to see if this corrects the issue. If that is the case, you may need to return to them for further assistance.

However, you can also try the steps offered on this page: If the camera or flash on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch isn't working - Apple Support. This page offers guidance for what to do if your photos are blurry or the camera screen is black.

If you complete those steps and need more help. you'll want to reach out to Apple Support for further assistance. You can reach out to them by clicking here: Get Support or over the phone by calling the number that is most local to your region: Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support.

Best wishes!

I am also having this problem and have now had 3 different phones, all with the same issue (x2 15 pros and x2 Pro Max). I have spoken to Apple staff in person and on the phone 7 times and they cannot fix it. I really need the camera for my job and I am really frustrated that no one knows how to fix it. As well as the cropping issue, the overall quality of the photos are worse than the 14 Pro: The colours are dark and the photos aren’t crisp. People’s eyes look really black etc. Can anyone please help?

Hi Matt,

Thank you so much for your suggestion :-)

I have now gone into my camera settings and selected High Efficiency instead of Most Compatible, and have Photo Mode set to 24 MP. Is that what you meant to do?

Are your photos in a compressed file format?HEIC or JPEG? This stripe pattern is looking like a file corruption caused by transmission errors. A single flipped bit in the file can make a JPEG or HEIC file look weird, messing up large areas of the photo.

Are you seeing the bad areas only on the iPhone or also, when you transfer the original image file to a computer and view it there?

It would be good to know, if the original image file is really damaged, or if it is just the iPhone, that cannot display it correctly.

For whatever reason, this is different than what I did, although I did indeed previously try changing camera settings. I had previously tried a variety of options with High Efficiency and Most Compatible and with 12 MP and 24 MP, but these settings didn't make a difference, and the strange sizing/cropping issue still occurred as soon as the photo was synced to iCloud Photo Library (I could watch it happen in real time in the iOS Photos app). The only way I could work around this was opening up the camera app and pressing the "HEIF MAX" icon in the view finder so that it turned off.

Now having said all that, my iPhone has since stopped having the temporary problems it did for a few days and now syncs HEIF Max, 24 MP photos to iCloud Photos with "Optimize iPhone Storage" (Settings > Photos) correctly like it used to.

This is clearly an issue for Apple to isolate and solve.

I am having the same issue with my newly purchased iPhone 15 pro max

pics either look corrupted or cropped with black screen

my phone is 10 days old

shall I ask for replacement or is it across the devices

strangely this wasn’t happening in my device untill today once I used slo mo video

my camera has been set to 16:9 since day 1 and even on my older 13 pro max as well but no issues there

I’m having the exactly same issue. And it’s annoying.

or is the black frame, or completely blurred.

Same issue but I only face it when I'm using the 16:9 format; which is what i use 99% of the times.

Spoke to Apple Support a couple of times and they couldn't help.

Really frustrating.

iOS 17.1.2 out!

This should fix it

My experience is the photo is taken correctly, but then gets corrupted with the extra black space immediately following the start of iCloud Photo syncing.

I have had 3 separate phones now and all do the same thing. It’s clearly a software issue. I really hope Apple put out an update to fix it soon!