Cannot Share Photos in iOS 17

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Level 1

68 points

Cannot Share Photos in iOS 17

Using iOS 17 on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

- I'm unable to take a picture and immediately share it - via any app. In other words, if I take a picture and want to immediately attach it to a text message, I cannot. I'm presented with the "Preparing..." pop-up up, and it eventually just times out with an "Unable to Share: There was an error while preparing to share. Please try again later." message. As of this morning, it seems that I only have to wait around 5 minutes to share a photo that I take. Before today, it seemed to take a lot longer.

- iCloud sync of new photos takes forever. I can’t be specific, but it’s somewhere between a few hours and a day. I took about 20 photos 45 minutes ago, and the iCloud Photo sync status has been stuck at “Syncing...” since then. Rebooting or enabling/re-enabling sync does nothing to resolve the issue.

Posted on Nov 8, 2023 8:32 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

fatfingur

Level 1

10 points

Dec 24, 2023 1:45 AM in response to Emmet Smyth

not only photos, even links. The share function isn’t working at all. I hope they prioritize to fix this disappointing bug.

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Answer 2

Emmet Smyth Author

Level 1

68 points

Dec 21, 2023 9:59 AM in response to Emmet Smyth

The issue still exists in iOS 17.2.1 in December 2023.

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Answer 3

JB_HK

Level 1

13 points

Nov 9, 2023 8:22 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

Finally somebody else experiencing this issue. We absolutely cannot be the only ones. The behavior you describe is identical for me and I’ve been experiencing from day 1 on iOS 17 and through all subsequent updates.

I have a suspicion it could be due to a mixture of factors, so will highlight a few idiosyncrasies of my environment.

Primary device iPhone 14 Pro Max w/iOS 17.1.1

iCloud Photos enabled, but Cellular Data switched off for Photos

Additonal devices with my account and Photos access on them:

iPad Pro v1 w/iPadOS 16.7.2
iPhone Xs w/iOS 17.1.1
iPhone 7 Plus w/iOS 15.8
Intel Mac Mini w/macOS 14.1.1

Desperately need Apple to fix this. I have a brilliant camera on my iPhone 14 that has been more or less useless for a month as I can’t share photos when I want to, and the moment is lost when the phone finally allows me to send so no use sending.

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Answer 4

Dec 21, 2023 2:38 PM in response to JB_HK

I am unable to share any content not just photos. Weblinks, insta links, fb post nothing can be shared. At times copy link also doesnt work. It is pain in the bum. I upgraded recently from iphone 11 to 15 and hit with big bill and lack of features. Hate it!

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Answer 5

Emmet Smyth Author

Level 1

68 points

Nov 9, 2023 11:29 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

I’ve submitted a bug report for this:

FB13356274 (Cannot send photo via share sheet after pasting edits to multiple ‘live’, ‘portrait’ photos)

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Answer 6

Emmet Smyth Author

Level 1

68 points

Dec 21, 2023 3:04 PM in response to KevH481

This is the worst issue I’ve had since I began using iPhones with the iPhone 3G way back years ago. I cannot believe such a show-stopper bug has been with us for so many months.

It’s ruining the whole experience of using my iPhone.

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Answer 7

Dec 12, 2023 9:08 PM in response to JB_HK

Bummer. Issue persists for me in 17.2. Hit the share button from photos and the screen is blank and unresponsive. Had to restart twice before it kicked back in. Running on 13 pro.

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Answer 8

lzh86

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2023 4:01 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

Similar issues. Updated to iPadOS 17.1.2 last night and now I cannot (1) export/share files from ProCreate, Files or Photos via email, (2) import jpg's from an external SSD to Photos or Files, or (3) share Photos via email.

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Answer 9

theD0N9

Level 1

15 points

Dec 31, 2023 1:42 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

Found a fix!

1/ Sign out of iCloud/Apple ID account

click your name on the top of settings
scroll to bottom

2/ Restart phone

3/ Check if sharing works (it should)

4/ Log back into iCloud

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Answer 10

KU9771

Level 1

9 points

Dec 15, 2023 1:33 AM in response to Arm_21

14 pro max has been updated to 17.2 and the issue persists for me. Unable to share photos. I tried restarting my phone severals times and it hasn’t worked.

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Answer 11

Emmet Smyth Author

Level 1

68 points

Nov 10, 2023 12:52 AM in response to Emmet Smyth

I’ve also submitted this discussion and bug report iOS Photos app - cannot send photo follow… - Apple Community

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Answer 12

Dec 24, 2023 7:24 AM in response to fatfingur

Yeah. I have a ticket open, and their only solution was to do a full wipe from a desktop (or Apple Store) and set up as a new device, restoring app data from the cloud, not from backup. I am not going to do that, given that hundreds of ppl are reporting the same, it’ll be a waste of time. This is not an iOS install issue, it’s a bug. Maybe they’ll actually fix it someday.

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Answer 13

Dec 21, 2023 4:45 PM in response to Emmet Smyth

Same issue 13 Pro with 17.2

It took my phone 4 tries and 12 minutes to “prepare” this screenshot to share here…..

This is the message I repeatedly get when trying to share a photo or screenshot from my own phone.

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Answer 14

tejie

Level 1

0 points

Dec 27, 2023 9:06 PM in response to Ritodd142

Tried this, but still not working for me.

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Answer 15

Emmet Smyth Author

Level 1

68 points

Dec 22, 2023 4:20 PM in response to Jubydoo24

I’ve found a workable flow for getting around this issue. The problem still exists as of December 2023 but when iOS 17 refuses to send pictures now I just use the Photomator app from the App Store.

Using the Share action within Photomator always works even when Apple’s Photos app does not.

The downside is that ‘live’ photos are received as still photos when sent but I can live with that.

if using this workflow be sure to turn off the Photomator HDR setting as it messes up pics when sending (blows out the bright areas when compressing for send).

This workaround doesn’t fix the core iOS 17 problem but at least it allows me to share pics and that’s really just what I need.

Maybe in iOS 18 it will be fixed…not counting on it though 😉

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Cannot Share Photos in iOS 17

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