Spatial Photo effect stuck at 0% on iPhone 17 Pro Max

Question

Level 1

4 points

Spatial Photo effect stuck at 0% on iPhone 17 Pro Max

I have an issue with Spatial Photo effect stuck at 0% on my iPhone 17 Pro Max running iOS 26.

When I try to create a Spatial Photo, the progress never moves beyond 0%.

I also noticed that the same issue happens when setting a Spatial Photo as the Lock Screen wallpaper — the effect stays stuck at 0% and never completes.

I already tried duplicating the picture as a standard (non-Live) photo and then attempting again, but it didn’t help. I’m doing this with a strong 4G cellular connection, so network quality should not be the problem.

Is there any workaround or fix for this?

[Edited by Moderator]

Original Title: Spatial effect

iPhone 17 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Sep 28, 2025 10:35 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Lawrence Finch

Community+ 2026

Level 10

233,708 points

Sep 28, 2025 11:40 AM in response to brean3essex

If you have Optimized Photo Storage enabled the full resolution images are stored only in iCloud, and must first be downloaded to your iPhone, because Spatial Photo can only use the full size image, not the thumbnail that is on your phone. You apparently have a network problem because your iPhone cannot sync to iCloud. Do you perhaps have iCloud Photo sync set to use Wi-Fi only? (Settings/Cellular/Photo)

Reply

Answer 2

brean3essex Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 28, 2025 12:35 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you for your reply. I don’t use iCloud Photo Storage — all my photos are stored locally on the iPhone, not in iCloud. The issue happens with any photo I try, so it shouldn’t be related to downloading originals or network connection. I also tried restarting the device and even resetting all settings,but the effect still gets stuck at 0%.

Reply

Spatial Photo effect stuck at 0% on iPhone 17 Pro Max

Similar questions