Airdrop to transfer photos from iPhone to iPad goes to Files instead of Photos after iPadOS 26.4.2. How can I get it back to going from Photos to Photos.

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Airdrop to transfer photos from iPhone to iPad goes to Files instead of Photos after iPadOS 26.4.2. How can I get it back to going from Photos to Photos.

When I airdrop from my iPhone to my iPad (same apple ID), it used to go into photos. This month, it started to go to Files in iCloud instead. I think it is result of iPad autoupdating to new version unexpectedly (I usually like to manually choose if and when I change operating system).

How can I get it back to going into Photos? My iPad is running iPadOS 26.4.2 and the iPhone, iOS 26.4.2.

Airdrop from other people works fine.

thanks.

Posted on May 17, 2026 9:22 PM

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Answer 1

May 18, 2026 7:39 AM in response to ChartC

For me, pictures that are jpg or HEIC airdrop to Photos, but pictures that are PDF go to Files>iCloud Drive. Are you sure you're sending standard picture files?

As Matti Haveri says, you should try a forced restart of the iPad:

Force Re-start iPad

This is different from a simple Power Off. For me, the logo appears way after the Power Off notice. "Way after" means, maybe, 10 or 15 seconds. It seems like a long time…

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Answer 2

May 18, 2026 12:40 AM in response to ChartC

As usual, first backup iPad to iCloud or/and locally to a Mac. Then try to force-reboot iPad. If that does not help reset iPad Network or All settings via General. If that does not help, reset iPad to factory settings and restore from backup.

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