Video won't load in Photos app, shows exclamation mark

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Level 1

11 points

Video won't load in Photos app, shows exclamation mark

I played a 25 second long video from the Photos app on my iPad Gen 10 at home, then went to a Panera, got onto their WiFi and tried to show the same video and it only displayed a still image and an exclamation mark.

I was not on Low Power Mode.

I do have "Optimize iPad Storage" checked.

What to I need to do next time to insure I can reliably play a video?

Maybe save the video to the folder in Files called "On my iPad" - would that be a way to insure it doesn't have to be downloaded before playing?

iPad (10th generation)

Posted on Jul 21, 2026 10:26 AM

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Answer 1

j9lemmon Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 24, 2026 8:03 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks Richard.Taylor.

It worked perfectly to put the movie on my iPad by saving it to Files - On My iPad.

And in answer to your questions, I think that iCloud was working fine because I was able to play the video on my iPhone at Panera, right after it wouldn't play on my iPad. And I have "Optimize iPhone Storage" checked on my iPhone in iCloud - Photos settings. I figured was why it wouldn't play on my iPad - it only showed me the thumbnail image from the video.

And I had lots of unused storage in iCloud and on the iPad Gen 10 that would not play the video. And battery was fully charged and healthy.

In answer to your questions OldToad, the video format was HEVC and the size of the video was 24mb. I just played the video at home on the same iPad from iCloud Photos, and it played instantly.

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Answer 2

Jul 21, 2026 3:33 PM in response to j9lemmon

Yes, you could "Save to Files" to get a second copy in the Files app. You could also use "Save to Files" to save a copy on iCloud Drive.

You can also use an external drive. To back up your pictures and videos you can just plug in an external drive, select the pictures, and use Share>Save to Files. Alternatively, you can backup to a computer:

Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC

If you haven't done one of those backups, then your remaining pictures continue to be in peril.

It's a little hard to tell from here just what happened, but it would help to know how that video is working now.

Does it now play? Can you find the video in iCloud Photos at iCloud.com?

It might help to know this stuff:

What iPadOS does the iPad use?
What is your storage in iCloud? At Settings>[name]>iCloud>Storage, mine says 166.6 GB of 200 GB used. What does yours say?
What is your storage on this iPad? At Settings>General>iPad Storage, m saysine 50.5 GB of 128 GB used. What does yours say?
At Settings>Battery, what does do Battery Health, Maximum Capacity, and Cycle Count say?

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Answer 3

Jul 24, 2026 8:28 AM in response to j9lemmon

j9lemmon wrote:I… think that iCloud was working fine because I was able to play the video on my iPhone at Panera, right after it wouldn't play on my iPad. And I have "Optimize iPhone Storage" checked on my iPhone in iCloud - Photos settings.

With Optimize, different devices can have different files stored locally. So with sketchy wifi you could get different results.

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