iCloud.com Photos shows grey exclamation marks

Question

JSD1985 Author

Level 1

27 points

iCloud.com Photos shows grey exclamation marks

Hello everyone,

I took my iPad with me during my vacation together with a SD-cardreader. I wanted to make a every day back-up of the pictures from my camera.

When I got home I deleted the pictures from my iPad. When I wanted to delete the pictures from my iCloud account, I got the message that I was not able to remove them by hand and that the pictures would be deleted in 30 days.

After 30 days the pictures were deleted but instead of pictures I saw a lot of grey exclamation marks. It looks like this:

When I click on 'Select photos' and I select them all and click 'Delete', I get the following error:

I clicked on 'Send to Apple' multiple times but this issue keeps occuring. I tried to read the logfile but it makes no sense to me. I tried the following options:

- Delete all pictures with iCloud-library turned on;

- Delete all pictures with iCloud-library turned off;

- Tried to delete the pictures one by one;

- Tried different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome).

Each time I get the same error that I can't delete the pictures. Can anyone tell me how to solve this issue?

I've searched a lot on the internet but found really nothing that describes my problem.

If neccessary I can post the logfile as well.

All the best,

Jeroen

iPhone 4s (8GB), iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 27, 2015 6:46 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 27, 2015 7:01 AM in response to JSD1985

Sometimes the photos can take a while longer than 30 days to delete properly, I'd be inclined to see how things are in 10 days.

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Answer 2

JSD1985 Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 28, 2015 5:42 AM in response to Winston Churchill

I have this issue for weeks right now (since the 2nd week of June). When I click on a exlamation mark picture I get the message 'Cannot load photo'.

Are there perhaps any other solutions then just wait?

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Answer 3

Jul 29, 2015 2:14 AM in response to JSD1985

I have the same issue and besides the fact I have waited about 45 days I still have about 1200 photos not deleted yet plus I'm having about 10 empty folders. Also www.icloud.com does not reflect my updated library. But the good thing is my devices are synced flawlessly and that is why I'm thinking that this may be a cacheing issue of Apple servers for www.icloud.com and this does not represent my actual updated library...

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Answer 4

JSD1985 Author

Level 1

27 points

Jul 29, 2015 7:52 AM in response to Sifu Emir

Yeah, I think it´s a caching issue indeed. However, I find this very annoying. It´s really a mess when I use icloud.com to see my photos.

I hope that Apple will fix this. Perhaps I should visit a Apple Store or something and see what they say about it.

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Answer 5

Gilb2406

Level 1

4 points

Aug 7, 2015 1:15 AM in response to JSD1985

I've had this same issue. I've had no end of trouble with iCloud Photo Library since it came out of beta.

Like you, the problem is only on icloud.com. My devices are all fine.

Most recently, I had issues with loads of deleted albums still showing, so my library was full of ghosted albums and folders. So I decided to wipe the library out (Disable & Delete, and waited the 30 days). Once it was deleted, I wiped my iPad and started with a clean library, then enabled iCloud Photo Library. As soon as I did, my iCloud.com library shows my old library again, but without the images. It looks like this..

But my iOS devices show a clean, blank library. It's been like this for a few days now and I'm hoping it eventually clears up so I can start syncing my photos again!

I've had a case open with AppleCare about this for about 2 months, and they just kept trying but couldn't fix it. We tried everything, including completely rebuilding my Photo library on Photos for OS X, which needless to say, took a VERY long time 😟.

They eventually said that they've found bugs in iCloud.com Photo Library and they will roll out patches to fix it, but that was about a month ago now and it's still broken...

Hope this gets fixed soon 😟

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Answer 6

Aug 7, 2015 10:49 AM in response to Gilb2406

I have your exact same problem but the good side of this is that after disable and delete although the empty folders and deleted photos still exist; but the sync between devices is flawless.

So it means www.icloud.com does not show the correct library but my devices do :-)

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Answer 7

JSD1985 Author

Level 1

27 points

Aug 11, 2015 6:19 AM in response to Gilb2406

I really hope they will fix this issue. I still have this problem. I love Apple and iCloud and everything but this issue bothers me.

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Answer 8

Gilb2406

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2015 6:37 AM in response to JSD1985

I uploaded my library again. Everything is perfect on Photos for OS X and all my iOS devices, but on iCloud.com, all the photos have duplicated. New ones are fine, but everything that was on there before now appears twice!

Nightmare.. I can't believe the 'Disable and Delete' option doesn't just wipe the library totally, it actually leaves data on there somewhere that just comes back next time you use it. They really need to give us a way of just nuking the library completely without having to wait 30 days!

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Answer 9

Gilb2406

Level 1

4 points

Aug 13, 2015 12:10 AM in response to Gilb2406

Well I've just opened iCloud Photos up today and got the page I was really hoping to see!! This is about 1 week after I've enabled iCloud Photo Library again.

I'm really hoping this will get rid of all my ghosted photos and leave my library properly synced.. Fingers crossed!!!

I'll report back with the results.

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Answer 10

Gilb2406

Level 1

4 points

Aug 13, 2015 12:15 AM in response to Gilb2406

YES!! It's finally done it! That process is the key to everything! It has got rid of all my ghosted photos and my library looks absolutely perfect again!

It's even fixed the folders issue for me (another problem I've been having which is discussed here (how do i delete empty photo albums from icloud.com)

Now my folders have appeared and albums are within them!

I've waited 3 months for this moment!

I really hope this happens for everyone else experiencing these issues soon!

Good luck to all..

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Answer 11

JSD1985 Author

Level 1

27 points

Aug 17, 2015 7:27 AM in response to JSD1985

Yes, my issues are solved as well! Hopefully I will never experience this issue again! 🙂

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Answer 12

PauloROP

Level 1

35 points

Oct 13, 2016 6:55 AM in response to Gilb2406

Dude.

I was having storage problems with my icloud photos. The photo library storage size was 2x what was suposed to be. I tried to delete all photos but photo library was still showing some GB even with 0 photos. So I decided to disable icloud photo library and waited for 30 days to clean everything.

After the 30 days I reenabled the photo library, but now I got 15 photos with the gray exclation. I didn't understand how exactly ou got rid of them. Just wait?

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Answer 13

Nov 26, 2016 4:52 AM in response to PauloROP

Have you had any luck with any of these steps? I've tried tirelessly to try and fix these stupid grey exclamation marks with no avail yet. Please post with any new information!

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