Exclamation mark on iPhone photos

Hi Siddharthbangar,

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

It looks like others have been wondering about blurred photos and an exclamation mark icon in Photos, too. There are many helpful responses in this thread so far, and I'm happy to point out some other resources.

As mentioned, an exclamation mark icon on a picture in the Photos app means the full resolution image has not been downloaded to your iOS device.

This is expected if iCloud Photos is set to “Optimize iPhone Storage” and storage space on your device is low. For help with storage, see How to check the storage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Even if iCloud Photos is set to “Download and Keep Originals” and you have plenty of storage space, you might still see blurry pictures and an exclamation mark after restoring from an iCloud backup.

You can verify which setting is being used on your device by following these steps:

Set up and use iCloud Photos

iCloud Photos keeps all of your photos and videos in their original, high-resolution version. You can save space on your device when you turn on Optimize Storage.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.

If you turn on Optimize Storage, iCloud Photos automatically manages the size of your library on your device. Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.

If you turn on Download Originals, iCloud Photos keeps your original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud and on your device.

There’s a quick way to download a full resolution photo to your device on iOS, so if you see blurry photos and an exclamation mark, try this first:

Use iCloud Photos on iPhone - iPhone User Guide

Download a full-resolution photo

If Optimize Storage is on, pick and choose which videos to store as full-resolution.

Select a photo, then pinch in to zoom to 100%. Or, tap Edit. The full-resolution photo or video downloads automatically.

If your iOS device isn’t downloading full resolution photos, make sure you have a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. As others have mentioned, you might also need to turn off Low Power Mode for iCloud Photos to sync.

If you're having trouble with a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection, you can find some troubleshooting advice in If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network and If you see No Service or Searching on your iPhone or iPad.

After checking all of the above, you can find more troubleshooting advice in Get help with iCloud Photos.

Cheers!

Can you please explain exactly what you mean by Settings > iCloud > slide off syncing? I’m using iOS 11.2.1, so maybe it’s different? I went to Settings > iCloud and I don’t see anything that says “syncing”. I have tried everything else, and when I read this I tried to follow your instructions, but I don’t see “syncing”. I clicked on Photos after going to Settings > iCloud and I tried to turn off iCloud Photo Library, but it gave the screen that I’m attaching as a screenshot. I obviously don’t want to take the chance of losing any of my photos, and this would be very time consuming. If I’m missing something, please tell me what I’m missing. I’m having a lot of trouble with this lately and it’s becoming very frustrating because it interferes with my work. Thanks so much!

In Photos a circle with an exclamation point indicates, that the original image file needs downloading from iCloud. Are you connected to the internet?

That is some stellar UI design. Put an exclamation mark on the corner of a photo. No explanation. No prompts. Nothing. Just a dead end. This is design incompetence.

Omg, thanks, this happened to me twice, with different iPhones, with the first one I even deleted all my photos, but with this one I just turned off the low power mode and it all works fine, thanks again

Nothing really worked.

And on top of that, by signing out and back in again, I lost around 2000 photos.

Why isn't there a "would you like to see all your photos from iCloud (on your device)...?" Setting

Very fristra

Can someone from apple really reply to this problem its really moronic to offer service that is incompetent to customers all this stupidy starts when i bought more storage from icloud and all my photos and videos cannot be played.. do your work!!! Or else im changing back to android. We are VERY FRUSTRATED HERE!!!

Greetings Brethren:

check icloud storage to verify space in icloud acct manage it or delete from it

Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

the situation may be related to space needed in icloud acct.

Hope this helps

Aside from other replies - Having phone on ‘Low Battery’ seems to hold the synchronized back of Hi-Rez version from iCloud.

iOS 11.2.1

Try Settings/iCloud and slide off syncing. Wait a few minutes and then resync.

Have you tried signing out of iCloud and then sign back in?

It just works.

You have done what I suggested. Tap cancel and hopefully things will have reset.

Thank you! I was trying all sorts of things to fix this and as soon as I turned off the power saver mode it was fine.

I signed in and back on again.

Not only did it not work, hundreds of photos are gone...

Try turning off the low power button