Phone will not play videos that are older than a couple of months.

Question

Spesh2012 Author

Level 1

109 points

Phone will not play videos that are older than a couple of months.

I have a 6S Plus and for some reason the phone has stopped playing videos. I am not using a special app. These are videos that are in my camera roll that I recorded on the phone.

It will play newer videos, but if it's older than a couple of months I get a download error. I click on the play button andan exclamation point appears and when I click on that it says "Download Error" and nothing else. I hit "ok" to make the window disappear and that's it.

How do I get my old videos to play again??

iPhone 6, iOS 9.1

Posted on May 16, 2017 7:35 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

james811

Level 1

14 points

Feb 14, 2018 2:55 PM in response to keishaskorupan

Make sure in your cellular settings that photos is switched to on

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 20, 2018 12:57 PM in response to james811

Switched photos in cellular settings to on and it worked again. I have an iPhone 8 on Verizon.

Reply

Answer 3

JovonaP.

Community Specialist

May 17, 2017 6:02 AM in response to Spesh2012

Hello Spesh2012,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. It's my understanding that you're unable to play older videos from your iPhone Camera Roll, but recent videos play without issue. My videos are some of the most important content on my iPhone; I can surely understand your concern. I'm happy to help.

It sounds like you're using Optimize Storage with iCloud Photo Library. If your iPhone is low on space, full-resolution photos and videos are automatically replaced with optimized versions, while the originals are stored in iCloud. In order to download the videos, it is important to make sure your iPhone has adequate space and you're connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Please review the link below for additional information:
iCloud Photo Library

If the issue persists even with space and strong internet connection, go to i Cloud.com and make sure the videos play there. If the videos play successfully, let us know the exact error you receive when trying to download your videos and if this occurs on Wi-Fi and cellular networks.

Have a great day!

Reply

Answer 4

Chawin.K

Level 1

13 points

Jan 11, 2018 1:25 AM in response to JovonaP.

I followed your suggestion, but here's what I found

1. I'm using iPhone X with around 44 GB of storage available. When I played the video on cellular, it prompted error "Cannot Download Video - There was an error downloading this video from your iCloud Photo Library. Please try again later." However, when I played the video using WiFi connection, it played instantly. Note that, I also tested my cellular connection with apps like YouTube and Instagram and they loaded right away, so the connection was not the problem.

2. I also tried to switch the settings under Settings > Photos to "Download and Keep Originals" and turn on Cellular Data option to "Unlimited Updates", but the problem was still the same

3. Those same videos loaded on iCloud.com just fine.

Please note that I only encountered this problem with videos only. My photos from years back loaded just fine.

A quick search online results in many threads with these same problem existed since 2014!

I paid a premium price for a premium experience. Please fix this.

Reply

Answer 5

ahmanter

Level 1

13 points

Mar 28, 2018 9:48 PM in response to JovonaP.

Dear Jovana I have exactly the same issue but much worst.

All videos and pictures saved on my iPhone 6s before September 2016 won’t be played or shared or anything I can just see the thumbnail and a blurry photo, and what makes me wonder is that I have enabled iCloud photo sharing and I don’t even have a space on it, and my device storage got more than 3 gigs free.

Please I want your help in that issue because there is a lot of memories that I care about and won’t lost it

Thank you

Reply

Answer 6

Apr 1, 2018 8:43 PM in response to Spesh2012

I’ve been having the same problem, but I didn’t know what to do so I signed out of my I cloud and signed back in and all my old videos and pictures got deleted except my newer videos, is there any way I can get them back?

Reply

Answer 7

Feb 6, 2018 11:12 PM in response to Chawin.K

Im having the exact same problem !! Has someone been able to fix this issue for you ? And if so, could you please help me !!!

Reply

Answer 8

Jan 1, 2018 9:34 AM in response to JovonaP.

Hi,

I’m having the same issue and when I went to iCloud.com to view my videos it won’t play. It only had a triangle with an exclamation point inside it.

Reply