Transparent PNG files not working on iPhone

Question

Level 1

47 points

Transparent PNG files not working on iPhone

I frequently use PNG files in photo editing apps on my iPhone. I started having problems with my PNGs a month or two ago in which half of them no longer show a transparent background when imported into my photo editing apps. I don't exactly know what went wrong or how, since images that previously displayed a transparent background suddenly don't anymore. I even exported them to my computer, to iCloud Drive, then back to the Photos app to check if they were still PNG files and didn't somehow convert themselves to JPEG, but they still were. When I exported them, they appeared having transparent backgrounds, but when I sent them back to my phone, they were white. Does anyone have any idea what's happening?

EDIT: I sent some of my PNGs to iCloud Drive and found that they somehow turned into JPEGs. However the PNGs that I sent to my computer and back to iCloud Drive and still displayed transparency, I saved those to my Photo Library (which showed that they were in fact PNGs) then reuploaded them to iCloud Drive only to find that they had been converted to JPEG upon saving. This doesn't always happen to my PNG files as I recently have been saving PNGs that work just fine so I don't understand the issue.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jul 27, 2017 10:49 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

GameBlox

Level 1

4 points

Jan 2, 2018 1:10 PM in response to Alyssa June

You have to turn off the "Optimize" option at "iCloud Photo Library", an even then, the old images on my iPhone continue to "prefer" the jpg when sharing, only the newer ones (after I turned it off) are keeping the transparency. Not only that, but my iPhone keeps incessantly asking for me to turn it back on, what a horrible system.

But yeah, it is a big issue for me as well. The only way I can get the transparencies back is to send myself an email with the image, then iCloud finally shares the uncompressed version.

I'm actually making a software that would allow people to add images as stickers, and this is making me crazy - Android doesn't handle files as bad as iOS...

This only happens if you have iCloud Photo Library on, but who doesn't? 😟

Reply

Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,303 points

Jul 28, 2017 10:00 AM in response to Alyssa June

Photos on your Mac is storing the original PNGs, but when you edit them on your Mac or convert the format, the transparency may be lost. Photos is not meant to handle graphics, but photos taken with a camera.

Perhaps the transparency is lost during the transfer to your iPhone, or when you access then in the Photos.app pn the iPhone.

How do you transfer the PNG files from your Mac to the iPhone? Are you using iCloud Photo Library or My Photo Stream, or iTunes Photo Sync?

And how are you accessing the photos on the iPhone from R4VEAPP? Are you using a photo editing extension or is R4VEAPP accessing the Camera Roll?

Reply

Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

197,303 points

Jul 27, 2017 11:55 PM in response to Alyssa June

Which photo apps are you using to edit your PNG files?

Reply

Answer 4

Alyssa June Author

Level 1

47 points

Jul 28, 2017 7:35 AM in response to léonie

I use an app called R4VEAPP. I don't edit the PNG files themselves per se but I use them as overlays/stickers

Reply