If your iPhone or iPad is having trouble or taking a long time to upload photos to iCloud, below are the steps to fix the problem that photos won’t upload to iCloud.
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Phone won’t upload to iCloud from iPhone or iPad
A common reason for iPhone not uploading photos to iCloud is that iPhone is in sleep mode. In fact, the iPhone is also known to pause photo uploads to iCloud when the battery drops below 50%.
In addition to the above, the iPhone won’t upload photos to iCloud issue is known to occur due to lack of iCloud storage space, network-related issues, Apple’s iCloud service load and other reasons.
1. Check network strength
The most common reason for iPhone not uploading photos to iCloud is poor network connection. Therefore, first check the current signal strength on your device.
If the reception is poor, reboot the router and this should help fix the WiFi network connection issues on your device.
2. Check the battery level
As mentioned above, the iPhone seems to have a tendency to slow down or pause uploads/downloads when the battery level drops below a certain level.
Users have reported fixing or improving iCloud upload issues by plugging in the iPhone for charging and making sure it’s connected to a WiFi network.
3. Make sure iCloud Photos is enabled
The problem could be due to iCloud Photos being accidentally disabled on your device.
Go to settings > Tap yours AppleID > iCloud > photos > make sure iCloud Photos activated.
After that, you should find that photos are automatically uploaded to iPhone when it is connected to a Wi-Fi network.
4. Check iCloud storage status
A common reason for photos not uploading to iCloud is lack of iCloud storage space, especially if it is a free iCloud account with only 5GB storage.
Go to settings > Tap yours Apple ID name > iCloud > Manage Storage > On the next screen you can see the amount of used and remaining iCloud storage on your device.
If the storage space is insufficient, you can either buy more storage space by tapping Change storage plan. or try to free up iCloud storage.
5. Sign out and sign in again
Make sure you are signed in with the correct Apple ID (same as your iCloud account). Also sign out of the iPhone and sign back in.
Open settings > Tap yours Apple ID name > scroll down and tap Deliver Possibility.
Follow the prompts to sign out > After signing out, wait 30 seconds and sign in to your device again by entering your Apple ID password.
6. Check iPhone storage status
If the local storage space on your iPhone is full, you may encounter problems sending or uploading photos to iCloud.
Go to settings > General > iPhone storage > On the next screen you will see the used and remaining storage space on your device.
If the remaining space on your device is less than 1.5GB, you must make efforts to free up space on your device.
7. Check iCloud service status
The problem could be due to Apple’s iCloud service being down or encountering problems. You can rule out this possibility by going Apple’s system status Side.
On this page, Apple provides a list of all of its services and their current service status (available or unavailable).
8. Reboot the iPhone
Go to settings > General > scroll down and tap shut down. On the next screen, use the slider to turn off the iPhone.
Wait for your iPhone to turn off completely > Wait 30 seconds and start anew your device by pressing the perfomance Button.
7. Use cellular data to upload photos to iCloud
By default, iPhone is set to upload photos to iCloud over the Wi-Fi network. If you’re trying to upload photos using cellular data, make sure the Photos app has cellular data turned on.
Go to settings > photos > cellular data > Move the switch next to cellular data and Unlimited updates to ON Position.
This allows iPhone to automatically upload photos to use iCloud with cellular data when a Wi-Fi network isn’t available.
Note: If you’re on a limited data plan, activating the Cellular Data for Photos app can get expensive.
8. Reset network settings
Write down your WiFi network password and follow the steps below to reset network settings on your iPhone.
Go to settings > General > Transfer or reset iPhone > Reset to default > Select in the popup Reset network settings Possibility.
If prompted, enter yours lock screen password > Tap on the confirmation pop-up Reset network settings confirm.
After the reset process is complete, you need to reconnect to your WiFi network by entering your WiFi network password.
