Photos in portrait mode sent to shared album are greyed out for other members

[stanft]

EDIT: I have just found out that only photos taken in portrait mode are affected and greyed out. All other photos are shared with no issue.

---- 8< ----

Hi everyone,

for a few days now, I have a problem sharing photos from my iPhone to a shared album. If I post a new photo to a shared album, everything is totally normal on my iPhone. But all other members of the shared album only see a greyed out box instead of the image. If you click the placeholder, a load indicator appears but it stops at about 25 percent. iCloud photos is activated, and the image is uploaded to iCloud as I can view it i.e. on my MacBook Pro.

This problem has shown up both on my iPhone and iPad simultaneously - both devices cannot share photos correctly anymore. My MacBook Pro however has no problem and all photos I share from the MacBook are visible to all other members of the album.

I'm running the current iOS, iPadOS and macOS versions, I have reset my iPhone, I performed a logout and re-login on iCloud and even restored the iPhone from backup. Nothing has changed.

Is there anyone here who has a similar problem?

Best regards,
Stephan

 

[stanft]

That's for example how shared photos from my iPhone are shown on my MacBook Pro:

 

[rocketice]

Hi,

I've had exactly the same issue - only Portrait photos not adding to shared album. I've been in touch with Apple and they don't seem to know what the problem is. Have you managed to find a solution?

What iPhone model did you use to take the photos?

Sean

 

[stanft]

Hi,

unfortunately, I have not found a solution or workaround yet. The only way to post portrait photos is to use my MacBook which has no problem with sharing portrait photos.

I use an iPhone Xs with the latest iOS.

Best regards,
Stephan

 

[mtstaffa]

I have the same issue (portrait mode only). The only “workaround” I’ve found which is hopefully just temporary until Apple fixes the issue is to take a screenshot on my phone of the portrait mode photo I want to add to the shared album. I then quick crop out the top/bottom of the screenshot so just the photo remains and I share that photo/screenshot.

 

[rocketice]

I managed to get it to work by Airdropping the photos to another device running iOS14 and then adding them to the shared album that way.

@mtstaffa what iPhone model and iOS are you using? I'm asking because when I spoke to Apple they were trying to understand if it was an issue with my iPhone model or the iOS. I'm using an iPhone 13 Pro Max on the latest iOS.

 

[mtstaffa]

I managed to get it to work by Airdropping the photos to another device running iOS14 and then adding them to the shared album that way.

@mtstaffa what iPhone model and iOS are you using? I'm asking because when I spoke to Apple they were trying to understand if it was an issue with my iPhone model or the iOS. I'm using an iPhone 13 Pro Max on the latest iOS.

I’m using just the iPhone X (circa 2017) running the latest iOS.

 

[DaveTheGrey]

Thank god I am not the only one. Grandparents are eating me, because they don‘t see their grandchildren‘s photos…
I filed a bug but I really hope it doesn‘t take long for apple to fix this!

iPhone XS Max and iPhone 8 Plus (iOS 15.1) are showing the same result. The poster is seeing the photos fine, all subscribers to the shared album just see grey boxes…

 

[Matiouz]

Hi,
I’m french and i’m so happy to find this post!
Same issue with photos taken in portrait mode since iOS 15. Sent with my iphone 12 or my iMac Monterey: same problem….
Hope Apple fix that…

 

[lisainIL]

Other reports here:

Some shared album photos not uploading to… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

I've commented a bunch there (l.fromgeneva) with more info.

@stanft You said you can post portrait photos from your MacBook Pro and everyone can see them with no problem. What operating system is running on your MacBook Pro?

 

[stanft]

@stanft You said you can post portrait photos from your MacBook Pro and everyone can see them with no problem. What operating system is running on your MacBook Pro?

Yes, posting portrait photos with my MacBook Pro does not have the same problems - only my iPhone XS and my iPad Pro have this issue.

The MacBook Pro is a 2019 16" (with Intel - maybe this is the cure) on the current macOS Monterey 12.0.1.

 

[lisainIL]

Yes, posting portrait photos with my MacBook Pro does not have the same problems - only my iPhone XS and my iPad Pro have this issue.

The MacBook Pro is a 2019 16" (with Intel - maybe this is the cure) on the current macOS Monterey 12.0.1.

This is very interesting. I have a MacBook Pro as well that's a bit older so I can't completely test this because it can only run Catalina. However it didn't work there for me either. When I posted a portrait photo (of a person) to a shared album from my MacBook Pro, I could see it in Shared Albums on the MacBook Pro, but when I looked at that Shared Album on my phone, it was not visible (just a light grey box). Anyone else looking at that Shared Album on their phone saw just a grey box as well.

I'm wondering if the trick is more in your import method? How do you get your portrait photos from your phone to your MacBook Pro to post in a Shared Album?
I'm gonna be really specific here...
I use a lightning cable plugged into my iPhone 13 Pro and the Mac to the USB port.
Then I open Photos on the Mac, go to Devices, then click on my phone.
I make sure "Import to" is set to "Library"
Then I click on the blue button in the right hand corner that says "Import All New Photos"
From there, I go to Library, scroll to the bottom to see my newly imported portrait photos, right click on the photo, hover on Share, click Shared Albums, choose an album and it posts.

Are you doing it this way? Or are you using iCloud to just sync? Or maybe Airdrop? Or maybe importing via Finder (if iCloud Photos is off on your phone)?

 

[stanft]

Are you doing it this way? Or are you using iCloud to just sync? Or maybe Airdrop? Or maybe importing via Finder (if iCloud Photos is off on your phone)?

In fact, I am using iCloud Photos. I took the portrait photo with my iPhone, it was uploaded to the iCloud, and on the MacBook Pro I just post the photo from the iCloud library.

The strange thing is: Posting the uploaded iCloud photo via MacBook Pro works perfectly, posting the same uploaded photo from the iPhone leads to the issue mentioned here.

 

[lisainIL]

In fact, I am using iCloud Photos. I took the portrait photo with my iPhone, it was uploaded to the iCloud, and on the MacBook Pro I just post the photo from the iCloud library.

The strange thing is: Posting the uploaded iCloud photo via MacBook Pro works perfectly, posting the same uploaded photo from the iPhone leads to the issue mentioned here.

Are you using iCloud Photos or My Photo Stream?

(This is from Mac Photos App, Preferences)

In the Apple Discussions forum I referenced above, someone else was able to post their portrait photos successfully using the My Photo Stream method.

 

[stanft]

iCloud Photos.

 

[lisainIL]

iCloud Photos.

On your MacBook Pro, do you have Download Originals to this Mac or Optimize Mac Storage chosen?

 

[stanft]

On your MacBook Pro, do you have Download Originals to this Mac or Optimize Mac Storage chosen?

Both, the iPhone and the MacBook Pro are set to "optimize storage".

 

[lisainIL]

Ok, I'm gonna give this a good test on my MacBook Pro. I'm thinking because you have optimize storage on, your Mac doesn't actually have the "full" photo downloaded, so when you post it to Shared Albums, some metadata that's causing portrait photos to not display is actually stripped from that photo so it is viewable. (This would be the same reason why My Photo Stream works too, something is missing from the photo that is causing it to be viewable).

When you post that same photo from your iPhone, all the metadata is there because you took the photo there. It's likely a recent photo, so iCloud hasn't "optimized" it yet.

When I was on the phone with an Apple Senior Advisor, we kinda already came to this conclusion that it was some piece of metadata that was reeking havoc. We think it's some of that new facial recognition stuff Apple has just implemented. The reason we thought that was because I found that if you take a portrait photo of a dog or an object, that portrait photo in a Shared Album is always visible. But every portrait photo of a person, is not visible.

 

[stanft]

Sounds reasonable but something is still strange: I have an iPad Pro which also uses iCloud Photo with "optimize storage" setting. And I am not able to post a portrait photo shot on the iPhone with the iPad - it produces the same issues. Only the MacBook Pro is able to post portrait photos without problems.

 

[lisainIL]

Maybe your iPad Pro downloaded the full photo before you posted it?

Also, I didn't want to muddy the waters so I didn't mention it before, but as it turns out, I've found it's the reason I can't test your scenarios myself:
MacOS versions before Monterey do not handle portrait photos taken in iOS 15 (or maybe just the iPhone 13) well. I noticed this when I got my new iPhone 13 Pro but Monterey was not yet out. I had taken some portrait photos, uploaded them to my Mac mini (still running Big Sur at this point) and they were there and visible, but you could not edit them properly. For instance, you couldn't toggle on/off portrait mode at all. Button wasn't even there. Also "revert to original" would be there but I hadn't even edited it. If I "reverted", then it would remove the blur and the "portrait" indicator and there was no way to get it back.
It was a short lived problem thankfully and cured with Monterey. (It's all documented here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/portrait-photos-issues-with-iphone-13-pro.2314083)

So the reason I bring it up is when I tried to test your iCloud method, it works on my MacBook Pro too (in fact it works with Download Originals on), but it's more because I'm on Catalina and portrait photos from an iPhone 13 on Catalina are messed up. Catalina isn't reading the metadata properly.

So to test, I'd need to test on my Mac mini, but I can not turn on iCloud Photos there because I have 400GB of photos on my Mac mini and only 200GB of iCloud space. Unfortunately I do not have another Mac with Monterey that has no photo library.

 

[sjmaximus]

I have discovered a "fix" for this. It unfortunately came to me downgrading back to iOS 15.0.2. Once on that version I was able to upload portrait mode photos without the grey square appearing. I have contacted apple about this, but have not heard back.

 

[lisainIL]

Hey everyone...
I have an open ticket with Apple and the senior advisor has been very good about touching base with me each week about this problem. She called me yesterday and said the engineers had not responded to her in a week, so she would contact them again to ask for a status. She HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that anyone who is having this problem to contact Apple. The more that report it, the higher priority it gets... I know it can be a bit of a hassle, but please do this!

Call 1-800-275-2273 and simply say "When I upload portrait photos to a Shared Album from one device, I only see a grey box with a cloud when I look at that Shared Album on other devices. I see non-portrait photos just fine."

Or initiate through the Apple Support app via Apple Business Chat. You can do so by downloading the Apple Support app on your iPhone. Under Topics, choose More, then scroll down and choose Photos, then under Contact choose Message (or Call if you prefer). Choosing Message will open up a chat in iMessage with Apple Support.

 

[t22design]

I too have the issue with 'Portrait Mode' photos appearing as grey boxes for other people. I'm on iOS 15.1.
I contacted support and opened a ticket. They suggested I turn off 'Shared Albums' in Settings > [Your ID] > iCloud > Photos. Wait 10 minutes. Restart phone. Turn on 'Shared Albums' again. This did not work for me, I'll be following up tomorrow to let them know.

PS they did seem to suggest it was a known issue, so it might be a case of waiting for an update.

 

[Pindar]

I experience exactly the same behavior.
In my opinion, the problem seems to be in the native applications when downloading or viewing, as a shared web-accessible album displays all photos correctly on the web. Can any of you confirm that too?

PS: I also reported the problem to Apple, unfortunately no one could help yet.

 

[DaveTheGrey]

15.2 fixed the bug for me ???