10 Solutions for When iCloud Won’t Backup Photos to iPhone

Of all the cloud storage services I’ve tried on iOS, iCloud works the smoothest way to back up photos and videos. However, it’s not perfect. There are times when I checked the Photos app on my other devices, only to find that the photos I took recently from my iPhone were missing.

Luckily, many solutions can be tried right away to fix when iCloud fails to backup photos to iPhone. Let’s dive right in and fix things.

1. Restart iPhone

I can’t stress enough how a simple restart of your iPhone can fix the most common problems in iOS. Before we dive into some serious solutions, let’s do it. To restart your iPhone, press and hold the Volume Up and Power buttons. On iPhone 8 and earlier devices, simply hold down the power button.

After restarting your iPhone, open the Photos app and switch to the Photos tab. You can monitor the progress of your uploads towards the bottom of the screen.

2. Check your storage space

If you’re using iCloud’s free 5GB of storage, don’t expect it to last forever. Even if you’ve upgraded to the next level (50GB), it will fill up quickly when you do upload a lot of photos and videos. To check the status of your iCloud storage, please follow the following two steps.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and follow by tapping your profile. Then, tap on iCloud.
2. Under the Storage section, you can see the amount of free space in iCloud. If the bar is full, then you know the reason why your photos are not saved on iCloud.

You have three choices to make if iCloud space is the problem. The simplest solution is to buy more iCloud storage – a dip in your wallet. To do this, tap Manage Storage, then tap Change Storage Plan.

Alternatively, you can consult the our guide on how to free up iCloud storage. If it sounds like hard work, you can consider go to Google Photos, which provides you with an unlimited amount of backups.

3. Enable iCloud Photos

To automatically back up your photos and videos to iCloud, you need to have iCloud Photos turned on. Although this feature is enabled by default, you may have previously disabled it to use the feature alternative My Photo Stream or to switch to a different cloud storage service. Let’s check if that’s the case.

Note: Activating iCloud Photos will also sync all the photos you have taken from other iOS devices to your iPhone.

Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Then, scroll down and tap Photos. On the next screen, make sure the switch next to iCloud Photos is turned on.

If iCloud Photos has been disabled and you just turned it on, you will see two separate options shown below: Optimize iPhone Storage and Download and Keep Original.

Selecting the former will keep the low resolution placeholders on the device when backing up the originals to iCloud and is more suitable if you want to save space locally. Select the latter if local storage is not an issue.

If you have a large camera roll, it will take some time to back up your photos and videos. Don’t forget that you can always visit the Photos app to check the status of your uploads.

4. Disable low data mode (WiFi)

You now have a special switch dubbed “Low Data Mode” for WiFi connections. If it is activated, your photos will not be backed up to iCloud. While you can temporarily resume backups by visiting the Photos app and tapping Resume, this will only last for an hour. If you want uninterrupted backups, you need to turn off Low Data Mode for your WiFi connection.

1. In your iPhone’s Settings app, tap Wi-Fi. Then, tap the i-shaped icon next to the Wi-Fi network you’re connected to.
2. Turn off the switch next to the Low data mode.

This option is disabled for Wi-Fi connections by default, but it’s always a good idea to double check to ensure a flawless backup experience.

5. Cambia server DNS

Sometimes, the default DNS servers for your Wi-Fi connection can be pretty bad at pointing traffic from your iPhone in the right direction. Consider changing them to the Google Public DNS resolution service , which is great enough to solve most connectivity issues.

1. Open the Settings app, then tap Wi-Fi. Then, tap the i-shaped icon next to the Wi-Fi network you’re connected to.
2. In DNS, tap DNS Configuration. In the following screen, remove the existing servers (you could write them down just in case) and then add the Google Public DNS servers in two separate slots as shown below:

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

Tap Save to apply the changes. Now go to the Photos app and check if things have started moving again.

6. Enable cellular data

Are you on cellular data? If so, you need to switch to Wi-Fi or allow the use of cellular data to sync photos with iCloud. Here’s how to enable cellular data backups.

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Then, scroll all the way down and tap Photos. Follow it by tapping Cellular Data.
• Turn on the switch next to Cellular Data. If you have a lot of photos and videos that need to be uploaded, also turn on the toggle next to Unlimited Updates.

There is no exact limit to when unlimited updates really impact. Usually, photos with a combined size of around 200MB will stop syncing to iCloud with this setting disabled.

7. Disable low data mode

Just like with Wi-Fi connections, there is also a low data mode restriction for cellular data. While it allows cellular data to be used for iCloud Photos backups, you also need to make sure your iPhone doesn’t have this setting turned on.

• Open the Settings app, then tap Mobile. Follow it by tapping Cellular Data Options.
• Tap Mobile Data Options. Then, turn off the switch next to Reduced data mode.

8. I update iOS

ICloud Photos is one of the main features of iOS. If your photos are still not properly saved to iCloud, you must consider updating iOS, especially if you haven’t done so in a while. Usually, this should take care of any known bugs causing the problem.

1. Go to the Settings app, tap on General and then tap on Software Update.
2. If there are no newer updates available, download and install them.

After installing the new updates, check if the photos are backed up smoothly.

9. Reset your network settings

It is also necessary to rule out the possibility of incorrectly configured network settings. This requires resetting the network settings for your iPhone. This will largely help solve connectivity issues. However, it will also erase all Wi-Fi networks and saved passwords, Bluetooth devices and virtual private networks. For more details on the impact of a network settings reset, check out our comprehensive guide on this topic .

1. Open the Settings app, then tap General. Then, tap Reset.
2. Finally, tap Reset Network Settings, then tap Reset Network Settings to confirm.

After resetting the network settings, manually connect to a Wi-Fi network or turn on cellular data and check the Photos app. Most likely, it should now make a backup of your photos without any problems.

10. Include photos in iCloud system backups

Your iPhone can also backup your photo and video library as part of an iCloud system backup. This allows you to restore your photos and videos faster, along with the rest of the data on your iPhone, if you have restored your iPhone or are migrating to a new device.

But confusingly, the process also requires you to turn off iCloud Photos. If that’s something you want to do, the steps below should help you. Just remember that unlike iCloud Photos, running iCloud system backup will not always have your most recent photos and videos.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, then tap your profile. Then, tap on iCloud.
2. Under the app via iCloud section, tap Photos. On the next screen, turn off the toggle next to iCloud Photos, then return to the previous screen.
3. Tap Manage Storage. Then, tap Backup.
4. Select your iPhone (labeled This iPhone) from the backups below. Under the Choose data to back up section, turn on the switch next to Photo Library.
5. Go back until you get to the screen labeled iCloud. Scroll to the bottom, then tap iCloud Backup. Then, tap Back up now.

Your iPhone will now back up your iPhone to iCloud along with your photos and videos. However, you must be connected to Wi-Fi – you cannot backup iCloud system to cellular data.

After completing the iCloud backup, you can always turn on iCloud Photos to make real-time backups and sync your photo library. Remember that your photos and videos will not be part of any future iCloud system backup as long as iCloud Photos is enabled.

Conclusion

Making sure your photos sync seamlessly on iCloud can be critical. It enables a pleasant user experience with instant access to photos and videos across the Apple ecosystem. Plus, it securely stores them in the cloud.

However, the last troubleshooting tip points to something important. You have to disable iCloud Photos whenever you need to integrate your photo library into an iCloud system backup. Hopefully your iCloud account works perfectly after these solutions.