Lost photos since iOS update

Hello @Ms_Jana,

We can definitely provide you with some more information about the photos on your iPhone. This exclamation mark indicates that you need to download the photo from iCloud. If you're unable to download the photos, please make sure that you have a stable Wi-Fi connection. Let us know if this helps.

Sean, AT&T Community Specialist

So I spent 1.5hrs on the phone with apple support, I’ve reset settings, I’ve updated, my system is up to date with 12.4...all with no resolve. So I finally got up the courage to wipe the phone and reset the phone to factory settings. There are still random pics that are grayed out and when I click on them it say there was an error downloading. I have plenty of storage and I am able to see all of my pics from my laptop when I’m logged into my iCloud, so I know that they’re there. I absolutely don’t know what to do.

@janiceglisson 

If your phone is on iOS 12, something is very very old. The current iOS is 17.

You didn't say what iPhone you're using, but it's certainly is not a new model.

Your problems are not service provider related.

The reason you're getting an exclamation mark is because the photos are not on your phone.  

Probably way past time for you to upgrade to a newer model phone and then restore your iCloud content from the most recent backup

As asked above, what model of iPhone do you have? Are you backing up your phone to either iCloud or another device (laptop)? Have you contacted Apple?

Hey there! We understand how concerning this is for you, so let's get you the information you need.

This issue occurs most commonly due to iCloud being set to "Optimize iPhone Storage", and if your device is low on storage. There are a couple of things you can try to find a resolution to this.

To optimize the storage on your device:

1. Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Choose Optimize [device] Storage.

PS- Your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud and space-saving versions are kept on your device. Your library is optimized only when you need space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. You can download the original photos and videos over Wi-Fi or cellular when you need them. You can use Optimize Storage on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.

If you see that "Optimize Storage" is checked already, please select "Download and keep Originals" instead. 

Additionally, if the steps above don't help, a last ditch effort would be to creating a backup of all your content, and conducting a full factory reset on the device. Once you get all the content back on the device, you should see a fix to this situation. 

Hope this information helps, and do let us know if you have any other concerns or questions for us in the future.

Thank you for visiting AT&T Community Forums!

MikeN, AT&T Community Specialist.

This is a 4 year old thread, and obviously someone resurrected it, but it looks like that post was deleted, so the rest doesn’t make sense.  If someone has an issue similar to this old thread, please start a new one.