How to Fix iPhone Photos Blank in Camera Roll [Top 7]

SNS has exploded in popularity worldwide in recent years, and iPhone photography has caught on. Photographing with an iPhone is favored by people because of its convenience and ease of operation compared to professional digital cameras. It's almost routine for people, especially the younger generation, to save thousands of photos on their iPhone albums. So a photo storage app with powerful features, like the built-in Photos app on the iPhone, seems especially important and significant.

However, it has been found that the powerful app can also sometimes face crashes. Many users say their iPhone photos blank in camera roll and they cannot see the photos even if they wait for several days and nights. In this post, several methods came up to help you solve the issue on your iPhone.

Part 1: Why are some of my photos blank on iPhone?

Photos showing up blank on iPhone can be concluded for many reasons, but the most persuasive one is the compatibility and system issues. The issue may appear when some of the features on Photos are not compatible with your iPhone, and your photos become grey temporarily. More reasons are listed in the following.

1. Photos app has bugs. When bugs occur on an app, some features will not work.

2. iPhone runs out of storage. Photos can not be loaded when your iPhone runs out of storage space.

3. System issues. Issues on the iPhone system can also affect the running of Photos app.

4. Incomplete download or sync. If you're using iCloud Photo Library or another cloud service, and your photos haven't fully downloaded or synced to your device, they might appear blank.

5. Thumbnail cache issue. The iPhone generates thumbnails for your photos. If there's an issue with the thumbnail cache, the images might appear blank or not load properly.

6. Corrupted files. Photos can become corrupted due to various reasons such as interrupted transfers, software glitches, or issues with the storage medium. If a photo file is corrupted, it may not display correctly or at all.

6. Outdated software. Running an outdated version of iOS could lead to compatibility issues with newer file formats or bugs that affect photo display.

7. Hardware problems. If your iPhone was dropped or hit by a heavy object, the camera might be broken so that it won't work as normal. In this case, you can contact Apple Support for assistance.

Part 2: How to fix iPhone photos blank in camera roll?

Method 1: Restart iPhone

Photos app will run into errors for no reason, because of unknown system issues on your iPhone system. And by pressing and holding the buttons to restart your iPhone can give your iOS system a simple refresh and fix those system issues. After restarting your iPhone, iPhone photos blank can be fixed. Go to Photos again, and you will find your photos back.

iPhone X, 11, 12, 13, or later: You need to press and hold Volume Up and Side Button before power-off slider appears on the interface.

iPhone 6, 7, 8, or SE (2nd or 3rd generation): You should press and hold Side Button until the power-off slider appears.

iPhone SE (1st generation), 5, or earlier: Go to press and hold the Top Button until the slider appears.

Method 2: Check iPhone storage

Loading photos requires enough iPhone storage. If your iPhone lacks storage, it is quite hard to load all the photos at the same time, and there will be some photos that will become blank. You should check if there is enough space on your iPhone with the steps below.

1. Navigate to Settings.

2. Tap General.

3. Select iPhone Storage.

4. Make sure you have enough free space. If your storage is full or nearly full, try deleting some apps or files to free up space.

Method 3: Turn off Optimize iPhone Storage

Optimize Storage is a feature that stores thumbnails on your iPhone, but full resolution in iCloud. It can help you free up your iPhone storage. Thumbnail is by changing the resolution of the photos to save your storage space, leading to some photos may not be shown up normally. You can check your photos in iCloud and go to turn off the Optimize iPhone Storage on your iPhone. Next, steps to turn it off are displayed.

1. Go Settings.

2. Tap on the Apple ID and find iCloud.

3. Select Photos. Tap Download and Keep Originals.

Method 4: Fix iOS system issues with TuensKit iOS System Recovery

System running is always accompanied by various bugs and issues, making some features and apps not work as routine sometimes. It's better to use a third-party tool to give your iOS system a deep repair. TunesKit iOS System Recovery is a professional system repair tool specializing in fixing more than 150 iOS issues on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, including photos are loading as black boxes, iPhone charging slowly, iPhone stuck on blue screen, cannot sign into iCloud, stuck in factory reset, iPhone making random calls, etc. It supports various iOS versions and models, like the latest iOS 17 and iPhone 15 series. The bugs and issues on your iPhone can be easily fixed with only several steps and without data loss with TunesKit iOS System Recovery.

Key Functions of TunesKit iOS System Recovery

• Fix 150+ iOS issues on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch with or without data loss
• One-click to enter or exit recovery mode
• Upgrade or downgrade iOS with ease
• Factory reset your iOS devices without passcode
• High success rate & Unlimited usage within validity period
• Compatible with the latest iOS 17

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Steps to operate TunesKit iOS System Recovery fixing your iPhone photos are blank white in the following.

Step 1: Connect Your iPhone

First, to successfully fix the issue, you should connect your iPhone to PC. And you should keep your iPhone connected when you fix your system. Once your device is detected by TunesKit iOS System Recovery, you can click iOS System Repair on the interface and Select Other Problems, and move on.

Step 2: Select Repair Type

Standard Repair can repair those simple issues on your iPhone, and it will not cause any data loss. While Deep Repair is to fix more complex issues on your iOS system, it will erase all your data on iPhone. You should back up your iPhone data before using Deep Repair mode. You're recommended to use the Standard Repair first to fix iPhone photos blank in camera roll.

Step 3: Start to Repair

Check your device's info listed on the interface and click Download to install the firmware package on your PC. Next, click Repair button, and TunesKit iOS System Recovery will take you a few minutes to begin giving your iOS system a repair.

Method 5: Save photos via Editor

Sometimes, photos don't display in camera roll for unknown reasons, but some users find that when they tap Edit on the top right of the photo and adjust the photo, it shows up again. You can adjust EXPOSURE, BRILLIANCE or others, then save your edit. The photos may be able to be restored on your photo album.

Method 6: Rebuild thumbnails

Sometimes the issue can be with the thumbnail cache. Leaving the Photos app and locking your phone for a few minutes can sometimes trigger the system to rebuild the thumbnails. Then open Photos app again, check if iPhone photos blank in camera roll is solved.

Method 7: Force quit the Photos app

Force quitting the Photos app and then relaunching helps to refresh the photos. It may help resolve iPhone photos blank in camera roll issue. Here's how:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or double-click the home button on older iPhones) to bring up the app switcher.

2. Find the Photos app and swipe it up to close it.

3. Relaunch the Photos app.

Part 3: Conclusion

iPhone photos blank in camera roll mostly caused by the system issues or compatible issues on Photos app. To fix these easily at once, you can use TunesKit iOS System Recovery to give your iOS system a repair and without data loss. If you still wonder about TunesKit iOS System Recovery, please feel free to contact us.