After updating to iOS 26, some iPhone users have reported that the Photos app keeps crashing or closing unexpectedly. Even after force-quitting the app or restarting it, the problem persists.
There are several possible reasons why the Photos app crashes on iPhone, including corrupted photos or videos, low storage space, iCloud syncing errors, and more. If you’re looking for ways to fix it, this guide will walk you through effective solutions to stop the Photos app from crashing on iOS 26.
1. Restart Your iPhone
Restarting your iPhone can fix temporary memory errors or minor system glitches that cause app crashes. Steps:
1. Go to Settings → General → Shut Down.
2. Drag the slider to power off your iPhone. After a few seconds, press and hold the Side (or Sleep/Wake) button until the Apple logo appears.
This simple restart can refresh system resources and often resolves unexpected Photos app crashes.
2. Check iPhone Storage
Insufficient storage space can cause the Photos app to crash, especially when viewing or editing large photo libraries. To check storage:
1. Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
If storage is almost full, delete unused apps, clear app caches, or remove large videos and photos to free up space. Keeping at least 2–5 GB of free space helps iOS run more smoothly.
3. Check iCloud Storage
If iCloud Photos is enabled, ensure your iCloud storage has enough free space for syncing photos and videos. To check:
1. Go to Settings → Apple ID [Your Name] → iCloud.
If your iCloud storage is full, remove unnecessary files or upgrade your iCloud plan.
Tip: If your iCloud Photos library is much larger than your iPhone’s local storage (for example, 1 TB in iCloud but only 256 GB on device), turn on Optimize iPhone Storage in Settings → Photos → Optimize iPhone Storage. This setting keeps smaller photo previews on your iPhone and stores the originals safely in iCloud.
4. Disable Shared Albums and Shared Library
If you use Shared Albums or iCloud Shared Library, these features can sometimes cause the Photos app to crash—especially when there are network issues, corrupted shared content, or syncing errors between multiple devices. Try disabling them temporarily:
1. Go to Settings → Photos → Shared Albums, and toggle it off.
2. Go to Settings → Photos → turn off Shared Library (if it’s enabled).
Then reopen the Photos app to check if it becomes stable.
5. Find and Remove Corrupted Photos or Videos
Corrupted image files or damaged metadata (EXIF or GPS data) can cause the Photos app to crash when you open or scroll through specific photos.
You can use a third-party tool such as Photo Exifer to detect and fix problematic photo metadata.
1. Install Photo Exifer on your iPhone.
2. Open suspicious photos and check their capture date, location data, or metadata tags, then edit or remove them with Photos Exifer.
3. Repair or delete any files that appear corrupted.
6. Remove Unsupported RAW Photos from iCloud Photos
The Photos app supports Apple ProRAW (.DNG) and standard Adobe Digital Negative (.DNG) formats with Apple’s processing metadata. However, RAW photos imported from some cameras or Macs may not be fully compatible on iPhone.
In these cases, iCloud only stores a high-quality JPEG preview, which may lead to loading or crash issues. Try removing unsupported RAW files from iCloud Photos and recheck if the Photos app runs smoothly afterward.
7. Disable and Re-Enable iCloud Photos
If iCloud syncing conflicts or indexing problems cause the app to crash, try turning iCloud Photos off and back on. Steps:
1. Go to Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Photos. Toggle iCloud Photos off.
2. Turn iCloud Photos back on. This forces iCloud to rebuild your photo library index and can often fix repeated crash loops.
Final Tip
If none of these solutions work, check for a new iOS update under Settings → General → Software Update. Apple frequently releases patches for system stability and Photos app bugs after major updates.
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