Each photo shows its progress while it uploads.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting | In the queue; it will start shortly. |
| Preparing | Being made smaller on your phone. |
| Uploading | On its way. |
| Waiting for connection | No signal right now. It will continue by itself. |
| Done | Safely in. |
| Not sent | Something went wrong with this photo. See below. |
"Waiting for connection"
Your phone is offline or the signal dropped. The photos are saved on your phone and continue when the connection is back. You can lock the phone or close the page; open the link again on the same phone later and they carry on.
"Not sent"
A photo that could not be sent shows a short reason and two buttons: Try again and Remove. Common reasons:
- "This photo is larger than 25 MB." Very large files (often long-exposure or edited images) cannot be processed. Save a smaller copy and add that instead.
- "This file is not a photo we can read." Only photos can be added, not videos, screenshots of PDFs or documents.
- "We couldn't open this photo." The file may be damaged. Try exporting it again from your photo app.
- "This browser can't open HEIC photos." The photo is in the iPhone format HEIC; see "iPhone HEIC photos" below.
- "The photo did not arrive intact. Please try again." The connection broke mid-upload. Press Try again.
See Every message, explained for the full list.
iPhone HEIC photos
iPhones save photos as HEIC. On an iPhone or iPad, and in Safari on a Mac, they are added like any other photo. Other browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox or Edge on a computer, cannot open HEIC: those photos show "Not sent" with a short explanation, and the rest of your photos upload as usual. To send one, add it from the iPhone itself, or export it as JPEG on the computer and add the copy. On the iPhone, Settings → Photos → Transfer to Mac or PC → Automatic makes photos you copy to a computer arrive as JPEG, and Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes new photos JPEG. See the full answer.
Uploads are slow
Photos are made smaller before upload, so a photo is usually well under 1 MB. If uploads are slow, you are probably on a weak signal; leave the page open or come back later.