Portrait type photos are corrupted (grey area appear) when transferring from iPhone to PC

Hi everyone,

As I promised, I callback today, another senior advisor has taken my call; unfortunately there's no updates so far. I'm supposed to get a callback anytime during next week, I'll keep you posted.

Best regards,

Walter

Hi to the 22 people facing this issue

Following up, Apple advised me today to update my iPhone to iOS 14.3 and replicate the issue, even when I was so skeptical (since I've read all the changes via About iOS 14 Updates - Apple Support for iOS 14.3), there's no changes for Camera/Photos aside of ProRAW for iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, even do, I decided to give a shot but again, I'm getting the same result...

I'm about to loose my mind, I spend more than a $1.2k on a device that I can't even use it as it's supposed to. Portrait is one of those "enhance features" for Pro and Pro Max models... this is so frustrating.

I'll keep you posted in case I have further information/support.

Best regards,

Walter

I am having the same issue with my iPhone 11 Pro since I moved to iOS 14.

Currently I am running the latest version of iOS 14.3 and issue is still there.

As all others said, it happens whenever "Transfer Original" is selected in Settings -> Photos.

It happens only for the "enhanced photos that are "IMG_EXXXX" and whenever they are in HEIC format.

Prior to iOS 14 those files always appeared as JPG (even with "Transfer Original").

It seems that Apple changed something in iOS 14 and ruined those files.

It's really frustrating now because I have to deal with hundreds of images that I have in that way.

I hope to see a fix from Apple as soon as possible.

Hi Tony,

It was a misunderstanding then, you’re absolutely right.

I just send an email to the senior advisor who’s going to get news about the “engineering escalation”, unfortunately I was told there’s no updates so far (as mentioned on this thread, I’ve send them some HEIC files breaking down what’s exactly going on).

I already submit this via feedback and I hope/believe the 30 people more having this issue did it as well.

Feel free to reply or share any news you may get in the future; unfortunately, our hands are tied and we all depend on Apple time response.

Best regards,

Walter

Hi everyone,

Updating the thread, I've received an email from the Apple senior advisor who's taking care of my case, they want me to send my iPhone "just to double check there's nothing wrong with the hardware going on".

This already has crossed the line, it is unbelievable that an entire team of "engineers" at Apple can conclude there's something wrong with the 60 devices replicating this issue as well (as per the "I have this question too" for this thread).

I don't know, I'll keeping you posted soon.

Best regards,

Walter

I agree, this is ridiculous, there’s no hardware issue associated to these corrupted HEIC files.

If that’s the case, why previous versions such as iOS 13.3, 13.3.1, 13.4 haven’t caused this problem?

Its been more than 2 month, I did send feedback, so many people have sent feedback but I guess they don’t take us seriously.

Im not sending my iPhone, certainly they don’t need it. I’m updating the post once I’ve news, I feel the same way than you folks.

Best regards,

Walter

That has always been the case with Apple they don't listen and the Apple Care team is like send your iPhone.

It's a software issue with iPhone11 and all edited images IMG_EXXXX.HEIC are broken while transferring.

Hi everyone,

Following up on this, the senior advise/manager never came back with updates/news. I have sent her an email today, let's see what she replies (if she does). I'm exhausted at this point, I don't buy that they still believe this is a hardware issue.

As @raydizzle29 mentioned, if you set your photo settings to "Automatic" some files won't copy as the 'transcode' going inside the iOS device from HEIC/HEVC to JPEG/MOV will fail, even files going over 500MB (not that large) will fail.

What is the point then? Where the heck are the benefits of having your photos and videos in HEIC/HEVC then?

This is unbelievable, and I agree that this may be some sort of 'soft racketeering' to encourage/force/push people to use iMacs/MacBooks if they want to see their photos properly. I'm done with this BS.

I'll let you know if something else comes up.

PS. Using iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 14.4 and stills the same.

I'm having the same issue too on iPhone 12 Pro Max, in fact my wife's as well. I'm using the 'keep originals' option too as the 'automatic' does not allow me to export videos that are too big in size.

It's ironic that we upgraded our iphones for a better camera and now we can't even export the better quality picture. :(

Please fix.

I have this problem for about two months. Iphone X - I have had the for a number of years and keep it updated. I have not changed any camera/ phone settings. I use the USB cord to transfer my photos. I have never used icoud or the windows icloud app.

It seemed at first some "E" photos would transfer OK and others were grey.

For the past few weeks - all the "E" photos are grey out. I can transfer the same photo in jpeg without grey corruption, but not any edited photos.

I can up load to google photo album and to amazon photos without problem.

I have tried to research this for the las few weeks to no avail,

Please keep posting if any new information becomes available.

Hello everyone,

Following up on this, the senior advisor/manager never came back to me, last interaction (email) was back on Mar 8th. I tried to get in touch since then by sending her emails on Mar 9th, 11th, 15th, and yesterday 29th.

Seems she's not replying anymore, her name is Chara.

I'm really tired about this, I just send a copy of the whole thread since I open the request back on Oct 2020 to important blogs such as M*c R*mors and *to*Mac letting them know that this could be a new 'gate' because, why would Apple insist to collect all the devices having this issue?

CONCLUSION: unfortunately, I was not able to get further assistance after spoke to 8 agents, 5 supervisors/senior advisors/managers or whatever they want to call themselves. Apple 'engineers' did not take actions, for the ones who have submitted feedback (l did) since last year, seems Apple don't actually care about. Users with mid/advance tech knowledge/skills will agree this does NOT seem to be a hardware issue, unless related to a new sort of gate.

I REALLY TRIED TO REACH FOR HELP, I LOST MY SH*T VERY LONG TIME AGO, THEY DID NOT PROVIDE A SOLUTION. COLLECTING MORE THAN 4 GB IN DIAGNOSTIC LOGS AND 70 MB IN PHOTO EXAMPLES, WAS FOR NOTHING.

Good luck to everyone, I give up; if anybody find something to help the 150+ users reporting the same issue, please share your inputs so you can do what Apple 'engineers' seem not being able/capable to. By the way, issue still can be replicate with the latest iOS version 14.4.2 released a couple days ago.

Best regards,

Hello,

I also submitted a feedback and I admit I was a little bit shocked because I did not get any kind of message or anything that would have confirmed Apple received it : you spend some time writing comments, providing details, you are ready to have any form of dialog, but no ... nothing at all (apparently this is similar to what happens in their forum or when you call the hotline, Apple just does not care).

My iphone is a corporate one, it's not my choice, and honestly this does not make me think I'll ever buy one on my own.

When you transfer HEIC-images that were manipulated (e.g. portrait or hi-key etc.) via Dropbox, only one image is transferred or will you get the original image plus the manipulated ones?

[Note: This would normally be the case if you set the image option to "automatic" in iOS and transfer JPG images but not when transferring .HEIC-files (iOS setting "keep originals") via Windows app.]

Mabuse777 Said:

"Dear Apple team, would you please finally start working on this!!!!”

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Leave Apple Feedback:

Refer to my Reply that has been marked as"helpful”. Note that Apple barely reads these replies as it is.