Fix: “Error Occurred while Loading a Higher Quality” on iPhone

It’s frustrating beyond words when you can’t view your photos or videos on your phone. This situation is unfortunately true for many iPhone users at some point, when they try to open photos or videos on their iPhone and are greeted with the following type of message:

For some users, the issue occurs after transferring data from an old iPhone to a new one. Some other users can face it even with a brand-new iPhone. In some cases, the message appears when taking a photo or video.

There can be a lot of reasons for a user to face the message, ‘An error has occurred while loading a higher quality version of this video’ (or photo), but the following reasons can be considered the main ones:

Add or Remove the Problematic Video to the Favorites in Photos

A temporary glitch in the iPhone’s multimedia modules may prevent videos from playing on the iPhone. Here, adding (or removing) the problematic video to factories may clear the error. But before that, make sure there is enough space available on iCloud. If there isn’t, make some extra space – either by purchasing an iCloud subscription or deleting some old data from the iCloud.

1. Launch the Photos app on the iPhone and select the problematic file.

2. Now tap on the Heart icon to add the video to favorites.

3. Then remove the video from the favorites and check if the video can be played without any error.

Perform a Hard Restart of the iPhone

A temporary glitch in the iPhone modules may result in this error, as essential components fail to execute in time. Here, performing a hard restart of the iPhone may clear the high-quality loading error. But before that, make sure the iPhone is not operating in its Low Power Mode as it can affect the phone’s ability to sync with iCloud servers.

1. Press the volume up button of the iPhone and then release it.
2. Now, quickly press and release the volume down of the iPhone.
3. Then press and hold the side button of the iPhone until the Apple logo is shown.

4. Now release the iPhone’s side button and wait till the iPhone is powered on.
5. Then, check if the phone is clear of the loading high-quality error.
6. If that fails, lock the iPhone and put it on charging.
7. Once the iPhone is fully charged, check if the phone is now clear of the error.
8. If not, plug the iPhone into a system (like a Windows PC) and open iTunes on the system to check if the problematic files (photos or videos) are opening correctly in iTunes.

Update the iOS of the Phone to the Latest Build

A user may fail to load high-quality photos or videos on his iPhone if the phone’s iOS is outdated as it can create incompatibility between different OS modules (especially, iCloud servers) when the related components fail to load properly. Here, you may be able to fix the error by updating the iOS of the phone to the latest build.

1. Firstly, fully charge the iPhone and connect it to a Wi-Fi network.
2. Now launch the iPhone’s Settings and select General.

3. Now tap on Software Update and if an update of iOS is available, download and install the update.

4. Once updated, restart the iPhone, and upon restart, check if it is clear of the ‘loading a higher quality’ error message.

If that did not work, make sure the iCloud account in use is not locked. A user may check by logging onto the iCloud website through a browser.

Disable and Enable the Photos Sync of iCloud

A temporary communication glitch between the iPhone and iCloud may also cause an issue as the file cannot be retrieved from iCloud in real time. In this scenario, disabling and enabling the Photos sync of iCloud may clear the loading error.

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and tap on the Apple ID.
2. Now select iCloud and open Photos.

3. Then disable iCloud Photos by toggling its switch to the off position.

4. Now disable Upload to My Photo Stream and then restart the iPhone.

5. Upon restart, enable back iCloud Photos and Upload them to My Photo Stream.
6. Then check if the iPhone is clear of the loading error.

Tap the Edit Button for the Video in the Photos App

The issue might also occur due to a temporary glitch in the iPhone’s multimedia modules as the phone fails to properly load these essential modules when playing the video. Here, tapping the Edit button before opening the video may clear the error.

1. Launch the Photos app and select the video.
2. Now tap on the Edit button and once the edit interface is shown, tap Revert.

3. Then tap on Revert to Original and check if the video can be played without triggering the high-quality error.
4. If that did not work, check if duplicating the video file in the Photos app clears the error.
5. If not, check if importing the problematic video to iMovie and playing through it solves the problem.
6. If the issue persists, install the Metapho app, launch it, tap on the 4 Assets button, select FullSizedRender.mov, tap on the video thumbnail, wait till the red loading bar completes, and then check if the issue is resolved.
7. If that did not work, head to CloudConvert.com, upload the problematic video to the website, convert it to a .mov file (although, the file may already be in .mov format), and then check if the converted video is clear of the loading error.

Manually Re-Back up the iPhone via iCloud

A temporary glitch between the iPhone and iCloud servers may lead to the pictures/videos loading error at hand as the phone fails to retrieve the higher quality image/video from iCloud. In this scenario, a user may fix an error that has occurred while loading a higher quality version of this video or photo by manually re-backing up the user’s iPhone via iCloud. Before proceeding, it would be better to connect the iPhone to a Wi-Fi connection.

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and tap on the Apple ID.
2. Now select iCloud and open Backup.

3. Then tap on Back Up Now and wait till the process completes.

4. Once done, check if the loading of higher-quality images/videos issue is cleared.
5. If the issue persists and the problematic photos/videos issue persists even with a different iPhone (still in the user’s possession), check if re-syncing the photos/videos from the other iPhone to the iCloud and then from the iCloud to the newer iPhone clears the error.
6. If not, head to text messages on the iPhone and check if sending a photo through the text message clears the error.

Change the iCloud Storage Mode to Download and Keep Originals

To save precious storage space on iPhone, iPhone may be configured to save low-quality photos/videos on its internal memory and the high-quality versions of photos/videos are stored on the iCloud website. A user’s iPhone may consequently show an error occurred while loading a higher quality version of this video or photo, if the phone is failing to retrieve the image/video from the iCloud in real-time.

In this situation, changing the storage mode to Download and Keep Originals may solve the problem as the original quality will be synced back to the user’s phone.

1. Close the Photos app on the iPhone and launch its Settings.
2. Now tap on the Apple ID and open iCloud.
3. Then select Photos and enable Download and Keep Originals.

4. Now restart your iPhone and upon restart, put the phone in airplane mode.

5. Then wait for 10 seconds and afterward, disable the phone’s airplane mode.
6. Now launch Photos and tap on the problematic photo/video to check if the loading error is cleared.

Disable View Full HDR in the Photos App

HDR (High Dynamic Range) is used to balance the shadows and highlights of an image or video but this feature may cause the error at hand if the phone fails to load the image with full HDR (shadows and highlights). In this case, disabling viewing of full HDR in the phone’s settings may clear the high-quality error.

1. Open the iPhone Settings and tap on the Apple ID.
2. Now open iCloud and select Photos.
3. Now disable View Full HDR by toggling its switch to the off position.

4. Then restart the iPhone and upon restart, check if the high-quality issue is cleared.

Disable Cellular Data in Photos

If the Photos app is trying to retrieve data through the cellular data but is failing to do so, then disabling cellular data in Photos may clear the error. Before that, make sure the iPhone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. 

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and tap on the Apple ID.
2. Now select iCloud and open Photos.
3. Then tap on Cellular Data and disable it.
4. Now hit the back button and disable Auto-Play Videos and Live Photos.

5. Then restart the iPhone and upon restart, enable Cellular Data for Photos and Auto-Play Videos and Live Photos.
6. Now check if the iPhone is clear of the loading error of photos or videos.

Edit the Camera Settings of the iPhone

There are certain iPhone’s Camera Settings (like 4K) that may cause a high-quality loading error when playing a video as the phone fails to properly parse the video codecs. In this context, editing the related Camera Settings of the iPhone may clear the issue.

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and open the Camera.

2. Now tap on Formats and select Most Compatible.

3. Then hit the back button and disable Smart HDR by toggling its switch to the off position.

4. Now open Preserve Settings and set the Camera Mode to on.
5. Then restart the iPhone and upon restart, check if the problematic videos are clear of the high-quality loading error.
6. If not, launch the iPhone’s Settings and open the Camera.
7. Now select Record Video to 4K at 60 FPS and then check if the phone is clear of the loading error.

8. If the issue persists, check if setting Record Video in the iPhone’s Camera Settings to 1080P HD at 30 FPS solves the problem.

Reset the iPhone to the Factory Defaults

If the issue persists, then corruption in the iOS of the phone could be the reason for the high-quality loading error for an image/video. In this case, resetting the iPhone to its factory defaults may clear the error (although not the easiest route to go).

1. Firstly, create a backup of the essential info/data of the iPhone.
2. Now open the iPhone Settings and tap on General.
3. Then select Reset and open Reset All Content and Settings.

4. Now tap on Erase iPhone and wait till the phone is reverted to its factory
5. Once done, set up the iPhone and hopefully, it will be clear of high-quality loading error.
6. If not, check if restoring iPhone to an earlier backup solves the problem.

If none of the above worked, you should download the problematic photos/videos to a PC from the iCloud website and transfer them to the iPhone. If the videos fail to open in the Mac’s Photos app, check if using the Edit With option in the Mac’s Photos app solves the problem.

In the case of a PC, a user could try using OpenShot Video Editor to open the problematic video files and export them to the iPhone. If that does not work, check if booting the system into Safe Mode lets a user edit/export the problematic video files. If that also does not work, make sure the problematic file is not damaged or corrupt i.e., a video that was in the middle of being taken when the iPhone suddenly powers off can damage the encoding and make it corrupt.