Videos Stuck on ‘Preparing Video’, Fix
Several users have reported that they are unable to view or edit their videos using the Photos app or the Camera app on the iPhone or iPad. More specifically, users have said that their videos are stuck on “Preparing Video” along with a clock-like progress bar when they attempt to edit them. Some users have further said that their unedited videos show this Preparing Video message.
This message is supposed to appear briefly for a few seconds at the bottom left of your screen while your image is being processed or until your edited video is ready.
The Photos app lets you customize, add a filter, crop, trim, or rotate your videos. This is an important problem. For example, several users want to edit their videos before sharing them such as emailing or uploading to Youtube. If you are having this issue, you will not be able to edit or share your videos.
In this article we will explain how you can fix this issue.
Preparing Video error fix
Try these first:
To fix this problem, first, try to restart your device and then ensure that your iPhone or iPad has the latest version of iOS or iPadOS. You can go to Settings > General > Software Update to update your device to the latest version of the software. When you update the iOS or iPadOS software, all of its apps including Photos will also be updated.
If you are still having issues, some users have said that adding (and then removing from your Favorites album) your problematic photo or video to Favorites in Photos fixed this problem for them. Here is how:
- Find the video or photo that is stuck.
- Tap the heart icon in the toolbar.
- Then tap the heart icon again.
You can also restart the Photos app and the Camera app. Here is how:
- Open the recently used apps screen:
- iPhone X or later and iPad without a Home button models: Go to your Home screen and swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- Other iPhone and iPad models: Double press the Home button.
- Find the Photos and Camera app preview icons. You can swipe left or right.
- Swipe up on the apps’ preview.
- Then open the Photos app and try again.
Force restart
Force restart your device. This is also called Hard Reset. Doing so will not delete your data like your photos, videos etc. Here is how you can do this:
iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 or newer iPhone models and iPad without Home button models:
- Press and release the volume up button
- Press and release the volume down button
- Press and hold the side button until you see the Apple logo.
iPhone 7
- Press and hold the sleep/wake button and the volume down button together until you see the Apple logo.
iPad with Home button, iPhone 6s or earlier
- Press and hold the Home button and the side or top (sleep/wake) button at the same time until the Apple logo appears.
See also: