iPhone Not Sending or Receiving Pictures? 10 Fixes That Work

Quick Answer

If your iPhone won’t send or receive pictures, the fix depends on the bubble colour. Green bubbles (MMS/SMS): turn on Settings » Messages » MMS Messaging, and check your data connection. Blue bubbles (iMessage): make sure iMessage is enabled, check Apple’s System Status page, and confirm you have signal and storage. If nothing works, reset network settings, restart, update iOS, or contact your carrier. Nine times out of ten it’s the MMS toggle or a network glitch.

Many iPhone users hit a frustrating problem: pictures won’t send or receive in Messages. A red exclamation mark and “Not Delivered” appears every time, and no image or download link shows up — pushing people to WhatsApp or Snapchat instead of iMessage and MMS. The good news: this is almost always fixable in a couple of minutes. Below are ten fixes, split by whether your problem is with regular text (MMS) or iMessage.

iMessage vs Text Message: Know Which You’re Dealing With

Before fixing anything, identify which system is failing — it tells you exactly which fixes to try. iMessage works only between Apple devices, sends over Wi-Fi or mobile data, is end-to-end encrypted, and shows in blue bubbles. Text messages (SMS/MMS) work on any phone, send over your carrier’s SIM network, and show in green bubbles. So: green-bubble picture failures are an MMS problem; blue-bubble failures are an iMessage problem. If you also need to receive texts from another number, that’s possible too.

Fixing Green Bubbles (MMS / Text Message)

If the failing picture message has green bubbles, it’s almost certainly an MMS setting or network issue. Work through these in order.

1. Turn On MMS Messaging

MMS Messaging must be enabled to send pictures or media in a text. If it’s off, picture texts will fail. Go to Settings » Messages, scroll to MMS Messaging, and switch it on (for both SIMs if you use dual SIM).

2. Check Your Internet Connection

A weak signal or a carrier tower issue can break picture messaging. Toggle your Cellular Data or Wi-Fi off and back on, or switch Airplane Mode on for a few seconds and off again, to force a fresh connection.

3. Reset Network Settings

If toggling data and Wi-Fi doesn’t help, reset your network settings (this clears Wi-Fi passwords but fixes many connectivity bugs). Go to Settings » General » Transfer or Reset iPhone » Reset, then choose Reset Network Settings and follow the prompts.

4. Contact Your Carrier

If none of the above works, your carrier can refresh the MMS configuration from their end. Ask them to reset or re-push your MMS settings, then restart your phone and test again.

Fixing Blue Bubbles (iMessage)

If the “Not Delivered” message is a blue bubble, the problem is with iMessage rather than MMS. These fixes target that.

5. Make Sure iMessage Is Enabled

Go to Settings » Messages and confirm iMessage is switched on. Restart your phone and try again. Note the sender needs iMessage working too, so a failure can sometimes be on their end.

6. Check Apple’s System Status

Occasionally the problem is Apple’s, not yours. Visit Apple’s System Status page and look at iMessage: green means the service is up, while red or yellow means there’s an outage and you simply need to wait it out.

7. Check iPhone Storage

Insufficient storage can cause “Not Delivered” errors when sending pictures. Go to Settings » General » iPhone Storage, and clear out unwanted data if you’re low. Restart and test again.

8. Restart Your iPhone

The classic fix, and often the fastest. A restart clears temporary software glitches from background processes — a quick refresh resolves a surprising number of messaging problems on its own.

9. Try a Different Contact

Send a picture to another contact to work out whether the problem is one specific conversation or all of them. If it’s just one contact, tap the red exclamation mark and choose to send it as a text message instead.

10. Update iOS

If an iOS update is pending, install it — Apple fixes many messaging bugs in updates. Go to Settings » General » Software Update. While updates usually fix issues, if your trouble started immediately after an update, a follow-up patch is often released quickly.

Still Not Working?

If you’ve worked through all ten and pictures still won’t send, the issue is likely account- or hardware-related — sign out and back into your Apple ID (Settings » your name), or book a Genius Bar appointment. For other common device fixes, our guide on fixing the YouTube app when it crashes tackles a related everyday annoyance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can’t my iPhone send pictures but texts work fine?
Plain texts use SMS, but pictures need MMS (green bubbles) or iMessage (blue bubbles). The most common cause is MMS Messaging being turned off — enable it in Settings » Messages.

Why do my pictures fail only to Android users?
Those go as MMS, not iMessage. If MMS is off or your data connection is weak, picture messages to Android phones fail while iMessages to iPhones still work.

Does resetting network settings delete my data?
No — it only clears saved Wi-Fi passwords, VPN and network configurations, not your photos, messages or apps. You’ll just need to rejoin Wi-Fi networks.

Why did picture messaging break after an iOS update?
Updates occasionally reset or change messaging settings. Check MMS Messaging and iMessage are still enabled, and watch for a follow-up patch, which Apple usually releases quickly.

How do I know if it’s an Apple outage?
Check Apple’s System Status page — if iMessage shows red or yellow, the problem is on Apple’s side and will resolve once service is restored.