Top 6 Fixes to Shared Albums not Showing Up on iPhone

To make it easy and convenient to share content among Apple devices, Apple keeps on introducing new features, and iCloud Shared Albums is one of them, helping you transfer photos from iPhone to iPhone. However, it seems that the errors like Shared Albums not showing up on iPhone happen sometimes, so here comes this guide.

In this guide, you'll know how iCloud shared albums feature works, and get effective solutions to troubleshoot shared album not working. Let's get started. 

Why Are Your Shared Albums not Showing on iPhone?

The Shared Albums feature, formerly named iCloud Photo Sharing, helps you share photos and videos with your friends, family, or your other Apple devices. It also allows your friends and family who can see the shared album to like, comment, and upload their own photos and videos.

When you can't see Shared albums on your iPhone, it can result from one of the following reasons: 
⛔ There is something wrong with relative Apple service.
⛔ The iCloud photo link has expired.
⛔ Poor internet or Wi-Fi connection can hinder album synchronization.
⛔ Out of internet and device conditions, the Shared Albums sync may delay.

The issue will also happen if you fail to set up Shared Album properly. Before troubleshooting, you may also need to follow the instructions below to check whether you have set up iCloud Shared Albumes correctly. 

How to Set up Shared Albums on iPhone

# How to enable iCloud Shared Albums on iPhone
Please make sure you’ve turned on iCloud Shared Albums on iPhone: Go to the Settings app > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then toggle on Shared Albums. You also need to make sure that iCloud Photos is enabled.

# How to accept shared album on iPhone
Before getting photos and videos from Shared Albums on iPhone, you’ll need to accept the Shared Album invite. To accept an invitation: Go to your Photos app > Tap the For You tab > The invite should appear at the top of the list > Tap Accept.

Make sure you’ve set up Shared Albums properly on your iPhone when you're using the feature, or the Shared Albums may fail to show up on your iPhone. However, sometimes, Shared Albums is not working correctly on iPhone due to some reasons listed below.

Top 6 Fixes to Shared Albums not Showing up on iPhone

There are 6 solutions to the issue iCloud Shared Album not working on iPhone. You can try these fixes one after another until you can get Shared Albums. Optionally, you can try the shortcut in the next part to share selective photos between iPhones with your friend and family.

Solution 1. Check Apple System Status

Every time you encounter any issues when you’re using Apple devices, you need to go to Apple System Status first to check if the service is down. If you can see a green light beside Photos, then turn to the next solution. Or, just in case, you need to wait for Apple to fix the problem.

Solution 2. Make Sure the iCloud Photo Link hasn’t Expired

iCloud Photo link expired after 30 days. If you accept the Shared Albums invite using sharing link, you can't get Shared Albums on iPhone because shared album invitation not working when the link has expired. You may receive a message saying “Fail to Retrieve”.

If this happens, you’ll need to get access to Shared Albums using a new sharing link or in other ways.

Solution 3. Check Network Connection

Shared Albums works based on iCloud, which means that it requires a stable Internet connection to function properly. If you find Shared Album disappeared on iPhone, it may result from internet connectivity issues, and may be the answer to your question, "Why can't I receive shared album invitations?"

Open a web browser to check if your Wi-Fi is working properly. If necessary, you can reset network settings by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. Enter your password to make it.

Now, connect to your WiFi to see if your issue is solved.

Solution 4. Turn off & on Shared Albums

If there is nothing wrong with Apple System Status or your network connection, just turn off Shared Albums feature and re-enable it. Sometimes iPhone may get stuck and make iPhone Shared Album not working, so that some functions like Shared Albums will not be working temporarily, and simply switching off and on again can solve the issue most of the time. Just open Settings > [your profile] > iCloud > Photos to locate Shared Albums to turn it off and on again.

Solution 5. Turn off Low Power Mode

Have you enabled Low Power Mode on iPhone? In Low Power Mode, most functions including Shared Albums will be turned off. That’s may the reason why Shared Albums not showing up on iPhone.

Please turn off Low Power Mode to let Shared Albums work again. Go to Settings on your iPhone > Battery to turn it off.

Solution 6. Update iOS to the latest version

You may need to keep an eye on iOS updating since it updates frequently. If you don’t update the iOS to the latest version in time, you may encounter kinds of troubles, including Shared Albums not showing up on iPhone.

You can go to Settings > General > Software Update to have a check. If there is an update available, Tap Download and Install to update it.

Shortcut: Share Photos Among iDevices in Real-Time via AOMEI FoneBackup

AOMEI FoneBackup, a professional iOS data transfer tool, can help you scan all photos on your iPhone and choose selective photos to transfer to computer/iOS devices. If the Shared Albums are not showing on iPhone, you can simply rely on AOMEI FoneBackup to share photos between iPhone with your friends and family. You are also able to access photos in Shared Album by transferring hidden photos from iPhone to computer first. 

What's more, rather than a transfer tool, the Shared Albums feature is more like a private social media for you and your family and friends. However, sharing photos with it may have a matter of privacy.  

Best iOS Data Transfer Tool - AOMEI FoneBackup
👍 Transfer all wanted photos: Be free to transfer photos from different albumsat a time, such as Camera Roll, Photos Library, or any other folders that save photos.
👍 Super fast transfer speed:  Transfer and get files at a fast speed without any effort, like 100 photos in 3 seconds.
👍 Offline transfer service: Get the transferred files without Internet connection.
👍  No data loss: No harm to previous files on your device, and save the transferred files in their original quality.

AOMEI FoneBackup must be one of the best choices for you. Download the top freeware phone tools - AOMEI FoneBackup to your computer and have a try. You can follow the steps below to look for photos in Shared Albums, as well as share photos with your family and friends. 

Steps to share photos between iPhone to iPhone
Step 1. Connect the source iPhone to computer > Launch AOMEI FoneBackup > Click Phone Transfer on its homepage > Go to iPhone to PC and click Start Transfer.

Step 2. Click the + icon > Check the Photos icon to preview and select photos from your iPhone, the share albums should be listed in the middle pane if they are hidden > Click OK to confirm. You can pick the wanted videos or music at the same time.

Step 3. Click Start Transfer > Choose a destination to save these photos > Click Transfer to start.

Step 4. Unplug the source iPhone and plug the target iPhone into the computer > Click Phone Transfer > Go to PC to iPhone instead.

Step 5. Click the add icon to add the transferred files to the box > Click Open to continue. You can also drag and drop files from the folder that saves the files to the box > Click Start Transfer to save them to the target iPhone.

Conclusion

That’s all about the top 6 fixes to Shared Albums not showing up on iPhone. Hope you can get access to Shared Albums on iPhone now.

The Shared Albums function is not the only way to share photos and videos between iOS devices. You could try a simpler and faster way - AOMEI FoneBackup and it even supports you to transfer photos from Android to iPhone.