Unable to use spatial scene mode on iPhone in iOS 26? Here’s the fix

Find out what to do if you cannot view your pictures in 3D spatial scene in the Photos app or set them as moving Lock Screen wallpaper on iPhone or iPad in iOS 26.

To refresh your memory, iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 allow you to tap a button in the Photos app to view almost any image as a 3D spatial scene. When you move or tilt your iPhone, the image comes to life, thanks to a new depth effect that’s generated from your 2D photo.

Similarly, when setting a picture as your Lock Screen wallpaper, just tap the spatial scene icon to have a 3D Lock Screen background. This wallpaper, too, gets a depth effect and has subtle motion when you move your iPhone.

However, if you’re unable to use spatial scenes mode in Photos or as Lock Screen wallpaper, you may see errors like “Cannot Load Photo” or “Failed to load Spatial Scene. Unable to load model. Try again later.” The tips below will help fix the issue.

Have a supported device

Even though iPhone 11 and newer support iOS 26, the spatial scenes feature is only available on iPhone 12 and later models.

On the iPad side of things, spatial scene is available on these devices:

• iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 12.9‑inch (5th generation and later)
• iPad Pro 11‑inch (3rd generation and later)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2 and M3)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2 and M3)
• iPad Air 11-inch (5th generation)
• iPad mini (A17 Pro)
• iPad mini (6th generation)

One more thing to note is that this isn’t an Apple Intelligence feature per se. So, you should be able to create spatial scenes even if your device doesn’t support Apple Intelligence or you have turned it off.

Turn on this feature in Photos settings

The option to view photos as spatial scenes is enabled by default. But if you don’t see its hexagonal button in the Photos app, follow these steps to turn it on:

1. Open iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 Settings and tap Apps from the bottom.
2. Select Photos from the list of applications.
3. Turn on Control for Creating Spatial Photos.

Now, return to the Photos app, tap a picture, and you should see the spatial scene button. If you don’t, force quit and reopen the Photos app or try another image.

Use the right image

You can view most photos in spatial scenes or use them as Lock Screen wallpaper. This includes years-old photos taken not only on an iPhone but also on any other smartphone or digital camera.

However, the spatial scene feature works best with pictures that have a clear subject or at least some discernible subject, allowing Apple’s advanced computer vision techniques to construct a 3D effect from a 2D image.

Note that you can’t use spatial scene with screenshots.

Make sure the full image is downloaded from iCloud

If you use iCloud Photos, chances are your full-resolution photos are saved to iCloud, and a smaller, space-optimized version is saved on the device. Viewing in spatial scene or setting that image as Lock Screen wallpaper works when you have the full resolution image on the device.

Simply start editing a photo, and your device should download the full version of that image from iCloud. Then, you can abandon editing and view it in spatial scene instead. Alternatively, you can go to iPhone or iPad Settings > iCloud > Photos and choose to Download and Keep Originals instead of Optimize iPhone Storage. This will save full-resolution photos on the device, and thus you’ll have no trouble viewing them as engaging spatial scenes.

While trying to retrieve the full image from iCloud, ensure you have a stable Wi-Fi or cellular data connection and disable VPN if you’re using one. If you have network issues, you may see errors like ‘Cannot Load Photo.’

Don’t zoom on the image

The spatial scene button will disappear for a picture in the Photos app if you have zoomed in on it. Simply view the image without any zoom and then tap the spatial scene button.

Turn off Low Power Mode

Your 3D Lock Screen wallpaper won’t have any motion if your iPhone or iPad is in Low Power Mode. This is by design to save battery. Turn off this battery saving mode to enjoy moving spatial scene wallpaper on the Lock Screen.

Free up space on your iPhone or iPad

If you don’t have at least a few GBs of free space on your iPhone or iPad, delete unneeded apps, media, photos, and videos to make space.

Restart your device

Spatial scene may not work in the Photos app or as Lock Screen background because of temporary glitches. Simply turn your iPhone off and back on to address such inconveniences.

Update to the latest version of iOS 26 or iPadOS 26

If your iPhone is running an early version of iOS 26 or iOS 26 beta, update it to the most recent version.

Reset all settings

Finally, if nothing works, reset all iPhone or iPad settings and then retry.

Which of the above solutions helped fix the spatial scene issue for you?

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/11/10/fix-spatial-scene-issues-iphone/