Fix ‘there was an error while preparing to share’ on iPhone

by
error while preparing to share

While trying to share content on your iPhone, you may have been irritated by a prompt with an error message that prevents you from sharing. The error is usually accompanied by the message ‘There was an error while preparing to share. Please try again later.”

This error may be due to issues with your iOS system, internet connection problems or both.

Solutions to ‘There was an error while preparing to share. Please try again later’ error on iPhone

If you are encountering this error, here are some solutions to try out:

1. Check your internet connection

Sharing photos on your device requires a stable internet connection. This explains why checking your internet connection should be your first step. For instance, the error message may come up when your internet connection gets slow or weak thereby interrupting your uploads.

To solve this, you simply need to switch to a stable internet connection. For example, if you are using a Wi-Fi network you need to change to cellular data or another Wi-Fi network. Try sharing content again after switching your connection.

Read Also: How to recover photos from a dead iPhone

2. Check the low power mode

Low power mode helps to reduce your battery power consumption by limiting some features. When this mode is turned on, you may have problems with sharing content.

In particular, this happens when your device detects that such operations are consuming a significant amount of power. Turning the low power mode off can help to fix the content sharing problem.

To it off low power mode on iOS:

  • Go to Settings > Battery
  • Select Low Power mode
  • Tap to turn it off

Try again to check if the issue is fixed.

3. Reboot your device

Rebooting your phone is one of the simplest methods, but it works quite well in many instances. A reboot allows your device to restart afresh to factory settings and will work, in particular, when there are some settings that could be interfering with the content you want to share.

4. Turn iCloud photos library off then back on

You can restart the iCloud photos library in the settings. This procedure will clear up any issues that lead to the error message.

To restart it:

  • Go to Settings > Click on your name
  • Tap your Apple ID > iCloud
  • Select Photos
  • Turn off iCloud Photo Library
  • Choose remove from iPhone then turn it on again.

Note that after doing this, all your photos on iCloud are gone, but not to worry because they restore after a while. It can take up to 48 hours, depending on how large your content is. You may then try sharing your content again.

Read Also: Fix camera roll out of order after iOS update

5. Log on then back to your iCloud account

You can also try to log out of your iCloud account then back, that is if you are using iCloud as the medium of sharing your content.

To do this:

  • Go Settings
  • Tap your name to open the iCloud panel
  • Tap on Sign Out at the bottom, you will have signed out of your account.

Wait for some minutes then log back in with your iCloud credentials and retry sharing your content to see if it worked.

6. Using a third-party iOS app to fix error while preparing to share

When all the above methods fail to fix the problem, then you may be required to install a third-party iOS app to enable you to share your content. AnyTrans for iOS is an example of such an app; it allows you to share files between your smartphones and computers.

Hopefully, you have managed to fix the error and you can now share content on your iOS device. If you are still encountering the ‘There was an error while preparing to share. Please try again later” error or if you have found a better solution, let us know in the comments below.