Clean Up AI tool in Photos app fails on iPhone 17 Pro Max

Are you connected to Wi-Fi when trying this feature? As far as I remember, the iPhone has to connect to Apple servers via Wi-Fi to render your photo.

Also make sure no VPN is active.

Try a forced restart: 

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

This is different from a simple Power Off. For me, the logo appears  5 or 10 seconds past the "slide to power off" message. Wait for the logo; don't do the slide thing. 

While Clean Up doesn't require connection to wifi, if it hasn't been used for awhile it may need to download some stuff to get going again. Downloads work best if you find good wifi, plug the phone in, and leave it alone.

There a usage limit and variable reset timer. When Apple servers are less busy you’ll be able to do it. It’s bad on Apple’s part to say that error they should’ve said reached limit or servers are too busy.

I think that Apple is limiting the clean up tool for some time after you use it intensively, which is stupid but is the only reasonable answer. I just got this issue like 8 hours ago after using the clean up on high quality for like 5-6 pictures (there was a lot to erase) and then I started having this issue pop up. Although if you use the fast mode it should work, since it’s not based on Apple servers and relies completely on your device's engine. I hope this issue will pass after 24 hours.

Well, I was using the Clean Up feature on some photos after upgrading to iOS 27. However, while cleaning up one photo, it got stuck. I couldn't go back or forward in the gallery because the Photos app had completely frozen.

After I swiped up and closed the app, the Clean Up function stopped working entirely. It didn't work even on photos that I had successfully cleaned up just 10–15 minutes before the error occurred. I also restarted my phone, but that didn't help either.

AI tools were working last night after a batch of edits, now completely not working. So frustrating! I have a feeling that Apple servers are busy and there could be a limit which Apple has not publicly notify users. If there is a limit, the error message should be transparent and notify users to retry again after xx hours.

18 pro max iOS 27 & same thing happening to me

And yes Apple is limiting it… it seems to be by device though.

[Edited by Moderator]

I reached the clean up limit after working on one photo, maybe four or five clean ups. This is pretty miserly from Apple, in fact, making it completely useless for me. Won’t be using it again!

I followed exactly the same steps from the link you provided. After restarting, it took about 5–10 seconds and showed “Preparing for Clean Up.” Later, when I tried to clean up an object, it threw the same error again.

I’m having the same error on iPad Air. Was working fine for days, then it stopped. I did the long forced restart multiple times. Still get error. Fast cleanup works along with reframe and extend. I have a very fast connection. I don’t have a vpn. It’s not from Apple limits or usage overuse. Works on my iPhone. I’ve turned Siri and Siri AI off, but that doesn’t relate. Anything else I can do?

I’m going to try every few days, wait till 27.2 comes out and if that doesn’t fix it I’m going to wipe my iPad and see what happens. If it doesn’t work then it’s an Apple problem as everything else tests out here.

I used to use cleanup tool all the time and while it wasn’t the best it was still pretty good at cleaning up pictures although if you used it for more than like a half an hour, it did take a long time to clean up. Now after updating to iOS 27 the minute I start doing a cleanup on a eanup takes anywhere from 10 to 15 seconds -after working for almost a half an hour on a picture, picture just closed out and I lost everything . Restarting my phone does not help. This is clearly an iOS 27 issue. Apple always making things worse instead of better I’m so annoyed!!! Anyone tried anything else?

Exac what happened to me yesterday. I restated my phone went 3 hours before trying it again and it still didn’t work.

waited until this morning and just tried it and still didn’t work.

Lots of people having this issue so it’s an Apple problem. Just another fix Apple needs to fix.