Unofficial archive. This is a read-only, community-run archive of the Apple Support Community. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.
MikeSperacedes
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

How do I fix 'Photos cannot be edited' error on my Apple device?

I have started receiving the message in my photos that "photos cannot be edited" and there appears to be no fix, has anyone an idea how this can be fixed?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Editing photos

Posted on Sep 19, 2026 9:30 AM

3 replies

Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7 (25,466 points)

Sep 22, 2026 8:47 AM in response to MikeSperacedes

Storage is often a problem. While having 10% of your storage free is absolutely necessary, I had crazy things happen on my 1 TB MacAir when storage I had 120GB free. It cleared up when I got to 150 GB free of 1000 GB.


Many operations use the Mac's empty storage space to move files around. If you run out of storage, then those operations may not be able to be completed and, ironically, that can mean that even deleting doesn't work. This is also true if your iCloud storage space gets low.

MikeSperacedes Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Sep 22, 2026 4:45 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks, as it turns out it was a storage (your point 11) which once I started clearing past downloads, having found out how to do this, cleared the problem

Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 7 (25,466 points)

Sep 20, 2026 6:51 AM in response to MikeSperacedes

To narrow things down, try these steps:

  • Restart the computer (of course)
  • Re-start in Safe Mode. This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 


It's not very clear what you are doing. Can you tell us a bit more?

  1. Does this apply to all pictures, or only certain ones?
  2. What model is your Mac? What macOS does it use?
  3. Do you have more than one Photos Library? If so
  4. …are you sure that you are looking at the System Library?
  5. Where does your Mac's Photos Library reside-- in the Pictures folder of your internal drive, or on an external drive? or on a network? on iCloud drive?
  6. Are you using iCloud Photos to synchronize your devices? If so
  7. …Do you have “Optimize Storage” checked in Photos’ Settings
  8. …Do you see all your Mac’s Photos  pictures at iCloud.com?
  9. …Have you checked to see if the Apple Account is really really the same on the Mac and at iCloud.com?
  10. …What is your storage at iCloud.com? At System Settings>[name]>iCloud>Storage , my Mac says 176 GB of 200 GB used. What does yours say?
  11. What is your storage on this Mac? At System Settings>General> Storage, my Mac says 745 GB of 1TBB used. What does yours say?
  12. Can you think of anything that changed that might affect your device?



Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256360598