Photos app on iPhone 16 Pro displays 'Creation Unavailable' error for memories

When I try to create a memory in the Photos app on my iPhone 16 Pro, it starts the process for a second and then shows "Creation Unavailable – Certain capabilities are unavailable at this time. Try again later."

I'm on iOS 27.1. Apple Intelligence was working fine on iOS 26 (I could make Genmoji and stickers), and after updating to iOS 27 I joined the Siri AI (Beta) waitlist, which is now active. Siri and device language are both set to English (UK).

I've restarted the phone, left it charging overnight on Wi-Fi, and tried different prompts, but I still get the same error.

Is Photos still processing my library after the upgrade, or is there something else I need to turn on? Has anyone found a fix?

iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 27.1

Posted on Oct 20, 2026 12:21 AM

2 replies

Richard.Taylor

Level 7 (25,466 points)

Oct 20, 2026 7:12 AM in response to faizrazadec

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.

faizrazadec Author

Level 1 (4 points)

Oct 20, 2026 9:12 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Force restart didn't work. It still shows the same error. I attached the SS.

[Edited by Moderator]