iPhone 16 Pro Photo Sharing Issue – iOS 18.6 Bug

I’m using the iPhone 16 Pro running iOS 18.6, and for the past two days, I’ve been facing a serious and unexpected issue. Whenever I try to share photos—whether via Mail, WhatsApp, or other apps—the photo gets stuck on “Preparing,” and the process never completes. Eventually, an error message appears, and the share attempt fails. This happens consistently with photos taken using the iPhone’s camera. Interestingly, some images captured with third-party apps like Snapchat can still be shared without any issue.

I’ve already tried all basic troubleshooting steps:

• Restarted the phone
• Reset all settings
• Deleted and reinstalled WhatsApp
• Yet, the issue persists.

What’s more concerning is that my device occasionally freezes, and I had to force restart it once due to a complete hang. I have ample free storage, so space is not the issue. For a top-tier flagship device, this is extremely disappointing—especially in real-world scenarios where I need to share photos instantly, such as with colleagues. It’s embarrassing not to be able to send a simple image while mid-range Android phones can do this without a problem.

I understand iOS 26 may be launching next month, but waiting that long is not a viable solution. I sincerely hope someone from Apple sees this and pushes a bug fix or update to address this problem.

Until then, I would appreciate any guidance or workaround to temporarily resolve this issue.