My phone photos are not backing up

Photo backup is on but your photos stay waiting, fail or are skipped? Check the backup status, then the settings and the phone's own limits.

Updated October 22, 2026AndroidiOS

Symptoms

Backup is on, but new photos do not appear in Drime.
Photos stay Queued, or the backup status shows Errors.
Some photos show Skipped, will retry on the next scan.
Automatic backup is off appears in the backup status.

Checks

Open Settings > Backup, then View Backup Status (also in the transfers sheet), and look at the counters: Detected, Backed up, Uploaded, Duplicates, Errors, Uploading and Queued.
In Settings > Backup, check that the switch shows Backup is ON in the workspace you are looking at: each workspace has its own setting.
Check that Drime still has access to your photos, in your phone's settings.
Check your connection: by default, photos are backed up over Wi-Fi only.
If Require charging is on, plug in your phone.
Check that your Drime storage is not full.

How to fix it

#Backup is off

If the status shows Automatic backup is off, tap Open backup settings and turn backup on. See Back up your phone's photos and videos.

#Photo access required

If the app shows Photo access required, Drime can no longer read your photos. Open your phone's settings, find the Drime app, allow access to your photos, then come back to the app.

#Photos waiting for Wi-Fi

By default, Drime does not use mobile data. Connect to Wi-Fi, or turn on Use mobile data in Settings > Backup.

#Photos in error

In Backup Status, tap Retry all. Transfers interrupted by a network loss resume on their own when Auto-resume transfers is on, which is the default.

#Skipped photos

A photo marked Skipped, will retry on the next scan is tried again automatically. A photo marked Already backed up is already in Drime: an identical file is never uploaded twice. A photo you deleted from Drime is never backed up again.

If a photo is marked Same name in cloud, skipped (your setting), a file with the same name already exists and your Duplicate uploads setting skips it. See Scan documents with your phone for that setting.

#Photos moved or copied into a folder

In recent versions of the app, photos you move or copy into a folder you chose to back up are found and backed up too. If they are still missing, update the app.

When you turn backup off and back on, the app scans all your photos again: the first backup after that can take a while.

#Photos stored in iCloud

On an iPhone, a photo kept only in iCloud shows Downloading from iCloud… while Drime fetches it, then it is backed up.

#Backup does not run in the background

On an iPhone, backup in the background depends on when iOS lets the app run.
On Android, when the app shows Background Upload, tap Disable optimization: without it, Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei phones block uploads while the app is closed.

#Storage full

When your Drime storage is full, backup stops and a notification says Cloud storage is full, backup stopped. Free up space or upgrade to continue. See My storage is full.

#Be warned about failed backups

Go to Settings > Notifications and set Notify backup failures. By default, the app warns you after 2 hours. When everything is done, the backup status shows Everything is backed up.

Still stuck?

If photos still do not back up, contact Drime support and say which phone and which version of the app you use. See Contact Drime support.

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