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AlexJz
Inspiring
July 8, 2025
Answered

Lr iPad local photo taking longer and longer to load

  • July 8, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 261 views

Hi there,

 

I'm a bit baffled, as lately, the photo on my iPad have been taking longer and longer to load on screen.

I've even had this case this week-end:

 

The whole album was stored locally, including therefore this picture.

So I was a bit when it baffled to see "Local = Preview not editable", and that it took 10s to load the image.

 

To be fair, I could always see Loading steps top left, but usually going very fast.

Now, it's on average taking 5/6s easily.

 

What's going on?

 

Lightroom iPad 10.4.1 DC91CC/206 on iPad M4 iPad OS 18.5

Correct answer Noel Orridge

Hi @AlexJz! Thank you for reaching out. I'm sorry your Lightroom application is behaving this way.

 

Please share more details, such as how much free local storage space is available on your iPad. Were these DNG files imported directly into the iPad (e.g., from an SD card reader), or were they added on another device (like a Mac/PC) and then synced to the iPad? Does this slow loading and "Preview" status happen on every photo in your library, or only in this specific album? 

 

While we wait, you can try out these fixes below and see if they resolve the issue.

 

1) Try to force Lightroom to redownload the original files for that specific album.

  • Go to the album in question.
  • Tap the three-dot menu at the top right.
  • Tap on Storage.
  • Select Clear cache. This will remove the previews and other temporary data for that album.
  • After clearing the cache, tap Store Locally again. This should prompt Lightroom to download fresh, full-resolution copies of the original files from the cloud.

 

2) Clear App-Wide Cache

  • Tap the App Settings icon at the top right from the main library view.
  • Go to Local Storage.
  • Tap Clear Cache. This will clear cached previews for all your photos, and they will need to be rebuilt or redownloaded as you access them. This could take some time.

 

Let us know how it goes!

Please be sure to use @ before mentioning my username so that I can be notified as soon as possible, and you can get the help you deserve.

1 reply

Noel Orridge
Community Manager
Noel OrridgeCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
July 8, 2025

Hi @AlexJz! Thank you for reaching out. I'm sorry your Lightroom application is behaving this way.

 

Please share more details, such as how much free local storage space is available on your iPad. Were these DNG files imported directly into the iPad (e.g., from an SD card reader), or were they added on another device (like a Mac/PC) and then synced to the iPad? Does this slow loading and "Preview" status happen on every photo in your library, or only in this specific album? 

 

While we wait, you can try out these fixes below and see if they resolve the issue.

 

1) Try to force Lightroom to redownload the original files for that specific album.

  • Go to the album in question.
  • Tap the three-dot menu at the top right.
  • Tap on Storage.
  • Select Clear cache. This will remove the previews and other temporary data for that album.
  • After clearing the cache, tap Store Locally again. This should prompt Lightroom to download fresh, full-resolution copies of the original files from the cloud.

 

2) Clear App-Wide Cache

  • Tap the App Settings icon at the top right from the main library view.
  • Go to Local Storage.
  • Tap Clear Cache. This will clear cached previews for all your photos, and they will need to be rebuilt or redownloaded as you access them. This could take some time.

 

Let us know how it goes!

Please be sure to use @ before mentioning my username so that I can be notified as soon as possible, and you can get the help you deserve.

Noel
A
AlexJzAuthor
Inspiring
July 10, 2025

Images were imported directly on the iPad, from the SD Card reader connected to it.

Album is directly set to "Store Locally" before the import.

DNG files, coming from either Leica Q2 or SL2 (48MP).

196GB of free space on the iPad.

The cache was taking 6GB.

 

I couldn't find a specific photo that was taking longer than others; it was not really consistent, and the same photo could very greatly.

 

@Noel Orridge I've cleared the cache App-Wide.

Now it's a very consistent 3s to load fully, with a standard deviation of around .2s.

Thanks for the cache clear tip, worked great, it's now perfect.

 

It does always go through the stage "Loading Smart Preview" before actually loading the "Original".

I don't remember seeing in the past the "Loading Smart Preview" for more than a fraction of a second on screen, while it's now longer.

So, it does "feel" a bit slower than before, but I would be the first to acknowledge that it could very well be a subjective feeling, maybe just due to a small change on how the stages are displayed.

iPad Pro M4 - Lightroom iPad
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