Guest Photos or Videos Won't Upload — Troubleshooting Guide

Occasionally a guest taps upload and sees an error while everyone else at the same event uploads without a problem. This is almost always caused by that guest's specific network or device, not by your event. Here's how Fotify handles it automatically, and what the guest can do if the error persists.

What Fotify Does Automatically

You usually don't need to do anything:

• Automatic retries: Every upload is retried several times with increasing pauses, which rides out brief connection drops.
• Backup upload route: Some mobile networks and DNS filters block the storage provider Fotify uploads to, even though the rest of the site loads fine. When Fotify detects this pattern, it automatically resends the files through a backup route on our own domain. The guest just sees the upload take a little longer.
• Partial uploads are safe: If some files in a batch fail, the rest still upload normally, and the failed ones can simply be retried.

Step 1: Check the Basics

Ask the guest to confirm:

• The phone is online (open any website to verify)
• They're not in battery-saver or data-saver mode, which can pause background transfers
• The files are in a supported format and within the size limits. Skipped files always show a specific reason, like "Too large (max 80MB)" or "Unsupported format".

Step 2: Switch Networks

If uploads keep failing instantly, the guest's network is likely blocking the upload connection:

1. On venue Wi-Fi? Switch to mobile data.
2. On mobile data? Try the venue Wi-Fi.
3. If a VPN or private DNS app (ad blocker) is active, try disabling it for a minute.

Step 3: Leave In-App Browsers

If the guest opened the upload link from Facebook, Instagram, or another app, the page runs in that app's built-in browser, which is a frequent source of upload problems. Ask them to open the link in a real browser instead: tap the three-dot menu and choose Open in browser (or copy the link into Chrome or Safari).

Step 4: Send Us the Diagnostic Code

When an upload fails, the error message on the upload page includes a short diagnostic code like FY-A1B2C. Email it to support@fotify.app together with the approximate time of the attempt, and we can look up exactly what happened on our side.

Uploading From Spain?

If the whole site is slow or unreachable from Spain (not just uploads), you may be hitting the ISP-level Cloudflare blocks during La Liga matches. See Fotify is slow or won't load from Spain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why do uploads fail for one guest but work for everyone else? A: The failing guest's mobile carrier, Wi-Fi network, or DNS filter is blocking the connection to our storage provider. Fotify automatically retries through a backup route, and switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data resolves most remaining cases.

Q: Are the photos lost when an upload fails? A: No. The files stay on the guest's phone, and the upload page marks exactly which files didn't make it so they can be retried with one tap.

Q: Does the guest need an account or app? A: No. Uploads work from the browser without any account. See Do guests need an account?