Image Upload Failing or Corrupted in Lovable
When users try to upload images in your Lovable app, the upload either fails entirely, succeeds but the image appears broken or corrupted, or the image uploads but never displays correctly on the page.
Image uploads are a core feature for many apps — profile pictures, product images, gallery uploads. When they break, users can't complete essential tasks and the app feels unreliable.
The issue may appear in different ways: a spinner that never completes, an error message after selecting a file, a broken image icon where the photo should appear, or images that upload fine on desktop but fail on mobile.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- File size too large — Mobile phone photos can be 5-15MB, exceeding default upload limits
- Wrong MIME type — HEIC images from iPhones aren't handled, or the server expects specific image formats
- Storage bucket not configured — Supabase storage bucket doesn't exist or has wrong permissions
- Missing image transformation — Images aren't resized before upload, causing timeout on large files
- Base64 encoding issues — The app converts images to base64 for database storage, hitting text column size limits
How to Fix It
- Check Supabase storage configuration — Verify the bucket exists, is set to public (if images need to be displayed), and has correct RLS policies
- Add client-side image compression — Use a library like browser-image-compression to resize images before upload
- Handle HEIC format — Add HEIC to JPEG conversion for iPhone users using heic2any library
- Increase upload size limits — Configure your server and Supabase to accept larger files if needed
- Verify the image URL — Check that the stored URL is correct and accessible by opening it directly in a browser
Real developers can help you.
David Olverson
Solo dev shipping production apps with AI-assisted development. I specialize in rescuing broken Lovable/Bolt/Cursor builds and taking them to production. 10+ apps shipped including SaaS CRMs, gaming platforms, real estate tools, and Discord bots. Stack: Next.js 16, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Prisma. I use Claude Code with 50+ custom skills for rapid delivery. Average turnaround: 2-4 weeks from broken prototype to production.
Costea Adrian
Embedded Engineer specilizing in perception systems. Latest project was a adas camera calibration system.
MFox
Full-stack professional senior engineer (15+years). Extensive experience in software development, qa, and IP networking.
rayush33
JavaScript (React.js, React Native, Node.js) Developer with demonstrated industry experience of 4+ years, actively looking for opportunities to hone my skills as well as help small-scale business owners with solutions to technical problems
Daniel Vázquez
Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience on Startups, Government, big tech industry & consulting.
Pratik
SWE with 15+ years of experience building and maintaining web apps and extensive BE infrastructure
Luca Liberati
I work on monoliths and microservices, backends and frontends, manage K8s clusters and love to design apps architecture
PawelPloszaj
I'm fronted developer with 10+ years of experience with big projects. I have small backend background too
Matthew Butler
Systems Development Engineer @ Amazon Web Services
Mehdi Ben Haddou
- Founder of Chessigma (1M+ users) & many small projects
- ex Founding Engineer @Uplane (YC F25)
- ex Software Engineer @Amazon and @Booking.com
You don't need to be technical. Just describe what's wrong and a verified developer will handle the rest.
Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
Why do iPhone photos fail to upload?
iPhones save photos in HEIC format by default, which many web apps don't support. You need to either convert HEIC to JPEG before upload or configure your storage to accept HEIC files.
Should I store images in the database or storage?
Always use dedicated storage (like Supabase Storage or S3). Storing images as base64 in the database is slow, expensive, and hits size limits quickly.