Recently, one of our readers asked if it’s possible to fix flipped images issue in WordPress. Apparently sometimes when you upload images from iPhone or other iOS devices, your images may appear flipped or turned upside down. In this article, we will show you how to fix upside down or flipped images in WordPress.
Why WordPress Shows Upside Down or Flipped Images
Some mobile operating systems, most notably iOS, do not transfer EXIF metadata required by other software to determine an image’s orientation.
It is also possible that this EXIF metadata may not transfer properly. It could also get stripped down by some other software on your device or your WordPress site.
Fixing this issue may require you to use some image editing program to flip the images. You can also do that inside WordPress. See our guide on how to how to rotate, scale, and flip images in WordPress.
However, this would become a chore if you regularly upload images from your phone. Let’s take a look at how to easily fix these flipped and upside down images problem in WordPress.
How to Fix Flipped or Upside Down Images Issue in WordPress?
First thing you need to do is install and activate the Image Rotation Fixer plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
The plugin works out of the box, and there are no settings for you to configure.
Upon activation, the plugin hooks itself up to WordPress media upload function. As soon as you upload a new image, it automatically fixes the Exif metadata to properly rotate the image.
If the first plugin doesn’t work for you, then this probably means that your web host does not have the PHP EXIF extension enabled. Don’t worry we have another plugin that would do the job for you.
You will need to install and activate the iOS Images Fixer plugin.
This plugin uses ImageMagik and GD extensions to fix the EXIF metadata for images.
Upon activation, you just need to visit Media » iOS Images Fixer page. The plugin will automatically attempt to find and fix the flipped images. If it doesn’t, then you need to click on ‘Fix All iOS-broken’ button to start fixing upside down images.
That’s all, we hope this article helped you lean how to fix upside down or flipped images in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of how to fix the most common image issues in WordPress.
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Amy says
When I clicked the link for iOS image fixer; it hasn’t been updated in two years and also says it hasn’t been tested with the most updated versions of WP.
Is there another plug-in that you’d recommend instead?
WPBeginner Support says
For the moment we do not have a recommended alternative, you may want to look at our page here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/should-you-install-plugins-not-tested-with-your-wordpress-version/
Admin
MihaA says
Great article. Solved problem immidiately.
Thanks guys!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help
Admin
Paul says
Why do you solve everything with plugins??
We cant have 1 thousand plugins running.
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Paul,
Please see our answer in WordPress plugins vs Functions.php file and how many plugins should you install on your site?
Admin
Tony Darbyshire says
Though I edit my images prior to uploading them into the media library so that the orientation is correct, I’m suddenly finding that some images are coming in with the wrong rotation. When I try to use the edit image function in WordPress it then comes up with the following comment:
Could not load the preview image. Please reload the page and try again.
No matter how many times I refresh the media library it’s still coming up with this message.
I’ve never had this problem before and I’m wondering if the latest version of WordPress has a bug that’s causing this? I have the latest WordPress update.
Any advice on what’s causing this error, and how to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
jeff says
I was having Flipped images issue on Iphone only, but images were fine on desktop and android.I used ios image fixer plugin. Weird things happened.Now some of the images on the desktop also got flipped and I continue to have flipped images on the iPhone. So the problem is worse now. What should I do now
Kellie Ellermann says
Hi,
I’m having a real annoying thing happen, the images look normal in my wordpress.org media library (not flipped) but the ones (only that I took with my iphone) will then appear flipped ONLY when you view my site on mobile phone. It’s ALL normal and correct when it’s on desktop. HELP please it’s making me nutty and I fear detracting companies working with me
Kristy says
The same is hapoening to me! Did this plugin work? Have you found a fix?
Erin says
Thanks so much for this. I’ve had images that wouldn’t rotate for months now. Has been frustrating the hell out of me.