PHImageManager requestImageForAsset returns nil sometimes for iCloud photos

I just went through this too.
By my tests the issue appears on devices that have the “Optimize Storage” option enabled and resides in the difference between the two methods bellow:

[[PHImageManager defaultManager] requestImageForAsset: …]

This will successfully fetch remote iCloud images if your options are correctly configured.

[[PHImageManager defaultManager] requestImageDataForAsset:…]

This function only works for images that reside on the phones memory or that were recently fetched from iCloud by your app on any other one.

Here’s a working snippet I’m using -bear with me the Obj-c 🙂

 PHImageRequestOptions *options = [[PHImageRequestOptions alloc] init];
 options.deliveryMode = PHImageRequestOptionsDeliveryModeHighQualityFormat; //I only want the highest possible quality
 options.synchronous = NO;
 options.networkAccessAllowed = YES;
 options.progressHandler = ^(double progress, NSError *error, BOOL *stop, NSDictionary *info) {
        NSLog(@"%f", progress); //follow progress + update progress bar
    };

  [[PHImageManager defaultManager] requestImageForAsset:myPhAsset targetSize:self.view.frame.size contentMode:PHImageContentModeAspectFill options:options resultHandler:^(UIImage *image, NSDictionary *info) {
        NSLog(@"reponse %@", info);
        NSLog(@"got image %f %f", image.size.width, image.size.height);
    }];

Full gist available on github

Updated for Swift 4:

    let options = PHImageRequestOptions()
    options.deliveryMode = PHImageRequestOptionsDeliveryMode.highQualityFormat
    options.isSynchronous = false
    options.isNetworkAccessAllowed = true

    options.progressHandler = {  (progress, error, stop, info) in
        print("progress: \(progress)")
    }

    PHImageManager.default().requestImage(for: myPHAsset, targetSize: view.frame.size, contentMode: PHImageContentMode.aspectFill, options: options, resultHandler: {
     (image, info) in
        print("dict: \(String(describing: info))")
        print("image size: \(String(describing: image?.size))")
    })