diff --git a/web/components/widgets/add-photos.tsx b/web/components/widgets/add-photos.tsx
index 52130b4..ac4610f 100644
--- a/web/components/widgets/add-photos.tsx
+++ b/web/components/widgets/add-photos.tsx
@@ -58,14 +58,21 @@ export const AddPhotosWidget = (props: {
         disabled={uploadingImages}
       />
       <Row className="flex-wrap gap-2">
-        <label
-          className={clsx(
-            'bg-canvas-50 hover:bg-ink-300 text-ink-0 dark:text-ink-500 hover:dark:text-ink-600 flex h-[200px] w-[200px]  cursor-pointer flex-col items-center rounded-md transition-colors'
-          )}
-          htmlFor="photo-upload"
-        >
-          <PlusIcon className=" mx-auto my-auto h-16 w-16 text-gray-500"/>
-        </label>
+        <div className="relative">
+          <label
+            className={clsx(
+              'bg-canvas-50 hover:bg-ink-300 text-ink-0 dark:text-ink-500 hover:dark:text-ink-600 flex h-[200px] w-[200px] cursor-pointer flex-col items-center rounded-md transition-colors',
+              uploadingImages && 'opacity-50 cursor-not-allowed'
+            )}
+            htmlFor="photo-upload"
+          >
+            {uploadingImages ? (
+              <div className="mx-auto my-auto h-16 w-16 animate-spin rounded-full border-b-2 border-gray-500"></div>
+            ) : (
+              <PlusIcon className="mx-auto my-auto h-16 w-16 text-gray-500"/>
+            )}
+          </label>
+        </div>
         {uniq(buildArray(pinned_url, photo_urls))?.map((url, index) => {
           const isPinned = url === pinned_url
           return (
diff --git a/web/lib/firebase/storage.ts b/web/lib/firebase/storage.ts
index 1f0d7b1..550e7c8 100644
--- a/web/lib/firebase/storage.ts
+++ b/web/lib/firebase/storage.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
-import { ref, uploadBytesResumable, getDownloadURL } from 'firebase/storage'
-import { nanoid } from 'nanoid'
-import { storage } from './init'
+import {getDownloadURL, ref, uploadBytesResumable} from 'firebase/storage'
+import {nanoid} from 'nanoid'
+import {storage} from './init'
 import Compressor from 'compressorjs'
 
 const ONE_YEAR_SECS = 60 * 60 * 24 * 365
 
+const isHeic = (file: File) =>
+  file.type === 'image/heic' ||
+  file.type === 'image/heif' ||
+  /\.heic$/i.test(file.name)
+
 export const uploadImage = async (
   username: string,
   file: File,
@@ -13,7 +18,8 @@ export const uploadImage = async (
 ) => {
   // Replace filename with a nanoid to avoid collisions
   const [, ext] = file.name.split('.')
-  const filename = `${nanoid(10)}.${ext}`
+  const stem = nanoid(10);
+  const filename = `${stem}.${ext}`
   const storageRef = ref(
     storage,
     `user-images/${username}${prefix ? '/' + prefix : ''}/${filename}`
@@ -23,7 +29,22 @@ export const uploadImage = async (
     return Promise.reject('File is over 20 MB')
   }
 
-  // if  >1MB compress
+  // Convert HEIC → JPEG immediately (as HEIC not rendered)
+  if (isHeic(file) && typeof window !== 'undefined') {
+    // heic2any available in client only
+    const {default: heic2any} = await import('heic2any')
+    const converted = await heic2any({
+      blob: file,
+      toType: 'image/jpeg',
+      quality: 0.9,
+    })
+
+    file = new File([converted as Blob], `${stem}.jpg`, {
+      type: 'image/jpeg',
+    })
+  }
+
+  // 2️⃣ Compress if > 1MB
   if (file.size > 1024 ** 2) {
     file = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       new Compressor(file, {
diff --git a/web/package.json b/web/package.json
index be3457c..a93db55 100644
--- a/web/package.json
+++ b/web/package.json
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     "csstype": "3.0.10",
     "dayjs": "1.11.10",
     "firebase": "11.1.0",
+    "heic2any": "0.0.4",
     "link-preview-js": "3.0.4",
     "lodash": "4.17.21",
     "nanoid": "5.0.9",
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 6ec533b..26b070f 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -9306,6 +9306,11 @@ heap-js@^2.6.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/heap-js/-/heap-js-2.7.1.tgz#3f152279e42214725cac405257554b000b178cc4"
   integrity sha512-EQfezRg0NCZGNlhlDR3Evrw1FVL2G3LhU7EgPoxufQKruNBSYA8MiRPHeWbU+36o+Fhel0wMwM+sLEiBAlNLJA==
 
+heic2any@0.0.4:
+  version "0.0.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/heic2any/-/heic2any-0.0.4.tgz#eddb8e6fec53c8583a6e18b65069bb5e8d19028a"
+  integrity sha512-3lLnZiDELfabVH87htnRolZ2iehX9zwpRyGNz22GKXIu0fznlblf0/ftppXKNqS26dqFSeqfIBhAmAj/uSp0cA==
+
 hex-rgb@^4.1.0:
   version "4.3.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/hex-rgb/-/hex-rgb-4.3.0.tgz#af5e974e83bb2fefe44d55182b004ec818c07776"