Thanks for your input. profileImage is something you can define yourself. All you get from the PhotoPicker is a Data object and nothing more. But, I was able to find the issue. Turns out, the localIdentifier was nil as I did not specify a photoLibrary when initializing the PhotosPicker. So if you initialize your PhotosPicker like that: PhotosPicker(selection: $viewModel.selectedPhotos, matching: .images) the localIdentifier will be nil. If you set a photoLibrary you will be able to properly retrieve the localIdentifier: PhotosPicker(selection: $selectedPhotos, matching: .images, photoLibrary: .shared()) Found that in the docs page for the localIdentifier itself: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photosui/photospickeritem/itemidentifier