Item id: 46033131
2 days ago
The same thing has happened to me on a Pixel 7a (maybe also on a 4a). I did not look into it and thought it might be photos that I deleted but the metadata lived on. Very concerning to see it comes from actual data corruption. My strategy is to backup often, now even more so, thanks!
3 days ago
I remember reading this issue on Reddit. Some folks fixed it by installing an older version of Google Photos. I assume you have already tried the usual (deleting cache, reinstalling the app, restarting the phone, checking on the cloud through another device -- the latter might not be possible since you are using without an account).
3 days ago
I don't think it's an app issue once the files are borked. Since I verified there are whole chunks of data missing in the .jpg files I don't see how doing something to the photos app could fix them again.
3 days ago
I don't know how Google Photos stores the photos. Unless you have a backup, it is hard to see if this is a change at the level of files, or that Google Photos has a unique way of storing them that introduces changes to HDR-enabled files. As I said, I'm quoting what worked for people who faced this issue before.
2 days ago
I only use Google Photos as a photo viewer, completely offline, no cloud backups. Like I said, there are definitely file level changes which I inspected on a copy of the files on my computer. Anyway, thanks for participating. I hope I didn't come off as rude.
3 days ago
I have heard of this happening before yes. But I am an iPhone user so cannot talk from personal experience.
2 days ago
Serious question, now that there is evidence that Pixel phones are corrupting the actual jpegs what is the best way to safely store smartphone photos now? I usually back them up to an external drive every 6 months or so but wondering if someone has a better process for this.
I mean it's nice that photos are immediately uploaded to the cloud once they are taken but I read that Google Photos does not do 1:1 backups. Apparently the cloud photos are compressed & are worse quality
9 hours ago
From my iPhone, all of my photos get backed up automatically to iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive (badly without Metadata).
Cloud Photos use to use “Storage Saver” when Google use to have unlimited backups. Now I have it set to original quality.
2 days ago
I think the best way forward is to backup early and backup often to your own computer.