Seriously, that’s the last thing Google Photos users would have wanted: loss of years worth of memories backed up through the service. And scarily, it’s happening to some. Taking iOS users by surprise, backed up pictures are disappearing not only from the app, but Web as well. Affected users say it all began when – on opening the app – they were greeted with a ‘getting started’ message (as if they are using the app for the first time), following which majority of their backed up pictures did not show up while scrolling.
For some users, switching to a new device generated the ‘getting started’ page, and logging into Google Photos uncovered the fact that not some, but all the pictures were gone.
Some say the remaining few pictures that Google Photos shows up are only the ones currently in device (recently taken or still in camera roll), rest all are washed off. The scariest part is that missing pictures cannot be traced on the Web client, Google Drive (Google Photos folder), or Album Archives, strongly indicating a permanent loss.
First reported on February 24 this year, the issue was right away escalated to Google by experts on the official Photos forum. One of the experts mentioned
Still waiting on an answer from Google about the Getting Started bug that caused iPhone users to lose their images. Still not forgotten, and I believe that Google is working on this problem
On March 16, he added
So sorry for this. We are all waiting for a response from Google. We know they are working on the issue but have no reports on progress
On March 29, he said
“This has taken longer than anyone has hoped. Google continues to work on the problem, I believe”
Continuously addressing users and repeating his comments the expert further added On August 7
Google does not report to us on bug fixes, so we have no new information. I’m sorry
A quick look at the official help forum reveals that reported use-cases have grown over time. It appears the shouts of experts have fell on deaf ears so far, for the fact that Google did not consider acknowledging the issue officially. If the problem is troubling you as well, rest assured, you’ll hear from us in case of any further updates.
Meanwhile, you can try hands on expert suggestions to see if something works for you.
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Dr. Aparajita Sharma
1261 Posts
A budding entrepreneur by profession, and a psychologist by education. As a founding member of PiunikaWeb, I am nurturing this firstborn with my sharp-eyed expertise and even journalistic writing when needed.
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