Where did my photos in private go?!

[AC Question]

My proximity sensor stopped working on my S7 edge so I sent to to maintenance where they reset the device to factory settings. The photos on the private mode had disappeared although they were saved on the SD card. Any suggestions how to solve this issue? It's very important to me please.
Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Did you send the phone back to them with the SD card still in, or did you keep the card, and then reinsert the card when you got it back?

I wonder if Private Mode is like encryption, where the private mode password you created for the photos becomes an encryption key. If that's the case, then resetting the phone would also eliminate that key, making it very difficult to recover those photos. Are you able to see those photo files if you insert the card into your computer's SD reader?

 

[itguyjax8430]

My proximity sensor stopped working on my S7 edge so I sent to to maintenance where they reset the device to factory settings. The photos on the private mode had disappeared although they were saved on the SD card. Any suggestions how to solve this issue? It's very important to me please.
Thanks!

When you store photos in private mode they are encrypted and a key generated for that encryption. Since you didn't turn off the private mode before you sent the phone in and un-encrypt the photos on the SD card the key is now lost for that encryption. You won't be able to read the photos without the original key.