Galleries harder to access in Whatsapp when sending media

[ExtraMatt]

Not really sure if this is a Samsung issue or a WhatsApp issue but I can't seem to find anything on thia on Google. This issue did seem to come about after updating my S21U.

So, to send media in WhatsApp, I've usually either clicked the camera button and selected the media I wanted, or gone in the gallery tab in the conversation to select the media.
A few days ago this seems to have changed, when trying to send a photo on WhatsApp now, there is suddenly no non-WhatsApp Media showing in the Gallery within WhatsApp.
I haven't changed any settings as far as I'm aware.

I've found a way around it where I can "share" the media to WhatsApp from the phones Gallery but this now takes a lot longer to do.

Has anyone else had this?
Is there a way to reverse this as it's making WhatsApp very unusable for me.

 

[SpookDroid]

Not a phone issue, a Whatsapp 'issue' (they changed the way they access and display media on their app, focusing on chat media rather than phone media). Best bet at this point is to use the Gallery app and the Share menu to send to Whatsapp unless they choose to revert their app change. You can, however, still use the regular shortcut within a Whatsapp chat, tap the menu button on the top left, and select Gallery from there.

 

[ExtraMatt]

Hi SpookDroid, thanks for your response.

Are you 100% sure there isn't a work around?
My brother has the same phone, same WhatsApp version (2.22.23.84), same android version after the update, and he's still got access to his camera media, etc in his WhatsApp without the additional steps.

He's as baffled as I am as everything seems the same

Thanks again

 

[SpookDroid]

Yup. This is 100% on Whatsapp's side (I'd check to see if you're on the beta program and check the version again; I'm on a higher one right now).
https://www.androidpolice.com/whatsapp-android-redesigned-media-picker/