[Android Central Question]

I want to save some videos from my Google Photos to my device Gallery, so I can upload them to Instagram. Nothing ever saves to my device Gallery, why is this?

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! I just tried downloading a video from Google Photos -- apparently, the video file gets saved to the /documents directory, which is not accessible by the user with a file manager, since it's a protected system directory. I'm not sure why they did that. The stock Gallery app might not be able to see that photo if there's a ".nomedia" file in that directory as well.

What if you go to Google Photos, select the video you want to upload, and tap the Share button instead of trying to download it? Is Instagram an option for sharing?

EDIT: Another workaround is to download the video from the Google Photos folder in Google Drive (not directly from the Google Photos app). That downloaded file goes to the usual /Download directory. And as long as there isn't a ".nomedia" file in the /Download directory, the video should show up in the Gallery app.

If you don't see a Google Photos folder in Drive, open Drive's settings and turn on the Auto Add switch.

[Mike Manwell]

excellent info. thx!
I wonder if you would take a moment to consider my question...

I can't figure out which "cloud" service to use. it appears that my Verizon Cloud has more of my pix/data than the Google Cloud. I'm sure I've got all settings to Back up into the cloud in both Verizon and Google. Would you have an idea about this? In your opinion, which is a better place to store data?
sorry 4 length...

[B. Diddy]

I use Google Drive and Photos, because (1) they're easily acccessible from any device I log into, (2) they integrate seamlessly with all Google services (obviously), Chromebooks, and Android devices, and (3) they give unlimited storage in Google Photos (high quality if non-Pixel, original quality if Pixel).

I would recommend against Verizon Cloud, primarily because if you ever leave Verizon, that data is gone. I'm not sure if they give you plenty of warning to download or transfer everything, but I've certainly seen posts here about people who lost a fair amount of data because they didn't realize they had to retrieve all of that data before leaving Verizon.

If you're using primarily Google services (like Google Contacts, Google Calendar, Gmail, etc.), all of that data should be synced automatically to your Google account in the cloud. It can be a little tricky, though -- in the Contacts or Calendar, only items that are specifically saved to the Google account will sync. For example, on many devices, you can create a contact or event in the local Phone account, which doesn't sync anywhere. You have to make sure you're entering this data into the correct account.

Other 3rd party apps may or may not save data to your Google account -- you may need to look at the details in the app description about that.

[Mike Manwell]

Myself in for other people just got at 48-hour warning from Verizon Wireless, saying that if we didn't start to pay for data storage that in 48 hours all stored on the cloud Verizon Cloud, it was going to be deleted.