Can't find or delete photos that appear in wallpaper picker

[conquesodor]

This issue is driving me bonkers.

I got a new S8+ a few days ago. When I go into the wallpaper picker there is a choice to go into "my photos" and when I select that option, I see a screen that has 20 "recent" photos that were all taken on my previous phone. I haven't taken any photos yet with the new S8+, so I don't know why it thinks I have any 'recent" photos. I'd like to delete these photos, but it won't let me do anything with them besides selecting them to become wallpaper. The gallery app shows that I have no pictures and I've tried clearing the cache for the gallery and internal storage. I've searched using 'my files" and ES File Explorer to find these images, but they won't show up.

None of these 20 photos are "recent" on my old phone either, so it's really strange. I do remember downloading them, but it would have been from a while back.

Anyone have a clue where these files are located? I'd like to delete them or at least not show up.

Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Did you use Smart Switch to transfer data from your old phone to the new one? That might have copied the photos over. Do you remember if you selected those photos to be a wallpaper on your old phone at any time?

 

[conquesodor]

Thanks for your reply! I can confirm that the guy in the AT&T store used Smart Switch to transfer data from my S7 to the S8. However, the photos definitely were NOT used as wallpaper. Does this clarify anything?

 

[mary beth hale]

If he used Smart Switch, he probably transferred photos.
I would think they'd show in the gallery app though. You said you don't see them there, right?

 

[mary beth hale]

Do they show up in the My Files app? If so, you should be able to delete them from there.

 

[B. Diddy]

I would think they'd show in the gallery app though. You said you don't see them there, right?

I was thinking that if the photos had been made into wallpapers, then a copy of the image might have been saved in a system directory (because if you set a photo as a wallpaper, but then delete the photo from your user-accessible files, then I think the wallpaper will still remain). Then maybe Smart Switch might have copied those files over in that system directory, but these files wouldn't necessarily show up in the Gallery app or in My Files.

But it looks like the question is irrelevant, since the photos weren't used as wallpapers.:-\ Have you already tried wiping the cache partition? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-34311

 

[mary beth hale]

I'll be curious as to what the fix is... A head scratcher.

 

[conquesodor]

Thanks for your interest in my problem.

The photos in question definitely do not show up in the gallery. As an experiment, I finally took a few test photos with the S8. When I go to the wallpaper picker (long press on homescreen, select wallpapers) and then go into "my photos," these new test shots now appear at the top of the list, followed by the old photos. This seems designed to let you turn a photo from your gallery into your wallpaper. However, I am 100% certain that these photos never were wallpaper on my old phone. In fact, these old photos are not images that I took with the camera, but pics I downloaded from various places (flickr, reddit, etc.).

One more detail: before I got the new S8, I made sure to manually backup all the photos in my gallery to my PC and the cloud. I then deleted every album in my gallery before getting the S8. This is because I traded in the S7 and didn't want to risk anyone getting access to my personal photos. In other words, the gallery was empty when I transferred the rest of my data to the new phone.

I have tried using the My Files app, as well as ES File Explorer, to find the pics in question. I've attempted every way I can think of to find the photos, but can't locate them. ES File Explorer seemed to do a better job of finding images on the S8 than the stock My Files app. It found thumbnails from saved Pocket articles and other things, but not the photos I want to find.

Could it be that the images somehow got "trapped" inside some system file?

I suppose as I take more pictures, they'll keep getting pushed down and I won't notice them anymore. But with a fresh phone, they jumped out at me and it's just so very puzzling.

 

[conquesodor]

ps - I didn't try wiping the cache partition, but I'll give this a try when I get a chance.

 

[conquesodor]

Update - wiped cache partition. No effect.

I appreciate the suggestion.

 

[B. Diddy]

Which cloud did you backup your photos to? Are those images there as well?

 

[kobe008]

Couple of suggestions. First have you looked in Google Drive? Maybe they are backed up in there somewhere. Also have you opened and setup the Google Photos app? That app should scan your system and alert you to any folders with pictures in and ask you if you want to start backing that folder up.

 

[conquesodor]

Which cloud did you backup your photos to? Are those images there as well?

Google Drive. Yep, I just checked and they are all there. In fact, they are there with the 1000+ other pics I backed up. Part of what puzzles me is that it is only 20 that show up in "recent" with the wallpaper picker.

 

[conquesodor]

Couple of suggestions. First have you looked in Google Drive? Maybe they are backed up in there somewhere. Also have you opened and setup the Google Photos app? That app should scan your system and alert you to any folders with pictures in and ask you if you want to start backing that folder up.

Good questions. I do use Google Photos and I activated it on the new phone. It didn't detect any photos on my phone, prior to my taking new photos yesterday. If I select "device folders", Google Photos doesn't see any.

I do use Google Drive and I just answered a similar question in a reply just before this one.