Google Photos App Problem After Android 10

[Fisher99]

My wife's original Pixel XL just updated to Android 10. Now when she takes a picture, exits the camera app, and goes to the Google Photos app, the picture isn't there. Sometimes it appears after 5 to 20 minutes, but sometimes you have to reboot the phone and then they will appear. I have gone into Apps and have cleared the cache for Photos, then did a force stop and tried again, but that didn't solve the problem. I also rebooted after clearing the cache and still the same problem. Note that if I view photos directly from within the camera app the photos show up quicker, but still slow. This was definitely not a problem before updating from Android 9 to 10.

I am wondering if it is related to a problem processing HDR in Android 10 on this phone? Since Android 10 it always has HDR "on". I can turn it off, but as soon as I exit the camera app and go back into the camera app it is back on again. She randomly gets "HDR Processing" messages that last for some time. Although pics that I take with HDR turned off don't seem to show up in Photos any faster than when HDR is turned on.

I should also note that my Pixel 2 XL, also on Android 10, does not have any of these problems.

Any thought will be appreciated!

 

[B. Diddy]

Try also clearing the app data from the Photos app, and let it resync to the account.

 

[Fisher99]

Under "Storage and Cache" I only see options to "Clear Storage" and "Clear Cache". It does show "User Data" on that screen but no option to clear it.

 

[B. Diddy]

Oh sorry, they changed the terminology recently. Try the Clear Storage option. Don't worry, your photos are safe, because they're either synced safely to your cloud, or they're still individual photo files saved to their own directory on the phone's storage.

 

[Fisher99]

I found the problem. She was running an old camera app (Camera P3), which I had installed a long time ago to give her "night shot" capability. I deleted that app and with the stock Camera app, pictures show up in Photos within 20 seconds or so, which is the time it seems to take on this phone to process an HDR photo.

HOWEVER... I still can't permanently turn off HDR in the Camera app. I can turn it off, but if I exit the app and then go back into the app, HDR is back on. On my Pixel 2 XL it stays off. Any thought on this?

 

[B. Diddy]

How are you turning it off -- is there an HDR+ option along the top of the viewfinder?

 

[Fisher99]

Yes. With the HDR option at the top of the viewfinder. It defaults back to HDR-Auto when you exit and re-enter the app.

 

[Rukbat]

Because you get better pictures using HDR+ in high-contrast scenes. (But in low-contrast scenes, it's not doing anything.)

The problem is twofold:

1. The OP has no Visual Core chip, so the processing is done by the CPU.

2. The picture won't appear until the media database has been updated. (Media apps don't each scan the entire phone every time you open one - Media Scan does that when you restart the phone or when you do something media-related [take a picture or a video, record audio], so the apps just have to look in the database.)

 

[Fisher99]

Good info. I know that it definitely takes longer to process the photo on her Pixel than it does on my Pixel 2.

Still not sure why I can't permanently turn off HDR on her Pixel though, like I can on my Pixel 2.