Google photos not showing up in apps

[rajan78]

Hi everyone

I recently switched phones from a Mi 9t to a TCL 20.

The new phone is great but my one big issue is that I can't see any photos from my Google photos gallery when j want to attach a photo to a post in say WhatsApp or Facebook.

The only photos available are ones that I've actually taken or downloaded on the phone since I bought it. When I go to Google photos, all of my photos are there but they're just not available to be used by other apps.

Can anyone help?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It might depend on the app you're trying to post to -- some apps may not be able to access Google Photos.

Try going to Settings>Apps, tap Menu>Reset All App Preferences. Now try to upload a photo. Does it give you several options to complete the action?

 

[rajan78]

Welcome to Android Central! It might depend on the app you're trying to post to -- some apps may not be able to access Google Photos.

Try going to Settings>Apps, tap Menu>Reset All App Preferences. Now try to upload a photo. Does it give you several options to complete the action?

No it still only lets me access recently downloaded photos. It's very strange as it's never been an issue on any previous phones. It basically means if I want to post a photo in Facebook or WhatsApp or Outlook from a month ago when I had my old phone, I can't without first opening it in Photos and screenshotting it.

That can't be right surely?

 

[B. Diddy]

You wouldn't have to screenshot the photo -- it'd work if you download the photo from Google Photos. But that can be tedious as well.

I never use the Facebook app, but let me try installing it on one of my tablets and see what sort of interface I get.

EDIT: I just installed Facebook on my Lenovo Tab M8 FHD, and I get no option to select from Google Photos. I think it's just a limitation of Facebook. The workaround is to start in Google Photos, select the photo you want to share to Facebook, and tap the Share button. You'll see a few options for Facebook there. But what happens is that Google Photos will still download that photo to your local storage before it can be shared with Facebook, so it's essentially the same as the what I mentioned above.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

Is the new phone on Android 12. That uses scoped storage and therefore may not allow 3rd party apps to access Google photos. Just a theory.