Question Google Pixel keeps duplicating pictures and videos

[andiox]

On January I bought a Google Pixel phone and I dumped all my files in it. After some time, I realized I had around 600 pictures and photos duplicated going back +10 years in some cases. The metadata of those photos was not being recognized, so I had a stack of pictures ruining my gallery's timeline.

Thing is, when I try to delete all of them, they keep coming back. When taping on information, I see they are in storage/emu/0/WhatsApp media. Is it possible that Whatsapp is duplicating those pictures after deleting them everytime I open the app? How can I stop it?

I would deeply appreciate any suggestions, as this is driving me insane.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Where are you seeing these duplicated photos -- are they in the Google Photos app, or are you looking with a file manager app like Files?

If you don't want WhatsApp to automatically download every single image that shows up in your conversations, you can turn that off in its app settings, under Storage & Data>Media Auto-Download.

 

[andiox]

Welcome to Android Central! Where are you seeing these duplicated photos -- are they in the Google Photos app, or are you looking with a file manager app like Files?

If you don't want WhatsApp to automatically download every single image that shows up in your conversations, you can turn that off in its app settings, under Storage & Data>Media Auto-Download.

I have a dedicated gallery app that's called Aves, in it the duplicated photos appear. I can also see them in the Files app and in every other app anytime I want to share a picture and it looks for media in the phone. Google Photos looks fine, though, no dupes there.

And I already have all WhatsApp auto-downloads turned off, so that won't do it.

Thank you for your reply and for the warm welcome!

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you deleting the images using the Files app or the Aves app, or something else?

 

[andiox]

Are you deleting the images using the Files app or the Aves app, or something else?

I've tried using both and nothing seems to work. I even tried encrypting then in a safe folder as a bandage solution but they appeared again.

 

[B. Diddy]

If you delete those WhatsApp images, do you notice that they come back even without opening WhatsApp again, or does it only come back after you've opened WhatsApp and looked at your message threads?

 

[andiox]

If you delete those WhatsApp images, do you notice that they come back even without opening WhatsApp again, or does it only come back after you've opened WhatsApp and looked at your message threads?

I don't really know it seems random. I have opened Whatsapp and used it for several days until they duplicated some times.

 

[B. Diddy]

I still think that at some point, WhatsApp is re-downloading the media in your conversations. When you look through your conversations, do you see the full images/videos, or do you see a blurry placeholder image with a Download icon in them? If you see the full images, then WhatsApp has already downloaded them to the phone.

 

[andiox]

I still think that at some point, WhatsApp is re-downloading the media in your conversations. When you look through your conversations, do you see the full images/videos, or do you see a blurry placeholder image with a Download icon in them? If you see the full images, then WhatsApp has already downloaded them to the phone.

But when I delete other pictures from the gallery, WhatsApp doesn't re-download them. It's just with these specific ones. They're always the same. Seems weird.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Welcome to the forums. Are any of those other apps backing up WhatsApp?

 

[B. Diddy]

But when I delete other pictures from the gallery, WhatsApp doesn't re-download them. It's just with these specific ones. They're always the same. Seems weird.

Do you mean when you delete other pictures from the gallery that were also from WhatsApp message threads?

Are the ones that keep getting downloaded only from one specific thread?

 

[andiox]

Do you mean when you delete other pictures from the gallery that were also from WhatsApp message threads?

Are the ones that keep getting downloaded only from one specific thread?

Some of them come from messages and WhatsApp groups so old, that don't even exist yet. So, that might not be the problem.

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you identify the physical directory where those duplicate images are stored? You can either select the photo in any gallery app and look at its Details or File info, or find it using your file manager.

 

[andiox]

Can you identify the physical directory where those duplicate images are stored? You can either select the photo in any gallery app and look at its Details or File info, or find it using your file manager.

Sure thing, it's in this location:
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media

 

[B. Diddy]

Ok, so it's definitely WhatsApp that keeps on creating the files. Open WhatsApp again and look through your chats -- do you see any images that are blurry (i.e., not downloaded)? If all images show as full resolution, that means WhatsApp is probably still set to automatically download media.

 

[B. Diddy]

BTW, I also found this thread describing something similar:

https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsapp/comments/116k3ks/whatsapp_constantly_redownloading_images_with

 

[andiox]

Ok, so it's definitely WhatsApp that keeps on creating the files. Open WhatsApp again and look through your chats -- do you see any images that are blurry (i.e., not downloaded)? If all images show as full resolution, that means WhatsApp is probably still set to automatically download media.

No, everything is turned off. And new media that comes in is blurred out, so I know for a fact that it's properly turned off. I don't know what to do lol

 

[mustang7757]

I have a dedicated gallery app that's called Aves, in it the duplicated photos appear. I can also see them in the Files app and in every other app anytime I want to share a picture and it looks for media in the phone. Google Photos looks fine, though, no dupes there.

And I already have all WhatsApp auto-downloads turned off, so that won't do it.

Thank you for your reply and for the warm welcome!

I think your problem is the 3rd party gallery your using "Aves "

Uninstall it and try the native one Google photos see if the problem persist or contact the app developer and explain your issues, also what Pixel series are you using?