Question Invisible Image Backup Feature

[AR_Badger]

Hi,

I recently just noticed that if you edit any image, it creates a ghost copy of it in case you need to revert the image back to its original state, even if the original has been permanently deleted from the phone’s internal storage. I was curious to know if these images would be obtainable on a forensic scale as I've always been led to believe modern Androids with FBE are near enough impossible to recover from due to encryption. So after seeing these invisible back-ups I was wondering are all those images that were thought to be long gone still actually on the device in a separate hidden folder? (Images Attached)

Thanks in advance.

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central forums. I noticed your post the other day and seen that no one has replied yet. While I'm not an expert by any means I do find this sort of thing interesting. Personally I assume that anything and everything is recoverable, hackable, even if it's encrypted. It just comes down to, if the right people want it. To the average person, dealing with other average people, yeah it safe. I mean otherwise what would be the point of encrypting anything at all, am I right? But I have also watched hackers pick crypto drives, and remember when law enforcement bought software from Iran to hack an iPhone. Is what you or I am hiding worth Iranian software? If no, then we're probably OK. Well, until quantum computers become a thing. From what I've seen and heard about them encryption won't even be a speed bump for them. In my non-expert opinion, your pics are as good as unrecoverable provided you don't have to turn over your device to anyone with means and motive, i.e. the government.

Just for S&G I asked Google and got the following answer;

If you're using an Android phone, invisible backups of edited photos are typically stored in your Google Photos cloud storage, accessible through the Google Photos app, even if you don't see a visible "backup" folder on your phone; essentially, when you edit a photo and save it, the edited version is automatically backed up to Google Photos if you have backup enabled on your device. [1, 2, 3]
Key points to remember: [1, 2, 4]

• Access your backups: To access these backups, open the Google Photos app and sign in with your Google account. [1, 2, 4]
• Check backup settings: Ensure that your Google Photos settings are configured to automatically back up photos and videos from your device. [1, 2, 4]
• Where to find them online: You can also access your backed-up photos by going to photos.google.com on a web browser. [1, 2, 5]

Which makes sense since it makes you back up the image before editing. At least for IA editing.

 

[VidJunky]