Optimization paused in gallery

[Android Central Question]

After I have updated my S9+ software, all my WhatsApp photos in my gallery disappeared. It keeps saying optimization paused? Any idea how this can be fixed and if I can get the images back into my gallery? TIA

 

[Rukbat]

There are no images in Gallery. Gallery is just an app that shows the pictures that are on the phone, it's not a place that pictures are stored in.

If optimization deleted pictures you haven't opened in a while (and there's no way to tell after it happened), you'd need a phone hat was rooted, that already had a deleted file recovery app installed, and that had been off since it happened. (Deleted files can be written over during normal use.)

Check on Google Photos to see if they're still there. If they are, you synced them to the cloud and can always download them to the phone. If not, you'll have to root the phone, install something like DiskDigger undelete, and hope for the best.

(And stop optimizing the phone. Use a file manager to delete files you don't need. Use Settings to uninstall apps you don't need. You know what you want to keep better than any optimization app does.)