"Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

[trussrules]

I'm having a problem saving photos I've edited with the built in Gallery app. When I try to save them after making the edits I get a message "Unable to save changes" at the bottom of the screen. Has anyone else run into this or know how to fix it? Thanks!

 

[irvin792]

Having the same problem.. They edit fine in the Samsung photo gallery

 

[maxburn]

Are they saved to SD card? If so this is the classic app permission issue I thought was fixed in 5.x. Kit-kat had a defect (security BS) where an app couldn't change another apps stored files on SD card. Same thing works in internal storage though, stupid as that is.

 

[trussrules]

Mine are saved to an SD card. If I switch it to save to the internal memory, I am able to save the edited photos. I also found that if i select "save a copy" from the menu rather than just hit save, it saves them - to a seperate file called "Pictures" - which is also on the SD card. For whatever reason, it has permission to write to that file but not to the DCIM/Camera file. Is there any way to fix these permissions without rooting the device?

 

[RyInSpace]

I am a new android user and I have a LG G4 (recently switched from iPhone). I'm using the default camera app at the moment and I have Google's "Photos" and the default "Gallery" running. The Google app is backing up to the cloud. Photos are going to the SD card (I think and can't verify - I would appreciate a tip on how to switch between internal/SD for this and other apps). The only work around I can do on photo editing to save is to save-as in the Gallery app, which saves to a new folder called Pictures (as someone commented). In both apps when I edit a pic and try to save I get the error message "unable to save changes". BUT if I do that in the Google App, I still get the error but the file is saved in the Gallery app in that new folder.

This is a mess. It's saving to my SD memory card because I know I will be taking a lot of photos before transferring to a back up. I'd prefer to use one main app/gallery (probably Google's), but I need to some guidance.

 

[maxburn]

Mine are saved to an SD card. If I switch it to save to the internal memory, I am able to save the edited photos. I also found that if i select "save a copy" from the menu rather than just hit save, it saves them - to a seperate file called "Pictures" - which is also on the SD card. For whatever reason, it has permission to write to that file but not to the DCIM/Camera file. Is there any way to fix these permissions without rooting the device?

This pisses me off, I thought Google fixed this BS in 5.x. This is not ok and I can't think of any reason for it, it was dumb when they introduced it in 4.3 somewhere and it still isn't right. Pictures need to be edited wherever by whatever we want to use.

 

[sswitzer]

Please check out this thread: http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/543075-editing-stock-gallery.html

There are solutions in that thread.

 

[RyInSpace]

Please check out this thread:

There are solutions in that thread.

I read that thread and subthreads and there are no solutions, just patch temporary fixes saying try another app. The issue is permissions to the SD CARD and I don't know how to change those. Shouldn't every LG user have this same issue? I still need a real solution.

 

[dpham00]

I switched to quick pic because of this.

Sent from my Verizon LG G4

 

[sswitzer]

I switched to quick pic because of this.

Yes, it seems like a good option. Once we can root, there is another solution (editing a single line of code in a single file) that will be "easier"... but will involve rooting. They may also, at some point, update Google Photos and the LG built-in editor so that they know to request access rather than just failing.

 

[sswitzer]

I read that thread and subthreads and there are no solutions, just patch temporary fixes saying try another app. The issue is permissions to the SD CARD and I don't know how to change those. Shouldn't every LG user have this same issue? I still need a real solution.

Surprisingly not all users edit their photos on their phone, and for those that do, many of those have already been using Quick Pic for their gallery and their editing... it's been around for a while, it works, and is a snap to use. Just follow the directions in that other thread (tooting my own horn, this post within the thread has it all laid out: http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/543075-editing-stock-gallery.html#post4505277 ) and you should be OK.

As far as it not being a solution, if it works... why not do it? It's free and will take you all of 5 minutes.

The bug is actually a "feature" in Lollipop, it's just that not all apps have been modified to work with the new SD-card access API. LG should have done this for their built-in editor, but they didn't... cest la vie. Even Google didn't make this part of their Google Photos app (not that I've seen, anyways.)

At any rate, this has all been hashed over on the other thread, http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/543075-editing-stock-gallery.html , and further discussion might be better off on that thread.

 

[dpham00]

I read that thread and subthreads and there are no solutions, just patch temporary fixes saying try another app. The issue is permissions to the SD CARD and I don't know how to change those. Shouldn't every LG user have this same issue? I still need a real solution.

If you don't want to use quick pic then you will have to wait until lg comes up with an update to fix this. Or wait for root.



Sent from my Verizon LG G4

 

[RyInSpace]

I downloaded QuikPic and when I choose edit from the dropdown three-bullet menu and select edit, I'm asked to choose between two icons. The quickpic icon only allows cropping and rotation. The Google Photos icon is the standard editing from that app but also comes up with same error message as before.

Maybe I need to delete/disable the other apps? My wife has the same phone and doesn't have the same issues. But she imported all her settings from her last droid versus my struggles from switching from an iPhone.

 

[sswitzer]

Re: "Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

I downloaded QuikPic and when I choose edit from the dropdown three-bullet menu and select edit, I'm asked to choose between two icons. The quickpic icon only allows cropping and rotation. The Google Photos icon is the standard editing from that app but also comes up with same error message as before.

Maybe I need to delete/disable the other apps? My wife has the same phone and doesn't have the same issues. But she imported all her settings from her last droid versus my struggles from switching from an iPhone.

You can uninstall Google photos (that's what I did) and you won't have to choose everytime.

Also, although google photos can't alter external sd photos, even using "save copy", Google snapseed does a great job and saves its results to the internal card, no errors.

 

[RyInSpace]

Re: "Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

I've tried deleting and disabling apps and the work arounds are not really helping. My wife has the same phone, BUT she has the old version of Google Photos (build 5. something?) and it can edit photos without an error. My version is 1.1.1.96635208 and I told her not to update her app yet.

I still get the unable to save error and the app even crashed on one attempt. I did send feedback and directed them to this thread via my username.

 

[sswitzer]

Re: "Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

I've tried deleting and disabling apps and the work arounds are not really helping. My wife has the same phone, BUT she has the old version of Google Photos (build 5. something?) and it can edit photos without an error. My version is 1.1.1.96635208 and I told her not to update her app yet.

I still get the unable to save error and the app even crashed on one attempt. I did send feedback and directed them to this thread via my username.

Silly question, but is your wife saving her photos to an external sd?

Also, please try Google Snapseed - I've been using it since I wrote my post yesterday, and it's excellent... Not always intuitive, but it works.

 

[RyInSpace]

Re: "Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

Silly question, but is your wife saving her photos to an external sd?

Also, please try Google Snapseed - I've been using it since I wrote my post yesterday, and it's excellent... Not always intuitive, but it works.

Yes she is. I've tried toogling between the two while testing as well. I'm now not sure if I spread my files on both! I may need to remove all and start fresh with the folder and apps. I will try Snapseed in the next few days. Thanks for the suggestion. Obviously it would be nice to have an all in one app. The other issue could be the syncing to the cloud. I think it's a permission error to the SD card in the new app.

 

[sswitzer]

Re: "Unable to save changes" when editing photos in Gallery

Yes she is. I've tried toogling between the two while testing as well. I'm now not sure if I spread my files on both! I may need to remove all and start fresh with the folder and apps. I will try Snapseed in the next few days. Thanks for the suggestion. Obviously it would be nice to have an all in one app. The other issue could be the syncing to the cloud. I think it's a permission error to the SD card in the new app.

Arg, cloud syncing... my arch nemesis. I use FolderSync for all my cloud syncing (music, photos, recordings), as I've had nothing but aggravation from Google's cloud syncing as well as Dropbox's camera sync. I wrote up a quite a bit about foldersync starting at this post http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/540826-google-photos-won-t-stop-syncing-2.html#post4493937 and then read down.

For Snapseed, once you figure out that up/down & left/right gestures over the pic work you through the different options (as when you're using their "tuning" tool), you'll find it's a wonder.

As far as "all in one app" goes, hey... this is Android! Spread your wings! I use 3 different photo editing apps: QuickPic for basic crop and rotation, Snapseed for tuning (contrast, brightness, etc.) as well as filters, and Paper Artist ( https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.dama.paperartistgp&hl=en&token=pXRYlOGw ) for fun "paper-like" effects.

The benefit to QuickPic is that it can handle the Lollipop SD permission problem... so long as you make sure you do a one-time "delete" to trigger the permission prompt. The benefit to both Snapseed and Paper Artist is that they both save new copies of the photo into your internal memory, so that you don't end up with Lollipop SD permission problems. You can then use something like QuickPic to move those images into your "camera" external sd folder.

 

[Basil James]

This is so annoying that this kind of thing is still happening in 2015.

 

[sswitzer]

This is so annoying that this kind of thing is still happening in 2015.

Oddly enough it's not the phone's fault at all, it's from a security API that Google put in place in lollipop, and that has not yet been fully implemented in apps such as Google's own photo tool. I expect that over the next year most major apps will implement the API.