Unknown photos in DCIM folder randomly appearing after multiple deletions...

[mustang7757]

I restarted my phone today and the photos (and folder) reappeared.

I did as Javier P suggested and began force stopping apps, clearing their cache/data, and checking file explorer to see if the photos were still there. No matter which app I tried, including Viva Video, the photos were still there.

Then I noticed that a brand new folder called VivaCamera was in my DCIM folder. It was the first time I had ever seen it and wouldn't you know it, its creation date was identical to the photos (as you can see in the screenshot).

I deleted the VivaCamera folder and the photos and restarted my phone, assuming they'd reappear again but they haven't so far.

I have since uninstalled Viva Video and hope to never see these pics again.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Thats great
I wonder if denying storage would of helped?

 

[Javier P]

I restarted my phone today and the photos (and folder) reappeared.

I did as Javier P suggested and began force stopping apps, clearing their cache/data, and checking file explorer to see if the photos were still there. No matter which app I tried, including Viva Video, the photos were still there.

Then I noticed that a brand new folder called VivaCamera was in my DCIM folder. It was the first time I had ever seen it and wouldn't you know it, its creation date was identical to the photos (as you can see in the screenshot).

I deleted the VivaCamera folder and the photos and restarted my phone, assuming they'd reappear again but they haven't so far.

I have since uninstalled Viva Video and hope to never see these pics again.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Excellent! Glad you managed to figure it out and thanks for the follow up.

 

[M1st3rT]

I restarted my phone today and the photos (and folder) reappeared.

I did as Javier P suggested and began force stopping apps, clearing their cache/data, and checking file explorer to see if the photos were still there. No matter which app I tried, including Viva Video, the photos were still there.

Then I noticed that a brand new folder called VivaCamera was in my DCIM folder. It was the first time I had ever seen it and wouldn't you know it, its creation date was identical to the photos (as you can see in the screenshot).

I deleted the VivaCamera folder and the photos and restarted my phone, assuming they'd reappear again but they haven't so far.

I have since uninstalled Viva Video and hope to never see these pics again.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Happy to hear it worked out in the end for you

I had your same problem, with the exact pictures, and I too had vivavideo installed, I have since uninstalled the app thinking that would stop the images from reappearing.
Today I did a software update, and when my phone came back on, the images were back. I'm a bit unsettled by this, I can ignore them but it is very annoying seeing them every time I turn my phone off and on again, if anyone has any solutions too this, then that would be appreciated.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Are your photos being backed up anywhere automatically, via Google Photos or Samsung Cloud/OneDrive?

Also, when you uninstalled VivaVideo, did you also manually delete those images? Uninstalling an app won't necessarily get rid of the associated media files on its own.

 

[M1st3rT]

Welcome to Android Central! Are your photos being backed up anywhere automatically, via Google Photos or Samsung Cloud/OneDrive?

Also, when you uninstalled VivaVideo, did you also manually delete those images? Uninstalling an app won't necessarily get rid of the associated media files on its own.

I had deleted the images before hand completely off my phone, so I am not sure why they came back, checked permissions for if Vivavideo still had access to my photos but it didn't.

 

[B. Diddy]

Do the images look like ads at all? If so, it might not be due to VivaVideo itself, but an associated ad network.

What about my question about automatic backup/sync of your photos to Google Photos or some other cloud?

 

[M1st3rT]

Do the images look like ads at all? If so, it might not be due to VivaVideo itself, but an associated ad network.

What about my question about automatic backup/sync of your photos to Google Photos or some other cloud?

They don't seem to be ads of any kind, just random stock photos.
I don't believe they are coming from the cloud or Google photos, I am not synced to the cloud and I have checked Google photos and they aren't there.

 

[B. Diddy]

What's the name of the directory they're in? In your gallery app, select one of them and look at the Information/Details, which should give you the directory pathname.

 

[Cerulean Eventide]

Hello,

For the past few weeks, I have been experiencing a strange issue where a random folder titled DCIM appears in my Gallery. It contains 5 stock photos titled demo_prj_01.jpg (and 02, 03, etc). I delete them and they eventually come back, usually days later. I have emptied my trash, and they still come back. I put my phone in airplane mode, thinking the photos were somehow internet-related, but the DCIM folder still returns. I hard reset, and it comes back.

I cannot replicate whatever is causing the folder to appear. Sometimes after I delete it, it will be gone for up to a week. Other times, it will come back several times throughout the day.

The folder appears in my internal storage, not microSD card.

I searched the photos with Bixby and found some matches on Pinterest. So they seem to really just be stock photos. I just don't know why they keep popping back up in my gallery and most importantly, I don't know how to keep them from coming back. I could easily hide or ignore the folder, sure, but how did the folder get there in the first place?

My phone is the Note 20 Ultra 5G running Android 11 with One UI version 3.1. The last software update was June 13 (it was labeled "security patch level: June 1, 2021"). I have not installed any suspicious apps or visited any shady sites to my knowledge, so I have no idea what's going on. The issue began in mid-July. About a week after it started, I installed AVG Antivirus because I thought maybe the pics were somehow virus-related and AVG would block them from reappearing. No such luck.

I'm attaching pics of the gallery showing the DCIM folder, the contents of the folder, and my trash showing how many times I've deleted these pictures in the past 2 or so weeks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Hello there. I would like to add that I am having the exact same issue, with the exact same photos, under the exact same folder, and they come back within the exact same interval that you previously mentioned. This issue started around the same time that you said yours did, but I am unsure why that is. I hope we can both come to a conclusion as to why this strange phenomenon is occurring, and I wish you luck!

 

[mustang7757]

Hello there. I would like to add that I am having the exact same issue, with the exact same photos, under the exact same folder, and they come back within the exact same interval that you previously mentioned. This issue started around the same time that you said yours did, but I am unsure why that is. I hope we can both come to a conclusion as to why this strange phenomenon is occurring, and I wish you luck!

Hi, welcome to AC!
Have you gone over the suggestions in this thread?

 

[adriibabii90]

Same exact problem here. Same folder. Same photos. Same timeframe it started. I also have VivaVideo and havent found a solution

 

[Javier P]

Same exact problem here. Same folder. Same photos. Same timeframe it started. I also have VivaVideo and havent found a solution

Welcome to the forums. Have you already tried a full uninstall of VivaVideo? Force stop, clear storage and only then click the uninstall button.

 

[adriibabii90]

Im trying that now, will keep you guys posted on if it works

 

[adriibabii90]

So far I went into my files and I saw that same folder "VivaCamera" that someone mentioned, I deleted it and have yet to see the DCIM gallery pop back up. Its been about 4 days now, so I will keep checking.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'd recommend removing Viva Video. It's an app that is dangerous to use. https://www.securitymagazine.com/ar...trojan-and-requests-dangerous-app-permissions

XiaoYing is the same phrase as Viva Video in Chinese, so removal of Viva Video should remove XiaoYing.

 

[adriibabii90]

So it turns out the photos come from the app. If you have VivaVideo, go into My Projects, scroll until you see DEMO PROJECT....it has all the same pics and vids from the DCIM gallery folder....I just deleted the entire project. So far I havent seen the photos pop back up

 

[jrod1011]

I was having this same issue (same handful of stock pics reappearing in a DCIM folder randomly) and after clearing all of Vivavideo's data and uninstalling it and even going thru the internal storage to delete a few leftover folders with the name "viva" or "xiaoying", the pics have stopped showing up...for now.

 

[Ahr69]

Javier P is the bomb. great answer to the DCIM photo appearance of these stock photos in our phones.
Goto apps, find VivaVideo, Storage, on the bottom, Clear data, clear cache, Remove them from your DCIM folder. Yeah!!!!!!

 

[Javier P]

Javier P is the bomb. great answer to the DCIM photo appearance of these stock photos in our phones.
Goto apps, find VivaVideo, Storage, on the bottom, Clear data, clear cache, Remove them from your DCIM folder. Yeah!!!!!!

Hahaha. Glad it helped.

 

[AeonReign]

Hello,

For the past few weeks, I have been experiencing a strange issue where a random folder titled DCIM appears in my Gallery. It contains 5 stock photos titled demo_prj_01.jpg (and 02, 03, etc). I delete them and they eventually come back, usually days later. I have emptied my trash, and they still come back. I put my phone in airplane mode, thinking the photos were somehow internet-related, but the DCIM folder still returns. I hard reset, and it comes back.

I cannot replicate whatever is causing the folder to appear. Sometimes after I delete it, it will be gone for up to a week. Other times, it will come back several times throughout the day.

The folder appears in my internal storage, not microSD card.

I searched the photos with Bixby and found some matches on Pinterest. So they seem to really just be stock photos. I just don't know why they keep popping back up in my gallery and most importantly, I don't know how to keep them from coming back. I could easily hide or ignore the folder, sure, but how did the folder get there in the first place?

My phone is the Note 20 Ultra 5G running Android 11 with One UI version 3.1. The last software update was June 13 (it was labeled "security patch level: June 1, 2021"). I have not installed any suspicious apps or visited any shady sites to my knowledge, so I have no idea what's going on. The issue began in mid-July. About a week after it started, I installed AVG Antivirus because I thought maybe the pics were somehow virus-related and AVG would block them from reappearing. No such luck.

I'm attaching pics of the gallery showing the DCIM folder, the contents of the folder, and my trash showing how many times I've deleted these pictures in the past 2 or so weeks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

I have this exactly same 5 photos too