What happened to "Save" when cropping a photo?

[Aflaaaak]

I bought my Pixel 9 Pro XL back in October, and it acted just like my old P6P when it came to cropping photos I'd just taken, i.e. it gave me the choice to Save, or Save Copy. Now it only gives me the option to Save a Copy, meaning I end up with two copies...one that's cropped, and the original. This is super annoying as I have to go into photos and delete the original I'll NEVER use. Is there a way to revert back to the old options, or is this part of a new "feature" in Android 15, or some other update?

 

[SeeBeeEss]

I bought my Pixel 9 Pro XL back in October, and it acted just like my old P6P when it came to cropping photos I'd just taken, i.e. it gave me the choice to Save, or Save Copy. Now it only gives me the option to Save a Copy, meaning I end up with two copies...one that's cropped, and the original. This is super annoying as I have to go into photos and delete the original I'll NEVER use. Is there a way to revert back to the old options, or is this part of a new "feature" in Android 15, or some other update?

I'm guessing that the latest Google Photos app update made this change, as I also had the 2 save options a couple of days ago and, after receiving the latest Google Photos app update (version 7.10.0.704893900), yesterday, there is only one option - save copy. I show no other updates which would have affected photo editing features or logically explain the change and timing.

I believe that reverting to the previous version of the Google Photos app without using a mod APK would not be possible, however, l would suggest that you contact Google Help through your Settings app and confirm with them if this is a glitch that will be fixed or purposeful, and if purposeful, provide feedback that you disagree with what they have done.

 

[B. Diddy]

Strange, I have the same Photos version (on my 7 Pro, not a 9), and it's still giving me a Save option in addition to Save Copy after a simple crop. You haven't made any other edits, like Unblur, right? Some of those options do require the finished product to be saved as a copy.

 

[SeeBeeEss]

Strange, I have the same Photos version (on my 7 Pro, not a 9), and it's still giving me a Save option in addition to Save Copy after a simple crop. You haven't made any other edits, like Unblur, right? Some of those options do require the finished product to be saved as a copy.

Obviously, I don't know about the OP, but my P8P only shows a "save copy" button now in Google Photos irrespective of what or how many edits have been done (including just cropping). I only checked the editing options when I read the OP's post as I had been doing edits with both options (save or save copy) the day before (yesterday - Saturday). My app was working just like yours until I received the Google Photos update and did a restart (for a different reason).

Have you had any reason to do a restart after receiving the update? If you were willing to participate in this little experiment , a restart might be a good test and lead myself and the OP in another direction if your Google Photos app still ended up having the save and save as copy options after the restart (that's when my edit options changed - not immediately after receiving the Google Photos update).

 

[B. Diddy]

Obviously, I don't know about the OP, but my P8P only shows a "save copy" button now in Google Photos irrespective of what or how many edits have been done (including just cropping). I only checked the editing options when I read the OP's post as I had been doing edits with both options (save or save copy) the day before (yesterday - Saturday). My app was working just like yours until I received the Google Photos update and did a restart (for a different reason).

Have you had any reason to do a restart after receiving the update? If you were willing to participate in this little experiment , a restart might be a good test and lead myself and the OP in another direction if your Google Photos app still ended up having the save and save as copy options after the restart (that's when my edit options changed - not immediately after receiving the Google Photos update).
View attachment 367322

Just restarted and tried again. I still get the Save and Save Copy options:

I'm on the December security update and the latest November Google Play system update. You're on December, and have checked for any recent Google Play system updates?

 

[straygator7]

I just checked on my P9PXL, and when I edit a photo, the only button that immediately appears is "SAVE" -- but when I press that button, it opens both options, to save as a copy or save the edits to the original.

 

[B. Diddy]

I just checked on my P9PXL, and when I edit a photo, the only button that immediately appears is "SAVE" -- but when I press that button, it opens both options, to save as a copy or save the edits to the original.

That's exactly what I see as well.

 

[SeeBeeEss]

Just restarted and tried again. I still get the Save and Save Copy options:
View attachment 367323
I'm on the December security update and the latest November Google Play system update. You're on December, and have checked for any recent Google Play system updates?

I just checked on my P9PXL, and when I edit a photo, the only button that immediately appears is "SAVE" -- but when I press that button, it opens both options, to save as a copy or save the edits to the original.

That's exactly what I see as well.

Interesting stuff. I checked my Google Play System and it is up to date, as I expected. After reading @straygator7 's comment, I went back into the Photos app and checked again with the same results. So, I started checking different photos and what I found was some photos only show the save photo option (when you press save photo, it just saves the photo) and other photos do what @B. Diddy and @straygator7 are saying - after you press save photo, options to save or save as copy pop up. Yesterday all editing worked the same irrespective of the photo I was editing. I guess I am going to have to figure out the difference in the photos that would affect the editing options on them.

Thanks @B. Diddy for testing my working theory on your end. I'm still confused, but at least I can look elsewhere in an attempt to figure out what the heck is going on.

 

[straygator7]

On the issue of whether to preserve the original after edits have been made to a photo, here's a related point that may be of interest to those who, like me, maintain certain collections of photos as "treasures." When I edit a photo, I always save the original as well as the copy; generally, the edited copy goes into the displayed album while the original is stored in a separate file. The reason I began doing that some time ago is because Google is continuously upgrading its photo editing features, often in ways that enable me to go back to the old original and enhance the photo with newly available technology.

The most notable example of the benefits of this practice is the arrival of Magic Eraser. Some of the photos I took on travels that predated the Magic Eraser were edited by cropping out unwanted people or objects, which usually required reducing the viewable field and paring out some things that I would have preferred to retain. With the advent of Magic Eraser, I was able to pull up the originals from storage and remove unwanted people or objects without cutting off other items of interest. Other editing refinements have likewise facilitated the revisiting and embellishment of older photos.

Of course, that requires maintaining ample storage space, which I do by paying for 2TB of storage on Google One and regularly backing up all of my photos to multiple USB devices. If you have photos that you regard as irreplaceable, however, I think it's well worth the relatively modest effort and expense to avoid losing those priceless memories -- or even losing the opportunity to improve the quality of the photos that preserve them.

 

[straygator7]

Interesting stuff. I checked my Google Play System and it is up to date, as I expected. After reading @straygator7 's comment, I went back into the Photos app and checked again with the same results. So, I started checking different photos and what I found was some photos only show the save photo option (when you press save photo, it just saves the photo) and other photos do what @B. Diddy and @straygator7 are saying - after you press save photo, options to save or save as copy pop up. Yesterday all editing worked the same irrespective of the photo I was editing. I guess I am going to have to figure out the difference in the photos that would affect the editing options on them.

Thanks @B. Diddy for testing my working theory on your end. I'm still confused, but at least I can look elsewhere in an attempt to figure out what the heck is going on.

This may not explain the issue you're encountering, but I believe that when you edit a moving picture, there is only an option to save the edited copy, because the original remains unaffected.

 

[SeeBeeEss]

@Aflaaaak Have you tried different photos to see if all of them do the same thing when editing and then saving them? As noted above in the discussion, I am getting mixed results and will try to determine if there are commonalities in the pics that only save after editing and the pics that allow you to either save or save a copy after editing.

 

[B. Diddy]

@Aflaaaak Have you tried different photos to see if all of them do the same thing when editing and then saving them? As noted above in the discussion, I am getting mixed results and will try to determine if there are commonalities in the pics that only save after editing and the pics that allow you to either save or save a copy after editing.

When you only get the Save option, is it saving as a copy, or saving over the original? I know that there are certain kinds of edits that only allow you to save as a copy, like using Magic Eraser.

 

[Aflaaaak]

I called Google and told them about the issue. She was no help at fixing it.
It appears that photos vary, some give me the Save option, some it's Save Copy, but not both, like it used to be. I haven't yet figured out why some are Save and others are Save Copy