Help Google Photos sporadically duplicated all media

[connorhawke]

Google Photos has just created a duplicate of almost all of my media on my Pixel. It seems it has sporadically split virtually each photo/video into on-device and on-Cloud copies, whereas before the on-device/Cloud split was consolidated into each photo/video. The on-device copies are currently not being backed up to the Cloud due to storage having run out, and I want to keep it that way as I don't want a duplicate of each on the Cloud. If I manually go through and delete the duplicate on-device copies (which would, btw, take a very long time), I expect there is a high probability Google Photos will also delete the Cloud copy when it syncs due to shared metadata (I've seen Google Photos do similar automatic deletions in the past). So how can I resolve this? P.S. This is far from the first critical bug I've reported. I plan to switch back to iPhone after this, although they have their own issues, but not as bad as this.

 

[connorhawke]

I just witnessed all of the split photos gradually disappear from Google Photos on my phone so now both the on-device and on-Cloud copy are gone. It's showing no photos over a month ago. It seems all of the disappeared photos are still on Cloud on the desktop site so I'm backing that up now.

Another note that may be relevant. Shortly before the duplication mess occurred, I restored a few photos from the Trash. That's all I did. That may or may not have kicked this into action, and if it did, I don't know why it would, and it shouldn't. It's unacceptable that something like this happens this far into Android/Photos development.

I submitted a report to Google with all of the above info.

 

[ocnbrze]

have you verified that they are gone via your computer? you log into google photos on your web browser and see if your photos are there or not.

i never have any issues with my google photos. i still have photos that i took on my htc hero which was over a decade or so ago!!!!!!!

what phone do you have? have you tried re-booting your phone?