Maybe you should provide some files the team can analyse. Direct from camera that fails so they can start testing this more systematically .
Just an idea.
I certainly can @MortenCopenhagen:
The first time, I experienced this problem was on Jan 10, 2026 posting 3 photos to Google Maps . I left them hidden and submitted an appeal form on the same day.
Trying to post a photo yesterday to Google Maps was hidden immediately:
I opened the JPG in GIMP and without applying any change, I exported under a different name:
It was accepted immediately and BTW showed 10 views this morning.
Another example:
I posted this photo on January 16, it was hidden right away and I left it hidden on Google Maps :
However thinking about it @MortenCopenhagen, attaching the images here in a comment here might not be very helpful, since very likely Connect modifies the embedded JGPs.
In such cases I use a service like
Thanks @cfanatic, this seems to be the easiest solution and could be done for multiple images at once.
This did work after I made sure, the original was rejected again:
exiftool -all= -tagsfromfile @ -all:all -unsafe xxxx.JPG
It did produce two warnings:
Warning: Bad length ICC_Profile (length 632)
Warning: ICC_Profile deleted. Image colors may be affected
@WilfriedB all very bewildering 
At least, I found a way now to fix this with a single click for multiple images with a short macro for my photo database, regardless if it was by Google or Samsung.
Hello @Activmojo welcome to the Local Guides Connect community!
Did you try to crop the photos or modify, as described in the thread above and upload again?
I also still see this issue for all my photos made with Galaxy S24 FE. My workaround, I described above helps me for now, but cannot be a permanent solution.
Yes, if I crop a photo in Google photos and upload, it is published. Also my wife’s photos which are shared from her cloud account to my Google photos account, taken on her Samsung A54, are also published without manipulation by me.
I wonder if this problem is cause by a Samsung update to our phones, which has a bug.
Cropping every photo while not too onerous is a bit of a nuisance while on the move so agreed not a perfect solution
@Activmojo so far, everybody reporting this problem has either an S24 or S25. Was it an update of the Samsung device? I cannot tell, because mine is very new and it happened to all photos, I made with it, but somebody else also commented “after update to version …” so very likely, it was introduced with the most recent update.
I agree, but have look at my workaround using Phil Harvey’s ExifTool.
P.S. When responding to a specific comment in Connect, it helps, if specify the author with @ function, @WilfriedB in my case. That way, I am notified more easily.
Hey! Author of the post here. I am using an iPhone and I still had this problem.
It’s only on certain photos. Very weird behaviour!
Interesting @bianritorto, which version of iPhone are you using.
In the other cases using galaxy S24 or S25 it was all or almost all photos uploaded after an update of Android. If they were only some photos in your case, this sound like “business as usual”, i.e. some photos are rejected by the SPAM filter. You should watch for obeying all rules, for example no recognizable faces … etc and delete those.
P.S. Instead of says “Author of the post” it would be better to use the @ followed by the the name of the author. That way, the use is notified.
Just a quick information for everybody:
I was wondering, whether the problem was caused by Android or the camera app of certain Galaxy models and tried today making photos with OpenCamera. At same time I uploaded one photo made with the Android camera app and three photos from OpenCamera and indeed, the latter were all accepted, while those made with the Android camera app were still rejected.
Those, who still experience the problem, please try with a different camera app!
@bianritorto @MoniDi @MortenCopenhagen @Activmojo @cfanatic @Westburn.World @nokia23 @Bohdan @tony_b
Thanks for the idea, I’ve already tried Snapspeed but the only success I’ve had is to use the phone camera in map app or to edit in Google photos. It does inhibit on the hoof review.
Very interesting @WilfriedB. I installed GIMP and will give it a try.
GIMP needs long time to open @tony_b. My approach with ExifTool by Phil Harvey is much faster and does it within seconds. I only used GIMP to see whether not even a crop is needed, before I found the solution with ExifTool.
Okay. Thanks for that clarification.
How can you edit an image “in the google maps app”? I see no edit button on my side (Android).
Thx
Good news this morning @tony_b, @bianritorto, @MoniDi, @PrasadVR, @Westburn.World, @barrysspl, @KastaNET, @JanHC, @Bohdan, @MortenCopenhagen, @ErmesT, @nokia23 and others who had the problem with photos made by certain Galaxy models:
My Smartphone was updated this morning. Still Android 16 but Firmware BP2A.250605.031.A3.S721BXXSACZB2 and One UI-Version 8.0.
The camera app is also still on version 16.0.00.63, but I did post one test photo and it did get accepted right away. If you had photos made by Galaxy being hidden, please try again after the firmware update.
P.S. As mentioned by @barrysspl in another post, the previously hidden and marked photos got published now without uploading again.