This is an odd problem and I have never faced before. I cannot find anything in the board about this.
About 3 days ago, I suddenly noticed that my newest posted reviews with photos attached did not show any photo.
In fact, I can normally post reviews and they surely go public, but the photos I attached did not display on the review; only my wordings went pubic but the photos/videos not.
I found that the photos and videos might be successfully uploaded and public because the photos can be found in the picture of the place that my photos belong to, but those photos were not attached to the reviews (but I uploaded them together)!
I tried to edit a normal review with photos which was updated about 1 weeks ago, and the same situation occurs:
The photos attached disappear from the review, but the review is still public.
I have reported this problem to LG Appeal Form system. Google only responded that I have no penalties against my account, but the situation still exist now.
It is shown that the recent 10 posts do not display any photos, but I actually uploaded them together. Just wonder if anyone have any idea about this problem.
Besides, I’ve tried all ways I can figure out, including:
clear google maps cache and storage
force stop and restart the map app
restart the phone
log out my account on Google map and log in again
make sure that all permissions(e.g. Location, Photos and videos) are allowed for Google Map (Settings=> Apps=>Google Map=> Permissions)
my google map version is 25.26.04.774458481 (#1068124381)
My device is Samsung Galaxy S24+, Android 15, and One UI 7.0. My phone applied a system update about 4 days ago; I am not sure whether it could connect to the problem.
I’m having the same issue—the last 2-3 days. So I’m glad it’s not just me, and it’s probably a global problem. I’ve contacted support, but there’s no response yet.
Hi Mr @Lateas .
You’re welcome actually..
I can see that you’re going through the same issues as Mr @MichaelNae
So I’ll invite you too to check “Photos & reviews!”
Thanks. #LG
Actually there’s a way you can check whether your account is under restrictions through this "Restrictions " and see if some of your photos / videos uploaded are hidden through"Investigations! or this "Hidden photos! "..
Thanks!
I don’t think this is a “Restrictions” issue. The photos upload correctly and they are visible on my profile. They’re just not linked to the review (I can see them, but the public can’t). A colleague of mine is having the same problem. According to the Restrictions page, my account is perfectly fine.
Yeah I noticed it ! However I’ve shared those for just checking sometimes there’s things we don’t notice ..
But for the hidden Link it’ll be for seeing those uploaded that are hidden by the system which is related to your inquiry
( you’ve shared them but some of them are not public)..
.
Thanks for understanding.. #LG
To clarify: after uploading, the photos are visible to public users, but only if they view them through my profile under the “Photos” section. The problem is that the photos are not linked or attached to the specific review.
Here’s a picture to show how I see my profile and how other people see it.
Yeah Mr @I understood!
Indeed the hidden Link should let you know if those photos are really hidden or not. Then it’s clear that those are against google map’s policies ( if it’s the case) .
Then if it’s not against google map’s policies so you’ll need to restart either your device or the map app..it could be useful too ( that helped others after have waited a little bit for it ) .. nevertheless the issue is escalated to the relevant team a while ago by googlers “Internal checking!..”
I think at this point you’ll just have to check it in a few hours…to see
Thanks! .. #LG
As @ivanos and @Laurent mentioned, this issue has already been reported by other Local Guides and the team is aware of it.
I will merge this topic to the ongoing conversation to keep everything in one place. That way it’ll also be easier to share an update with everyone who’s reported this on Connect.
Thank you for all the details, @ErmesT! All of that was super helpful. No need to share screenshots, there are quite a few available in the comments above.
Hi @Manni
You are sharing the link to the place. Are you talking about this review? https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/104605247608162313914
Nothing has been removed, and your photos are still visible under the Photos tab of your profile.
There is a know issue, already reported by others, about the photos not being visible as attached to the review. The issue is very recent and is not involving all our contributions.
I want to inform you that, to keep Connect organized, I am merging your topic to the previous one: 📍 Question for fellow Local Guides – Why are my review photos not showing up? 🤔
Today’s update: Out of the last 20 reviews where the photos weren’t showing, photos suddenly appeared on 3 of them without me doing anything.
The funny (or rather annoying) part is that in the meantime, photos from other older reviews have disappeared — even from reviews that were previously ranked first in relevance for that place.
Google, what kind of mess is this? Is anyone actually working on it?
By the way, I tried updating a review and adding new photos to see if they would link properly — and no, still they don’t. The review still gets published without photos, and the photos are only visible through my profile or in the “Photos” tab, but they don’t attach to the review itself.
@MichaelNae
I agree this is a mess (funny thing is one “product expert” at Google Maps Help Community said he didn’t think it’s a big problem or even a problem at all). And another issue the disappearance of photos under old reviews seems to happen randomly. Some day they disappear while several days later they appear again under the same review. Anyways, I think we can only be patient and wait for the team to resolve this (here the “resolve” includes photos originally showing under old reviews have been restored to be publicly visible).
By the way, some side issue that I just found: while the photos under the recently published reviews are visible only under Photos section, I found that many of them are missed from public view sometimes. That is, even the photos only are not successfully shown in the Photo section (for me this is generally not the case as normally most of my photos would successfully loaded into and show in eh Photo section, in addition to being shown under the reviews).
I’ve posted at least 3 reviews in the past week across Southeast Asia, all with photos attached. But when I check using another Google account the reviews show up without the photos. The photos only appear separately under the “Photos” tab of the location not within the review itself.
Is this a new bug or are they handling photo moderation differently now? Anyone else experiencing the same issue?
