Side by side strange when checking for private photos

Google Maps tips & tricks
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@MortenCopenhagen @ErmesT @WilfriedB @tony_b including a few of the experts and helpful folks. So, I decided to do a full side by side comparison of all 23,000 photos to hunt for hidden ones. My friend has a maps account. In all cases from like 1 year to 7 years, we found either no POI for my photo, which I deleted, or I had say 3 photos and she only saw 2. I deleted the one she didn’t see. All peachy.

But, but, when viewing recent photos from 1 to 5 months there were several instances in which she saw 3 of my photos posted to a Poi, and I only saw like one. This occurred many times. What in the world is going on? How can this be? I looked on her phone and yep, those 3 were mine, and I only showed one. Figured i would run this by anyone who might shed some clarity. Thx.

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What did you use, @StevenBerlin desk computers, Android or iOS mobile apps?

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It sounds troubling.

Please share an example or two with screenshots and links.

I recall that we earlier could observer temporary discrepancies but they were not permanent but a result of differences between the media service. You could eliminate this by refreshing the “page”. Please try.

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@MortenCopenhagen @WilfriedB first, I use android. I never use computer.
I can try to go back and find a few cases, but if it shows on her android and not mine, she does not have the ability to SS on her version of android. Maybe I can stop and look in different tabs for more photos, but we go in sequence by the sort of latest uploaded and just scroll down.

Or I maybe can SS my single photo and upload the link. But you would have to sift through all photos to see more. Guess I don’t know of a way to show this :frowning:

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Responding here just to keep this thread on my radar.

I haven’t done a thorough side by side recently, but now you’ve stimulated my curiosity. Will get back to you if I find time for a bit of testing. Thankfully I’m closer to 23 HUNDRED photos as compared to your 23 THOUSAND!!

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Hi @StevenBerlin,
as long as others can see your photo, I wouldn’t worry at all. I also saw cases, where photos did not appear temporary under My Contributions or they did appear, but in a different order than before. The latter may cause to see a particular photo only when scrolling back or forward to match the list on the other device.

On the desktop, I did find a case, I can reproduce, but I cannot say anything about the mobile app.

CC @tony_b @MortenCopenhagen

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@MortenCopenhagen @WilfriedB @tony_b its late. We found about 10 more cases. I do have screenshots, so tomorrow I will attempt to post my results which will clearly show this behavior. I am bad at this tech, so hopefully it will work.

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The interesting question is what we can reproduce.

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@MortenCopenhagen @tony_b @WilfriedB @ErmesT

Ok here we go. Remember this post might not work. So. The issue. My friend sees more photos of mine under contributions by me for a POI numerous times. New insights.. when checking her screen i see two photos of mine, but mine only shows 1. If i go to the business and look under MY photos, I see them both. Under ALL PHOTOS, I can see them both.
Exhibit 1. Her SS of my contributions list showing two photos of Sessions West Coast..

IMG_20260707_065854
IMG_20260707_065854945×2048 420 KB

Exhibit 2. My listing of contributions showing only 1 photo of sessions.

Screenshot_20260706_034753_Maps
Screenshot_20260706_034753_Maps1080×2340 600 KB

I don’t want to risk any more image inserts, so, if I look at the business under my photos and all photos both are visible. Question… why does this not show under my contributions…the two images, but for her, she sees both. I hope this makes sense to everyone following.

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Hello @StevenBerlin,
there seems to be a bug display our contributions (as I saw a similar one on desktop), nobody reported and/or no Googler cares about.

But again, as long as those photos are still public, i consider this only a little glitch.

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Here is the link to the place in question:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Df2YKaLx9k7FdjGi6?g_st=ac

Here is Steve’s entrance photo:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GLUx4mZ9Cf5dmuW77?g_st=ac

Here is his pizza boxes shot:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CuwkvRqg5qTQJ3kj8?g_st=ac

What is the difference between your two screenshots (besides the number of photos)?

The issue that our own photos are no longer shown in our Reviews contribution list has been escalated some weeks ago.

I still need to understand the issue better.

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I understand, Steven did not look at the Reviews, but to Photos contributions list @MortenCopenhagen ?

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Here is what I found after scrolling way down in his photo contribution list:

Screenshot_20260707-195233
Screenshot_20260707-1952331080×836 230 KB

Both are there.

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@MortenCopenhagen, this is exactly what he says: Others do see both photos, but being logged in with his own profile, he sees only one.

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@WilfriedB @MortenCopenhagen I thought i was pretty exact about what happened. So, bottom line. Those 2 photos do NOT appear in my contributions list of photos, nothing to do with reviews. Yet, everyone else apparently sees them in the contributions list, but me.

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I’m trying to understand and hopefully be able to escalate this.

Again:

What is the difference between your two screenshots (besides the number of photos)?

Is the issue transient or were they taken from different accounts? Maybe one from incognito?

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@MortenCopenhagen when you scroll through your photos, as I am, I only see one photo of that sessions POI. My friend, on her account, NOT incognito, is seeing two photos of sessions when viewing my photos, under my name. The difference is she is seeing two, and me only one, and these are mine. Makes no sense. This happened more than a dozen times where she saw MORE of my photo then I am. And its my photos, my listing of my photos sorted naturally by date. That to me makes no sense. If anything I should see more than her in case of any private or hidden photos.

Understand?

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@MortenCopenhagen exactly my point. You and she are seeing BOTH PHOTOS. I only see one, when I scroll down

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Sorry for being slow to understand this. I think I’m up to speed finally on this.

First you mentioned she was unable to make screenshots and now we have a screenshot.

To escalate this I’m maybe too ambitious but I think we need more evidence. Or dig deeper. I think it is unrealistic to expect the Googlers to investigate this without more evidence.

Is this issue isolated to your device, the Android platform or your account.

Could this issue be temporary (maybe related to other recently deleted images)?

Could it coincide with how the photo contribution list is downloaded in increments of 20 images in each batch. Are images lost “between” batches? Or can the issue be seen after/in all batches?

Which versions of the app are you and she using?

Does the problem persists after clearing the cache?

Are the number of photos listed at the top of your photo contribution list the same?

Can we construct a test to decide if the problem resides on the media server side?

Can we test if @StevenBerlin is the only LG affected by this? Who will volunteer to check other profiles?

Is the issue stable (always reproduceable)?

How frequent is the issue?

Does the number of photos added per place play a role?

Can we build an argument for how this issue is impacting many LGs substantially?

As the missing images can be found in the place pages is this issue worth the effort to try to get fixed? Or do we think Google will give priority to get it fixed considering small changes are often leading to more issues?

I don’t think we have enough evidence to get this escalated and solved.

Others can have a different opinion.

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@MortenCopenhagen awesome post Mort. Thx for delving into everything. I tried this as well on my computer, and only saw 1 photo. The bizarre thing about this is it only occurred from current photos to 5 months. We saw this happen maybe 20x. After 5 months or so and doing all the way through 7 years of photos, this never occurred again.

We were both baffled by the fact that she saw more photos than me. We are nothing using android and the most up to date maps installed.

The fact that I am able to see the photos when I look directly at the businesses under my photos and ALL seems like the photos are good. But, the contributions list is not quite in sync for the first few months of uploads. That’s my take on it.

It is hard to do a dmside by side analysis with someone like me with soooooo many photos. It takes hours.