This article will help those people that are experiencing issues to view their WhatsApp media on the phone gallery. Read all the details below!
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Topic about? | Media disappeared |
| Guide valid for? | WhatsApp for Android |
| Previous article? | Instagram plans to send 2FA codes on WhatsApp |
In a previous article, we explained that WhatsApp was changing the path where to save images, videos, GIFs, audio, documents and stickers on WhatsApp for Android. After this change, a lot of users were experiencing an issue where they were unable to see their media on WhatsApp.
Some people said they have recently lost their media on WhatsApp for Android.
Probably there is a rare bug in the recent beta updates.Please, back up your chat history: if you will experience this issue, you can easily get back your media restoring from the backup. ☑️
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) April 20, 2021
In the same article we explained how to restore your media, simply moving them from the old to the new path manually. WhatsApp automatically moved them but, for some users, the automatic process didn’t work.
Today, some users are experiencing another issue with their media, after the path change: they aren’t able to see media on the phone gallery anymore. It seems that WhatsApp automatically creates a .nomedia file after moving media (so you cannot see your media anymore after the path change).
How to fix this issue?
- Kill the photo gallery app
- Be sure that Media visibility is enabled: Open WhatsApp > Tap More options > Settings > Chats > Turn on Media visibility.
- Using a file explorer, be sure that it’s able to see hidden files:
- When you’re sure that your file explorer can see hidden files, go to the new path where WhatsApp is saving your media: /user/Android/Media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media.
- You should see a .nomedia file in this path: delete it!
- Open the photo gallery app and you should finally see your media again!
- Be sure that you have really deleted the .nomedia file. Some users on my Discord server claimed that they deleted it but, after investigating, we discovered that they have deleted the wrong .nomedia file.
- Try to see if there is any .nomedia file in the parent directory of the new path and delete it.
- If the issue persists, try to delete any .nomedia file in the WhatsApp Images directory and similar, in the same path.
So, it’s important that you use a file explorer that supports viewing hidden files. If you haven’t one, go to the Play Store to download an alternative. You can also connect your device to the PC and you can delete the file there (and be sure that the PC explorer is able to see hidden files).
Stay tuned to discover new features and guides on WhatsApp for Android and iOS!
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WABetaInfo has a Discord Server about WhatsApp, where you can chat, give advice, ask for help to other participants and read my announcements!