Help cache photos album?

[lgbalfa]

i notice that i always have an album called "cache photos" that always gets images there that are just black.

how / why does this happen and how do i prevent it?

thanks

 

[doogald]

You have an app that caches images that it downloads so it doesn't have to download them again if you open that content again. Think of something like a twitter client which shows images that people have posted: when you scroll to that tweet, it will download the image to show you. It keeps a copy temporarily in case you scroll back down and see the same tweet, so it doesn't waste data downloading the image again.

Look on your storage for a folder called "cache" or "cache photos". It's probably a subfolder somewhere. That will probably tell you which app does this.

One solution may is to put a file called ".nomedia" in that folder. Named just like that - a period at the start, with no file extension. I know this works - I have a twitter client called Plume that puts a cache folder in /android/data/com.levelup.touiteur/files/Pictures/cache that has a bunch of images with a .nomedia file and this folder does not show up in my albums view in the gallery app. This is a traditional way to tell a gallery client on Android that any photos it finds in that folder should not be displayed.

(A period before a file or folder on a *nix operating system like Android is a way to make that file or folder hidden from directory listings.)

One way to create a file called nomedia is to create a text file called nomedia.txt. Don't put anything in the file - just create the new file and save it. Move that file to that folder on your phone, and then use a file manager client like Astro to rename the file from "nomedia.txt" to ".nomedia" (without the quotes, of course.)

 

[mahers]

I use the QuickPic app instead of the stock gallery. It's a little nicer and allows for great organization of pics and folders. Every once in a while, I would see what you mention in the OP. In QuickPic, you can select the folder you don't want to see and in the menu, you can "exclude" it from appearing. QuickPic will add the .nomedia extension to that folder and essentially erase it from the gallery. It will still exist, you just won't see it anymore. I feel this is much easier than trying to hunt for the folder. (I know it's not hard, but since you are in the gallery, it's easy to just do it right then and there)

 

[doogald]

I use the QuickPic app instead of the stock gallery. It's a little nicer and allows for great organization of pics and folders. Every once in a while, I would see what you mention in the OP. In QuickPic, you can select the folder you don't want to see and in the menu, you can "exclude" it from appearing. QuickPic will add the .nomedia extension to that folder and essentially erase it from the gallery. It will still exist, you just won't see it anymore. I feel this is much easier than trying to hunt for the folder. (I know it's not hard, but since you are in the gallery, it's easy to just do it right then and there)

I agree with this. The Motorola Gallery app is nicer than it was, but it could still use some work.

Btw, I tried adding .nomedia to a folder that was showing up in the album view, and it didn't work. It must be that the file must be there before the app scans for photos.

 

[SNeitzel]

I have been using QuickPic for years as well. Far out performs any version of the stock app IMHO.

...I tried adding .nomedia to a folder that was showing up in the album view, and it didn't work. It must be that the file must be there before the app scans for photos.

I believe you are correct. Clearing data for QuickPic should clear the cache as well and make QuickPic rescan for pictures. I assume the stock app would work the same way.

 

[mahers]

I agree with this. The Motorola Gallery app is nicer than it was, but it could still use some work.

I agree that the stock Moto gallery is much improved since launch, but I still like the way QP lets me move things around and organize better.

Btw, I tried adding .nomedia to a folder that was showing up in the album view, and it didn't work. It must be that the file must be there before the app scans for photos.

Hmmm. That doesn't sound right to me. It should see it, regardless of when you added it. Then again, what the hell do I know?