Android is a far from perfect operating system, which, however, differs in many ways for the better from iOS. No, I'm not going to talk about the advantages of openness and extensive customization options right now, although they must not be forgotten either. In my opinion, Android outperforms iOS, oddly enough, with its stability. After all, the mobile operating system from Google has never become a victim of the 'symbols of death', and perhaps even Android Jelly Bean could not compete with iOS 13 in terms of the number of bugs and shortcomings. However, Android sometimes has a hole.
Bugs Android – a rather atypical story that sometimes takes place
A bug was discovered in Android 9 Pie that provokes the deletion of photos and other files, users of the official Google support forum noticed. These can include desktop images, videos, and application APKs. However, software installed from Google Play cannot be removed. Such selectivity of the bug suggests that it is most likely hiding in that section of the file system that is responsible for storing information downloaded from the Internet.
Photos are deleted. What to do
To protect photos from deletion, you do not need to transfer them between system partitions
According to affected users, the deletion does not happen invisibly, but only happens if the Downloads folder is renamed or the file is moved from the Downloads section to any other folder. Of course, one might think that the problem is that some users simply forget where they transfer their photos, but the continuous growth in the number of those who faced the problem clearly suggests otherwise. In the end, as Uncle Fyodor's dad from Prostokvashino said, everyone together only gets sick with the flu, but they usually go crazy in turn.
Considering that in order to provoke the deletion of a photo or any other file downloaded from the Internet, you need to take an active action, it turns out to be quite simple to deal with the manifestations of the bug. All you need to do is refuse to transport downloaded data between operating system partitions, at least until the release of the update with the fix. Yes, perhaps this will have a negative impact on the usability of the smartphone, but it is guaranteed to save important data from spontaneous deletion.
Why updates are not coming out Android
Another thing is that it is not yet clear how long users of the affected devices will have to endure these inconveniences. After all, Google, of course, can release an update with a fix even now, but it is only guaranteed to reach only branded smartphones, while the owners of all other devices can only wait and hope for the conscientiousness of their manufacturers. After all, if many companies refuse to adapt monthly security patches even for flagships, what can we say about budget models, for which the only OS assembly is the one installed from the factory.
The disregard of manufacturers even for the flagship smartphone is by no means fiction. I myself have recently become a victim of this negligence, which I am tempted to call criminal. The fact is that all of a sudden my Honor View 20, which yesterday belonged, if not to the flagship, then at least to the sub-flagship line and had top-end hardware, suddenly stopped receiving security updates. Why this happened is difficult for me personally to say, because only a year has passed since the smartphone entered the market, which means that its support should continue for at least two more. But for some reason Huawei decided that updates were not about her and just gave a damn about the branded device, which, I'm sure, was far from the only one on the list of forgotten ones.