Comment by MinimalAction
5 days ago
I remember reading this issue on Reddit. Some folks fixed it by installing an older version of Google Photos. I assume you have already tried the usual (deleting cache, reinstalling the app, restarting the phone, checking on the cloud through another device -- the latter might not be possible since you are using without an account).
I don't think it's an app issue once the files are borked. Since I verified there are whole chunks of data missing in the .jpg files I don't see how doing something to the photos app could fix them again.
I don't know how Google Photos stores the photos. Unless you have a backup, it is hard to see if this is a change at the level of files, or that Google Photos has a unique way of storing them that introduces changes to HDR-enabled files. As I said, I'm quoting what worked for people who faced this issue before.
I only use Google Photos as a photo viewer, completely offline, no cloud backups. Like I said, there are definitely file level changes which I inspected on a copy of the files on my computer. Anyway, thanks for participating. I hope I didn't come off as rude.