After syncing Samsung Gallery with Microsoft One Drive, my photos are out of order in several apps.

Tory Bayly 0 Reputation points
2026-06-20T16:10:50.9+00:00

Today I synced my Samsung Gallery with One Drive. Afterwards, I noticed in certain apps that the photos are no longer sorted by date. I have super old photos mixed in with new ones. I'm having trouble finding photos that I want because they're organized in a completely random order. I've noticed this issue in Meta apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

I unlinked One Drive from my Samsung account, turned syncing off, and completely logged out but it did not fix my photos.

Editing to add: I just noticed in Samsung Gallery, the photos are also messed up when I go to albums -> recent. They are only in the correct order by date if I click the "photos" tab. I believe this is a One Drive issue because this did not happen until I synced with One Drive.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | Other | Android
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  1. Kai-H 26,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-06-21T08:20:27.3066667+00:00

    Hi, Tory Bayly

    This sounds like the sync changed how some photos are being read by the phone, especially the “date modified” or cloud copy order, even if the original photo date is still correct. That is why the Photos tab may look normal, but Recents, Albums, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger can show older photos mixed with newer ones.

    Here are some suggestions you can try:

    First, open Samsung Gallery and use the Photos/Pictures tab instead of Albums > Recent. “Recent” does not always mean “date taken”; it can show items that were recently added, synced, downloaded, or touched by OneDrive.

    Then clear the media cache so Android rebuilds the photo list. Go to Settings > Apps > Gallery > Storage > Clear cache. Also do the same for OneDrive, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Restart the phone after that.

    If the order is still wrong in Meta apps, open Settings > Apps > Instagram/Facebook/Messenger > Storage, then clear cache. If needed, uninstall and reinstall those apps so they rebuild their photo picker list from scratch.

    It is also suggested that you check whether the affected photos are stored only in OneDrive or actually downloaded to the phone. If they are cloud-only copies, download the originals back to the device from OneDrive or Gallery, because apps may sort newly downloaded files by the download/sync date instead of the original date taken.

    For photos that are still wrong, check one of them in Gallery > Details and see whether the date taken is correct. If the date is missing or wrong, you may need to correct the photo date on a PC using Photos, File Explorer, or a metadata tool, then copy the fixed files back to the phone.

    I would avoid deleting anything from OneDrive while troubleshooting, since Samsung Gallery sync can mirror deletions between Gallery and OneDrive. Gallery sync links Samsung Gallery and OneDrive content, and this integration is changing after September 30, 2026, so moving forward it may be safer to use OneDrive Camera backup instead of Samsung Gallery sync.

    Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you. 

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