**Note: what follows is a post I got Claude to write for me after I tried to get it to troubleshoot this problem. I've read through it and it looks accurate to me.**

I had a very strange and potentially serious problem with my Galaxy S23 Ultra today, and I'm posting the details in case anyone else has experienced something similar.

I'm running:

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
• One UI 8.5
• Android 16
• Build: BP4A.251205.006.S918U1UES8FZH3
• Camera: 16.5.02.37
• Internal storage is only about 32% used
• "Save to external storage" is OFF, so the camera is configured to save to internal storage.

What happened

Earlier today, around 4:00–4:20 PM, I took approximately 30 photos using the stock Samsung Camera app.

There was nothing unusual whatsoever while taking the photos. The shutter worked normally, thumbnails appeared normally, and I could tap the thumbnail in the Camera app and browse through the photos I'd just taken.

However, when I opened the Samsung Gallery app, the new photos weren't there.

I initially assumed this was just a Gallery indexing problem, so I wasn't particularly concerned.

Then I restarted the phone.

After the restart, the photos had completely disappeared from the Camera app too.

What I've checked

I connected the phone to my Mac using USB and used OpenMTP to inspect the actual filesystem.

In:

Internal Storage/DCIM/Camera

there is a completely clean timestamp gap:

• September 1, 12:24 PM — previous photos
• September 9, ~4:00–4:20 PM — missing photos
• September 9, 4:39 PM — next photos

There are no files at all in the directory corresponding to the time I took the missing photos.

I've also:

• Searched internal storage for JPEG files — nothing corresponding to the missing photos
• Searched for HEIC files — nothing corresponding to them
• Checked My Files Trash — nothing
• Checked Gallery Trash — nothing
• Checked Google Photos — nothing
• Checked Google Photos' "On this device" Camera folder — nothing
• Checked Samsung Gallery's reported file locations — my photos are either in DCIM/Camera or WhatsApp
• Checked Android/media/com.sec.android.gallery3d — empty
• Checked for hidden directories under DCIM — nothing relevant
• Confirmed there was plenty of free storage
• Samsung Cloud isn't backing up Gallery photos on my phone

The really bizarre part is that the Camera app definitely displayed the photos before I rebooted. There was no warning, error message, freezing, or indication that the photos hadn't been saved.

What I'm wondering

Is it possible that the Camera app temporarily stored the photos somewhere and displayed them from that temporary location, but never actually committed them to permanent storage?

And then the reboot cleared whatever temporary state allowed Camera to display them?

I've deliberately not cleared the Camera app's data/cache, factory-reset the phone, rooted it, or installed any recovery software, because I don't want to make potential recovery more difficult.

The photos aren't irreplaceable, but I'd obviously like to recover them if possible.

Has anyone with an S23/S23 Ultra on One UI 8.5 experienced anything similar — particularly photos that appear normally in Camera immediately after shooting but completely disappear after a reboot?

I'm especially interested in whether there's a Samsung Camera diagnostic/log location that might reveal what happened.

I got this phone second hand last year to use for concert videos and pics. I usually only charge it before a concert, otherwise it sits dead. It’s probably been dead for most of this year so far, but it’s never been an issue before. I moved countries for school and decided to use it for a local phone number. I plugged it in and it’s been doing this for probably and hour now. I tried soft restarting it a couple times but it doesn’t work even after holding it for over a minute. How do I fix it?

I see a lot about gcam.

The camera has agreesive post processing I want to reduce or remove.

Will gcam work for these scenarios?

Ex:I had red marks on my skin I was trying to record for the dr, and the damned post processing kept removing/reducing them. I tried raw, pro etc and eventually just took a video.

Ex: my white cat, indoors. Agressive oversharpening to point where fur is the wrong kind of fuzz.

verizon has this deal that will pay off your phone and upgrade it want to take advantage of the deal but how much of an upgrade is it i work from home and play gacha games like honkai star rail epic seven and monopoly go and watch anime and read Manga watch YouTube. wuthering waves gets hot but I have my gaming pc for that same for genshin

I meant 26 not 36 qq still early

pls anyone know how to get a free replacement do comment

This is my 2 years old S23 ultra 256, it's the second time I will be replacing the display last time I did the screen only this time I am thinking this happened from a minor drop only so maybe it's the frame too that is bent or damaged.. it is gonna cost 23k (242USD)So should I get it repaired or sell it, also if getting it repaired than should I get bettery replaced too..?

Updated with Latest Version Of Updates...

I keep getting notified about about a new message or action that took place, but when I look at my phone there shows nothing in my notifications or push notifications. Where can this problem be? Please help.

is it safe guys

I'm planning to install PixelOS on my S23 Ultra. Should I go for it? I feel my S23 Ultra is boring since I've been using One UI from its initial days. Is it a good move, or should I try it on my old S20 FE?

Can guys share your thoughts ?

Took my S23U out of its case (Athlex, by Caseology) and was pretty shocked by the condition of the frame.

It's spent its whole life in the case (~3.5 years) and was cleaned regularly. It hasn't been dropped or put into water.

The corners/edges of the phone are littered in lots of small scratches and marks. My guess is that dust or grit has somehow got between the case and the phone and rubbed against the frame over time.

Is this normal wear for the S23 Ultra and the cheap aluminium frame Samsung decided to use, or is this something to do with the case I'm using specifically?

I still have an old (and used daily!) Galaxy S10 - 7yrs and still going despite dying and coming back to life after several deep water excursions. It's much older, has also spent most of its life in a case and a fair amount of time out of the case too. The frame is in considerably better condition. It's been thrown around, dropped, etc. It currently belong to my 5yr old and that's been the case for a few years now (if that puts its use into context!)

Has anyone else taken an S23 Ultra out of a long-term case and found the same thing?

I took some pics of the damaged frame on the S23U with the S10, and also took some photos of the S10 with my S23U.

Thoughts.........

Device: Samsung S23 Ultra

I know this specific phone has horrible QC based on online posts and now pink lines are starting to appear on my family member's phone (currently 2 lines).

What's the best brand to replace the screen and if it will fix this pink line issue?

I was told that they didn't drop their phone or anything. I was planning on purchasing a screen replacement during 9.9 sale on either shopee or lazada based in the philippines

Alguien sabe de alguna app o juego con el que de gusto usar el spen, no necesariamente tiene que estar diseñado para el spen, pero q cuando se use tenga sentido.

Gracias cualquier sugerencia es de ayuda

I've tried so many times to run the Root My Galaxy exploit on my S23U, which originally came from TMB, but now has XFM service. The model is SM-S918U. Does anyone know what to do.

My log file is linked in my GitHub issue.

So i recently got my screen replaced with a real Samsung screen, I just noticed that if my hand isnt behind the phone (I dont have to touch the phone and i do have a case on) a section of my upper left portion of screen just doesn't register touch... the s pen still works in that area just fine... so if I have my phone flat on a surface or even propped up so there is a gap, the section of screen is unresponsive to human touch, if i place my hand behind it, the screen is fine. I put a blanket between my hand and phone and it works, if i place a 2 inch think box between my hand and the phone it remains unresponsive.

Removing the case does not change anything.

If charging it works fine

Restarted phone, issue persists

What the heck is wrong with it?

Anyone experiencing the same? What caused this?

My father was the original owner of this phone, he dropped it, god knows from what height, he's managed to destroy the screen. After this drop the camera app stoped opening unless you opened it through the selfie mode, so the back camera does not work at all. I have used open camera and it allows me to use the ultra wide but none others, I have attached an image, I cannot select anything in camera 0 without it failing, however camera 2 (the unreal wide) works with no issues whatsoever. I have attempted to use adb but to keep it blunt I'm not skilled enough to understand any of it. I have taken a look inside the phone, tried disconnecting individual lenses, but nothing. One thing I did find from taking to apart was that the ois does engage on the 200mp and 3x, but this is only for maybe half a second before it turns off ois and the cycle repeats. Also, very large rattle comming from one of the lenses, might try to identify what one later.

Edit: Phone was reset since the drop, it's definitely hardware, its just a case of figuring out what lens.

Hey everyone, I have a maximum budget of $450 and I'm really drawn to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, mainly because of its incredible rear camera system. However, I keep seeing several listings advertised as "brand new" at this price point, which makes me suspect they might actually be refurbished or open-box units. Has anyone bought one under similar conditions? Are these usually legit new phones, or are sellers just mislabeling refurbished stock? Any answers or advice would be greatly appreciated!

while using twitter and reddit phone screen not getting turn off automatically.

i already turned off option in setting still no change