Help! Picasa downloaded on new cell phone: I have a PC with Photoshop Elements, but also use a laptop with Picasa installed. I recently got a new 'smart' phone (my blackberry died) and...

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

I have a PC with Photoshop Elements, but also use a laptop with Picasa installed.

I recently got a new 'smart' phone (my blackberry died) and a new phone number.

I took a picture with the phone to see how it looked, and when I opened up the photo gallery, all of my pictures from the laptop are on the phone!

On the phone's manual online, it says you can download pictures from the phone to Picasa, but this went from Picasa to the phone, without me doing anything.

It's a Kyocera Hydro Life phone.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

Tony

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I believe that Picasa stores the images from your laptop in their cloud and when you purchased the phone and you gave your phone the same picasa account info that you use on your laptop, it synced the pictures in Picasa' cloud with your phone. I doubt that all the pictures are actually on the phone. One way to test my theory is to turn off your Wi-Fi and put your phone in Airplane mode. This will render your phone dumb. Then try to open some of the pictures from photo gallery. If they don't open then they are on the cloud and not on the phone.

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

jeep_daddy wrote:

I believe that Picasa stores the images from your ... (show quote)

Well, I put it on Airplane mode and turned off the WiFi. Now when I go to the gallery, I see the albums. When I click on the album, I can see all the pictures in each album as thumbnails. However, when I click on the individual picture, nothing shows up. So, it seems like your theory is half right. It's just weird.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

TonyF wrote:

Well, I put it on Airplane mode and turned off the WiFi. Now when I go to the gallery, I see the albums. When I click on the album, I can see all the pictures in each album as thumbnails. However, when I click on the individual picture, nothing shows up. So, it seems like your theory is half right. It's just weird.

No, my theory is all the way right. Those thumbnails are generated on the phone as I knew they would but they are basicly just placeholders for the images in the cloud. What usually happens though, is if you delete and image from the phone, it should delete the image from your laptop when they sync up. And, it will be gone from the cloud as well.

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

Okay, I half apologize. LOL

Thank you, very helpful. Do you think there is a way I can get these photos off of the phone without losing them on Picasa? I'm not crazy about carrying around all of my photos, both good and bad. Never used a phone for pictures.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

TonyF wrote:

Okay, I half apologize. LOL

Thank you, very helpful. Do you think there is a way I can get these photos off of the phone without losing them on Picasa? I'm not crazy about carrying around all of my photos, both good and bad. Never used a phone for pictures.

Yeah get rid of Picasa on your phone. Then start all over again and make sure that when it asks if you want to sync picasa pick no.

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

That's what baffled me, I never was asked about any syncing.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

TonyF wrote:

That's what baffled me, I never was asked about any syncing.

Then get on your computer and see if there is way to turn it off from the computer. I would still un install it from the phone first if possible.

Ctrclckws

jeep_daddy wrote:

What usually happens though, is if you delete and image from the phone, it should delete the image from your laptop when they sync up. And, it will be gone from the cloud as well.

And that's what I don't like about the sync concept.
Maybe I just want more space on the phone so I get rid of stuff, then I find it's deleted elsewhere.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I don't like it either. What if you take a picture of something personal and it uploads to the cloud without you knowing about it? No bueno!!!!!!!!

Ctrclckws wrote:

And that's what I don't like about the sync concept.
Maybe I just want more space on the phone so I get rid of stuff, then I find it's deleted elsewhere.

Gendarme Loc: Katy, TX

TonyF wrote:

That's what baffled me, I never was asked about any syncing.

Often, if you have the cellphone store set up your new phone, they just hit OK when dialog boxes appear. Any android phone will give you the option of syncing photos, but you can opt out. As for seeing them, I think it is built in when you use your google account. You should be able to disable the Picassa portion though.

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

Thanks, all, for your great responses!

I'll work on getting the sync disabled and getting the photos off of the phone.

Much appreciated.

rugerbearcat Loc: Newport Beach, Calif.

I discovered the same problem a coule of weeks ago. Thanks for entering it in the forum!

GrandmaG Loc: Flat Rock, MI

jethro779 wrote:

Yeah get rid of Picasa on your phone. Then start all over again and make sure that when it asks if you want to sync picasa pick no.

I have the same problem except with Google not Picasa. I tried to change this on the phone but there doesn't seem to be that option. I even did a search for it. I dont want to take Google off my phone though, just limit what is synced. I do like having some photos on my phone as an extra backup...like my favorites...but I put those in Dropbox & added a password to it so only I can open it. Is there a way to stop Google from syncing EVERY photo? I've looked on the computer as well. I'm sure the salesman at AT &T set it up that way when I bought my phone last year. I'm worried that I will run out of room, too...unless these are virtual images or "smart" previews like in LR.

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

Thank you all again.

However, I don't think I have Picasa on my phone. I can't find it with the apps. This all started when I opened up my picture 'gallery', when I took the first picture.

I also went to Picasa on the laptop, to see if there was a button to click on to unsync, and couldn't find any.

I'll stop in the store and keep you posted on what they say.

Thanks, again.