My photos disappeared from my mobile app right in front of my eyes.

Question

I opened my app as I normally do only to see my photos vanish from the screen in real time. I didn't press any buttons and never deleted any file. There's no record in my deleted files and nothing in my events. I literally do not know what happened. I've been using drop box for over a decade and I've never had this issue. It still has some document that I've uploaded from decades ago so I know its the correct account. It just seems to have wiped in front of my eyes. I'm really distraught over this as I have irreplaceable pictures on that folder. I find it ridiculous how money hungry these businesses become over the years as i cant even contact support or certain features unless I'm paying. I solely use dropbox to hold those photos and nothing else as i dont even do recent uploads or any new syncing processes. Please someone help me.

Nancy · Answer

Did you check your Events and Deleted files pages online and no recent files were deleted there that can be restored?

If you’re on a personal Basic/Plus account, then the files would’ve been deleted after 30 days indeed and it’s not possible to restore them, I’m afraid.

sadlee · Answer

Hi Megan, After going through my emails i’ve found a link that stated i’ve deleted all my files on Nov 14th of 2023. I do not recall this delete and I’m sure I would’ve done something had I caught it in time. It states my files would have been restored and then permanently deleted until 6/12/2023. Please tell me this can be reversed in some way.

sadlee · Answer

Hi Megan, it was the dropbox app that i’ve had an my phone forever and never deleted and redownloaded or anything. (Even if that was the case, that shouldn’t result in what happened because i’ve used multiple new phones throughout the years with this account and never faced this). I want to explain step by step how this played out in front of my eyes.
-I pressed the app
-It opened
-It loaded all my photos, I saw them on my screen for about 3 whole seconds.
-The screen did a motion i can only describe as a swipe up and all my photos vanished.
-I was then left with about 40 new random uploads from the phone it was on (as i stated i never did any new syncs or uploads as i solely use the account to store a couple hundred pictures of my childhood, the most recent upload should’ve been at most from 2016)

I still see documents that i’ve uploaded around the same time as all the missing pictures so no i did not open a new account. I please just really need these photos back