Help! Thousands of photos, symbols, etc are in my OneDrive

Question

Help! Thousands of photos, symbols, etc are in my OneDrive

Pam Cox 0

I got a notification a week ago of blurry photos in OneDrive. I went there to investigate and there were hundreds of pictures of men, women, symbols, emojis, porn, etc I've never seen or know anything about! It took me a couple hours to delete them all one by one. A few days later I get another blurry notification and there's more photos. I spent the last few days researching and I can't seem to get it to stop. There are 1000's of photos now and the last date I see anything was October 2. It's only on my Android phone, not on my laptop going to OneDrive site. Any way to delete these on my Android without having to do them individually? I do not see a delete all tab or option.

Additionally, can I just do away with OneDrive and not utilize it since my phone backs up photos to Google Cloud.

I looked on tbe site from my laptop and there is nothing suspicious, no other shared people, no folders not mine. I changed password and added 2 step sign on a couple days ago.

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Francisco Montilla 31,185 Independent Advisor

Hello,

Sounds like your account is fine and was never actually hacked. The mobile app displays local pictures found on your device in addition to what is saved in your cloud. Many mobile games and communication apps download thousands of temporary ad images or files behind the scenes and your gallery is likely pulling them in. Since you already checked on your computer and saw nothing, that confirms these files are purely local to your phone storage and never made it to the cloud.

Can you open the app settings on your phone and look under the camera backup or device folders section? I want to know what extra device folders are showing up in that list.

Once you tell me which local folders are showing up there, we can figure out exactly where the junk is coming from and I can tell you how to wipe them out all at once or how to disable the app completely if you no longer want it.

Pam Cox 0 Reputation points

2026-10-07T18:10:25.7666667+00:00

Thank you so much for reaching out. But to have photos of men, women, porn, symbols, corporate logos, emoji"s, 100's of different rings (jewelry) and florist flower displays...of which I have never ever seen before and do not know these people...and the porn is not my thing. lol

Under Camera Backup at the top it starts "Options" Include videos button is on (blue), then "Data usage' says back up over Wi-Fi and mobile network, then "Back up only while charging" button is not on, "Battery usage" says Optimized, then "Back up device folders" has all of my phone albums/folders listed... or at least it appears all as the space limitation must have been exceeded as it quit in the middle of an album/folder title...so I can't see it all. There is nothing that I can see that isn't mine. Then "Organize by date" has backups will go to your camera roll folder. At the bottom in red is Turn off backup.

That is it.

I will stay tuned to your guidance.
Francisco Montilla 31,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-08T03:33:58.56+00:00

If you tap directly on Back up device folders, it should open up into a full page where each folder on your phone has its own individual toggle switch. Can you tap into that and see if any folders from messaging apps like WhatsApp or other installed apps are switched on?
Pam Cox 0 Reputation points

2026-10-09T01:32:15.63+00:00

Yes...messages, Fb, media and other folders that are not my photo folders.
Francisco Montilla 31,185 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-09T02:59:19.9033333+00:00

That explains where everything came from. Social media and messaging apps constantly download memes, profile pictures, ad thumbnails, and stickers into hidden folders on your phone, and OneDrive was set to back all of them up.

First, turn off the switches for every folder in that list except the ones you actually care about, or tap "Turn off backup" at the bottom of the camera backup screen if you just rely on Google Cloud anyway and do not need OneDrive backing up your photos.

To clean out the junk from OneDrive without doing it one by one, the easiest way is to log in to the OneDrive website on your computer, go to My files, open the Pictures folder, and look for the specific folder names that got backed up. You can delete the entire unwanted folders in one click from the browser, which will wipe them all out at once.
Pam Cox 0 Reputation points

2026-10-11T15:46:12.8166667+00:00

I did the untoggle so hopefully that will help going forward.

I went online on my laptop, My Files, Pictures... and do not see any folders that are not mine. I spot checked and looked in named folders with a large quantity and they all are mine.

Answer 2

Those images are commonly caused by other app folders on the Android device being included in OneDrive camera upload. OneDrive Memories and related photo views can then show pictures that are not from the main camera roll, such as social media app folders, downloads, and screenshots.

To stop more of them from appearing on Android:

Open the OneDrive app.
Select Me.
Open Settings.
Select Camera upload.
Choose Organise by source.
Check which folders are included.
Uncheck any folders that should not upload.
If needed, use Categorize in sub-folders so uploads go into separate folders such as Screenshots.

To remove the existing photos on Android:

In the OneDrive app, tap and hold a file to start selection.
Select additional files.
Tap Delete and confirm.

Important limits and behavior:

In the OneDrive mobile app, only 20 files at a time can be deleted.
On Android, the Recycle Bin can be emptied all at once by opening Me > account > Recycle Bin and tapping Delete All.
Deleted OneDrive files stay in the Recycle Bin for 30 days for personal accounts.

If thousands of items need to be removed, using OneDrive.com is the supported path when more than 20 files must be deleted at once.

If OneDrive is no longer needed, it can be stopped or removed. For Windows, the documented way to stop sync is:

Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar and select Settings.
Select Accounts.
Select Unlink this PC.

Warning: deleting files from OneDrive can remove them from synced devices, and deleting shared items removes them for everyone. Permanently emptying the Recycle Bin cannot be undone.

If the issue continues after excluding folders, technical support is available from within the OneDrive mobile app by opening the app and gently shaking the device.