Top 5 Fixes for Google Photos Changes Cannot Be Saved Error

Google Photos offers a wealth of image editing tools and options. However, tools are unnecessary if you cannot save changes made to an image. This explains the situation for some Android users who are encountering the error message ‘Changes cannot be saved’ when they try to save edited pictures in Google Photos. This guide lists five (5) effective troubleshooting fixes to help affected users overcome the error.

Before continuing, you should note that the steps in this guide may vary depending on your phone brand, Android OS version, as well as the version of the Google Photos app on your device.

1. Update Google Photos

Check if the Google Photos app installed on your device is up to date. Some (read: old) versions of the app had bugs that prevented images from being edited and saved, especially on SD cards. Google’s new app updates aim to fix these bugs.

Visit the Google Photos page in the Play Store to update the app.

Update Google Photos (Playstore)

2. Force Stop Google Photos

Simply closing and reopening Google Photos may not fix the app’s misbehavior. You should try forcibly stop Google Photos and check if the edited photos can be saved on reboot.

Stage 1: Long press the Google Photos app and tap the App info icon.

Step 2: Next, tap Force Stop and tap OK at the confirmation prompt.

3. Change Background Battery and Data Usage

For whatever reason, denying Google Photos background access to your device’s internet and battery may cause some features of the app to malfunction. We found that some users were able to get rid of the ‘Cannot save changes’ error by enabling Background data usage and disabling the Background restriction for Google Photos.

To do this, follow the steps below.

Enable Background Data Usage

Stage 1: Tap and hold the Google Photos app icon and tap App info.

Step 2: Select ‘Mobile data and Wi-Fi’.

Stage 3: Turn on the background data option.

If the option is already enabled, turn it off and then back on. Then skip to the section below to disable Background restriction for battery usage.

Disable Background Restriction

Stage 1: On the Google Photos App info page, tap on the Advanced dropdown.

Step 2: Choose Battery.

Stage 3: If the background restriction option is set to Restricted, tap on it to enable background battery usage for Google Photos.

Step 4: A warning will be displayed informing you that disabling the background battery restriction for Google Photos may drain your device’s battery faster than usual. Tap Uninstall to continue.

Temporarily disabling Battery Saver can also help fix this issue. You can turn off Android Battery Saver from the notification panel or by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver > Turn Off Now.

4. Change Storage Location

Another thing we discovered is that this bug heavily affects images stored on external storage (SD card). Fortunately, there are two workarounds. First, configure the storage location of the app to your device’s internal storage. See method #5 for the second workaround.

Follow the steps below to change the Google Photos storage location.

Stage 1: Launch Google Photos and tap the profile photo/icon in the top right corner of the app.

Step 2: Tap Photos settings.

Stage 3: Select ‘SD card access’.

Step 4: Tap the Get Started button to continue.

Step 5: Tap on the hamburger menu icon and select your phone’s name/internal storage.

Step 6: Finally, tap ‘Allow Access’. [Phone Name]Press the ‘ button and tap Allow at the confirmation prompt.

This will allow the Photos app to access your device’s internal storage and then store the edited photos in the specified location.

5. Move Pictures

This is another effective troubleshooting fix for ‘Unable to save changes’ error in Google Photos. Moving the images you want to edit from the SD card to your device’s internal storage will work, as the app will not edit the images on the SD card. Here’s how to do it.

Stage 1: Launch the File app and select the image or image folder you want to move.

Step 2: Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and tap Select all.

Stage 3: Tap the three-dot menu icon again and select Move.

Step 4: Finally, select Internal Storage and wait for the images to migrate.

Try editing the photo again and check if Google Photos saves them without any error messages.

Edit, Save and Share

At least one of the troubleshooting solutions should fix the Google Photos ‘Unable to save changes’ error on your device. Meanwhile, clearing Google Photos cache or app data can also fix this anomaly. Finally, make sure your phone’s operating system is up to date. Let us know if you need any help.

Next: Can’t back up your pictures and videos because the Google Photos app is stuck at ‘Preparing to backup’? Check out 8 ways to fix the problem in the post linked below.