It has been recently discovered that Android’s data storage policy is not as transparent as people would have otherwise liked it to be. After a Reddit user tried to recover data that they hadn’t accessed in over two months, they were surprised to discover that it was no longer available.
While it’s no secret that some storage services will make room for new files by deleting unused ones, this is certainly an unusual case for Google and its Android device. One of the biggest issues that people are having with this is the fact that data can be deleted even if a person previously paid for additional storage room. In the case of the aforementioned Reddit user, they actually did pay for additional storage before their data was unceremoniously deleted.
Further complicating matters is the manner in which Google and Android goes about deleting data. Although it’s possible for an expiration notice to appear over files for a couple of weeks before they’re deleted, there is no active notification sent directly to the user. If they haven’t checked on their data in some time, they may find it gone without any clue as to why.
For those who are thinking about switching away from Android in response to this issue, alternatives may be lacking as well. In the case of Apple, they have a similar policy towards unused files, and they have also built a reputation for deleting data without any sort of notice for customers. Again, it’s worth mentioning that this even applies to those who have paid for the additional iCloud storage.
While there is plenty of cause for concern with the way companies are handling private data files, there is some room for hope as well. It seems that Google hasn’t yet made a statement as to why data is being deleted so carelessly, or if there’s a way to repair files and bring them back from deletion. As concern continues to mount online, Google will likely make efforts to court users and keep them from making too hasty of a decision. In the meantime though, it’s worth keeping unused files active, if only to prevent them from being deleted haphazardly before a fix comes in.
