If you must use a dedicated viewer, run it inside a (like Windows Sandbox or a throwaway VM) and never upload your thumbdata files to an online “free viewer” — that’s an instant privacy disaster.
For those comfortable with basic tech, there are free Python scripts available on platforms like GitHub specifically designed to "burst" thumbdata files into a folder of images [5]. thumbdata viewer free
This study has some limitations, including: If you must use a dedicated viewer, run
Android does not immediately delete thumbnail records. It simply marks that space as "available." If you haven't taken 10,000 new photos since the deletion, the old thumbdata entry persists. 000 new photos since the deletion