Certain "core" apps lost access to media files At some point in time (about a week ago) something happened to my Motorola Moto Z2 Play / Android 8.0 that caused my base apps to not have access to my media files (i.e. audio, photos etc.).
Examples:

all my custom ringtones (i.e. based on my own media files) were reset to default sound:

Contact apps reset custom ringtones for contacts to default one,
Alarms &amp; Clock app reset custom alarm tone to default one,
SMS (Messages) app reset custom message notification tone to default one,
system-wide default notification tone (set by me to custom) was reset as well,
system-wide default ringtone (set by me to custom one) was reset,


I cannot pick a photo for a contact because my contacts app keeps saying: &quot;No pictures are available on the device&quot;.

While first situation is resolved. I see my custom ringtone files in the list and I can go through my contacts and assign them again. But second situation is not resolved. I see this error all the time and I cannot change any contact's photo.
This is verified as not a bug (tested three different contacts-like applications and all of them shows exactly the same message, when trying to change contact's photo). But still, it seems that problem is limited to contacts-related apps only. Other apps still has read and write access to my custom files.
For example: :

(read) I can pick any photo or other custom file and attach it to an e-mail, send it as MMS or share it in any other way or
(read) upload it to OneDrive or Google Drive etc. or
(write) my Camera app is still able to make new photos and store them in &quot;DCIM&quot; or
(write) my sound recorder is able to record sound and write audio files.

The only thing that has changed on my phone recently and that I suspect as the cause of above metioned situation was Android 7.1.2 --&gt; Android 8.0.0 update.
Is there anything I can do (since replacing contacts app didn't resolve the situation) or check in this case? Or resetting the phone to factory defaults is the only option that I am left with?
EDIT: I have cleared cache and data of media app, as suggested in comment. It didn't help.
• I think there are two options to change contact's photo- Take a photo and select a photo. Does the take photo option works. Or try changing the app to choose photos for changing the pic.
• If your contacts are backed upto Google then you can goto
https://contacts.google.com/ sign in with the account and can change the contcat pic.
Upvote if it helps.