recently i uploaded a lot of new pictures for various pokestops (accepted). further voted for the new pictures (white thumb filled) to be displayed as pokestop photo. mostly it was working and the picture changed to the one most liked (sometimes on the same day).
However, there are also Pokestop/Arena where the OLD picture remains to be displayed, even the vote is in favor for the new picture (e.g. 4 to 0).
what am i missing? or is it a sync problem or bug? any feedback much appreciated, thy
While this is not technically a Wayfarer issue but a PoGO issue I can answer this.
Some Pokéstops have what are commonly called “phantom thumbs” that were imported from Ingress prior to the separation of the thumbs between Ingress and PoGO.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell how many thumbs are hidden, you can check the thumbs in Ingress to get a general idea of how many you’ll need to overcome to change the photodisc, but there’s no way to tell if thumbs have been added to Ingress after the split.
thank you very much, thats interessting and should be possible for older Spots(?). The seperation took place in which timeframe?
BUT i have some Pokestops not older than half a year with the same issue…
eg. POI accepted end of march, new photo upload and vote seems not working, shows a larger image section
Keep in mind that you do not create stops/gyms, but Wayspots for the Lightship map. Every Niantic game is able to use these Wayspots for in-game play locations, based on their own density rules.
It’s possible that your stops/gyms are also portals in Ingress, and those players have been voting on phiotos in that game, and they are hidden in PoGo. So, unfortunately, until this issue is fixed (as it’s a known issue), you may not see the photos with the most votes in PoGo as the main photos.
I myself have seen this issue with new and old stops/gyms in PoGo, and even though the photo votes for each game are supposed to be separate, they seem to not be at this time.
Right now, the only thing that can be done is to request that other players votes on your photos for the stops/gyms in PoGo to make them the main photos. Even friends you send gifts to can vote on photos, and this may be another way to get your photos up-voted.
I’m pretty sure this is 19,415,161st™ on the priority list.
Having changed hundreds of cover photos, I should have the honor to answer your question.
You ask “What am i missing?” I think you miss a Ingress account.
The Pokestop “exist before Wayfarer” mostly will be interfered by Ingress. I personally use three years to judge, The Pokestop which exist less than 3 years can be surely say photo with the highest likes will become the cover of Pokestop, otherwise, there is no guarantee
In addition, the time for changing photo cover is indeed different.
Some areas will be changed early the next morning, while in some areas it will be changed after half a month.
The reason and mechanism are unclear.
As for how to judge that the photo cover has been successfully changed, some experts should already know it. 
I was already afraid of that… do i only need an account or do i need to actually play that game too? 
Literally only registering the account.
