I tried Google’s secret Gallery app. Here’s how it beats Google Photos

Google Photos is, without a doubt, one of Google’s best apps/services. It’s my photo library app of choice, housing 10+ years of pictures, videos, and random screenshots I’ve collected after over a decade of use. Paired with some pretty great photo-editing tools, it’s one of those Google apps I don’t know what I’d do without.

However, it’s not the only photo library app in Google’s portfolio.

As many people discovered this week, Google has its very own alternative to Photos. It’s called Google Gallery, and it’s a much different app compared to Google Photos. Instead of showing your entire Google Photos library, the Gallery app only shows pictures saved locally on your phone. It also has much more limited editing tools, no AI integrations, and no cloud syncing.

Google Gallery is, objectively, a far inferior app compared to Google Photos. So, what’s the big deal then? I installed Gallery on my Android phone to find out, and after just a few minutes of using it, I found one big advantage over Google Photos.

From a design standpoint, Google Gallery is solid. It’s broken up into two pages: Photos and Folders. The former shows a reverse chronological list of your photos, while the latter groups everything together by its respective folder (camera, screenshots, downloads, etc.). It’s precisely what you’d expect, and it works well.

There’s also an optional dark theme, some basic editing tools (filters and crop), an automatic image enhancer, and … that’s about it. There’s far less to distract you than what you find in Google Photos, and if that’s what you’re after, Google Gallery has you covered.

As much as I like the simplistic design, my favorite thing about the Gallery app is that it’s fundamentally the opposite of Google Photos.

The Google Photos app is phenomenal for looking back on memories and scrolling through my years-long library. That said, it’s not ideal for finding on-device files. It’s technically possible via the Collections page in the app, but even then, you can only view images by the folders they’re in.

Because the Gallery app works entirely offline and doesn’t connect to your Google account, you only see files saved locally on your phone. As such, everything you see in the main Photos tab is all stuff taking up precious internal storage space. And holy moly, do I have a lot of pictures on my OnePlus 13.

Since I use Google Photos exclusively as my one and only gallery app, that’s what I spend my time cleaning up and organizing. I regularly delete photos/screenshots I don’t want saved, which keeps my cloud library nice and tidy. However, the same doesn’t happen with my offline files. I can find them in Google Photos if I want, but since they’re hidden behind a few layers of different pages, they’re out of sight and out of mind.

Within minutes, Google Gallery made me aware of all the junk files saved on my OnePlus 13 more than Google Photos ever did. Between screenshots, downloaded files, and saved images from Telegram, there’s a load of garbage on my phone that’s better off being deleted. And, thanks to Google Gallery, finding it was easier than ever.

Is Google Gallery a Google Photos replacement? Not even a little bit. However, as a companion to Photos, the Gallery app has a lot to offer. If it’s been a while since you’ve assessed your phone’s storage, and you think images are taking up a good chunk of it, Google Gallery is a great way to see what’s on your phone. And even if you don’t need to delete stuff, it’s just a nice, simple way to view your on-device photos — especially if you’re without or have a weak internet connection.

Is there any reason not to use Google Gallery? A couple of them come to mind. For one, Focus Go is another offline gallery app that serves the same general purpose as Google Gallery. I haven’t used it, but my colleague Rita did, and she called Focus Go the free photo gallery app she’s always wanted. It’s worth checking out if you’re interested in this type of application.

The other reason is that there’s no telling what the future holds for Google Gallery. It’s in a good place today and works damn well for what it is, but it also seems like an app that would be first in line whenever Google has its next culling of unwanted products.

Google Gallery was first released in 2019 as “Gallery Go,” back when Google was still investing in its Android Go initiative. The last Go Edition Android update was when Google released Android 14 Go in 2023, and it’s apparent that Google has grown less and less interested in the whole “Go” project in recent years. That’s not to say the Gallery app will disappear tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Google gets rid of it within the next year or two.

Still, if you like what you see with Google Gallery and want to try it, have at it. The app is free to download, takes up barely any space, and is a great way to manage your phone’s local photo storage. Just maybe don’t get too attached to it.