Of all the Android flagships available in the US, the phones I lean toward most are Google Pixel smartphones. Sure, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13 are excellent devices, but I prefer the overall Pixel experience.
I recently got the Pixel 10 Pro, and it feels like the smartphone of my dreams.
Google fixed major issues I had with past Pixel devices, including a much-improved Tensor G5 chipset, reliable battery life, a clean and smooth software experience, and Qi2 magnets on the back that make it easier to attach to other MagSafe accessories I own.
This, however, doesn’t mean Pixel smartphones are free of annoyances. I still wish the software felt a bit faster, but the biggest issue I’ve faced so far is with the Google Photos app on this device.
The problem with Google Photos on Pixel phones
It’s just not a good gallery app
Unlike Samsung Galaxy smartphones or devices from Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo that ship with their own gallery apps for viewing photos and videos, Google Pixels rely solely on the Google Photos app.
This is one of the biggest icks I have with Pixel devices. Google Photos just isn’t a great offline photo viewer.
While it works well as a cloud storage and sharing platform, it falls short when you want to browse the media stored locally on your phone. Opening images and videos in Google Photos somehow feels like a task.
The app tries to sync photos to the cloud, display memories, suggest edits, and do a lot more at once, and these features often get in the way of simply viewing a picture you clicked a minute ago.
If you turned off Google Photos backup, the app constantly reminds you to turn it back on. If you enable it, navigating to on-device albums like Screenshots, Camera, and Downloads still feels like a tedious three-step process.
I finally gave up on the Google Photos app on my Pixel and looked for a third-party option that does one thing well — letting me view my clicked photos offline quickly while managing multiple albums easily with a simple UI. I think I’ve finally found one.
I tried a lot of options, but settled on this one
Simple Gallery Pro fixes all my issues
The app I’ve been using on my Pixel 10 Pro as a replacement for Google Photos is Simple Gallery Pro.
It’s a simple, lightweight gallery app that focuses on local media management instead of nagging about backups or syncing. It works entirely offline and doesn’t require an internet connection.
The interface is clean, highly customizable, and integrates with the Material You theme on Pixel devices. You can tweak everything from the home screen view format to the column count, grid size, and even the color of the app UI and app icon.
The app lets you choose between seeing all your images on the home screen or viewing them in a grid of folders, like you’d find on gallery apps from other Android OEMs.
You can pin favorite albums, such as Camera or Downloads, and a handy search bar at the top helps you quickly find any photo.
It also has built-in gestures for quick actions, like adjusting brightness with a vertical swipe while watching a video.
Plus, the app supports nearly all media types, and you can view detailed information about files, including resolution and EXIF data.
Being a paid app, Simple Gallery Pro doesn’t show ads or request unnecessary permissions that could compromise your data. You can password-protect the entire app or lock specific hidden items if you prefer.
Sure, it doesn’t have as powerful an editor as Google Photos, which offers features like object eraser and auto-reframe. But if you want something simple and quick, like cropping or rotating, Simple Gallery handles those tasks with ease.
Pixel owners still deserve a proper offline gallery app
Simple Gallery Pro costs about $3 as a one-time purchase on the Google Play Store.
While I usually don’t recommend paid apps on Android — since there’s usually a free, well-maintained open source alternative available — I haven’t found any gallery app on the Play Store that’s as good as this one. And I’ve tried a lot of gallery apps.
Still, this doesn’t excuse Google’s failure to provide a solid offline media app for Pixel phones. Sure, there’s the Gallery Go app, but it’s so barebones that it doesn’t work well, especially on high-end devices.
What Pixel users really need is a proper alternative, something closer to the Gallery app on Samsung smartphones, instead of being forced to rely solely on Google Photos.
