Despite the simple premise, not all gallery apps are created equal. Some of them work great with great designs and speed. Others suffer from poor design and slowness. The good news is that you have plenty of options to replace yours if you need to. Whether it’s sorting photos, hiding them, or you just want something clean and fast, we’ve got the best gallery apps for Android for you. Remember, OEM gallery apps are still pretty good, so it can be hard to find anything objectively better than some of them.
The best gallery apps for Android
1Gallery
Price: Free / $2.99
1Gallery is the latest gallery app on the list. It is also a mix between a standard gallery app and a gallery vault app. The app works like any standard gallery and you can view your photos by date and in grid form. However, the app also allows you to hide your photos and videos behind a pin, pattern, or fingerprint lock. The hidden files are not only hidden but also encrypted for your privacy. Some other smaller features include a super simple photo and video editor feature and a light and dark theme. It’s cheap, decent, and it should get better over time.
A+ Gallery is a simple gallery app. You can do the usual things like manage your photos, create photo albums, and share your photos. In addition, it has support for Dropbox, Amazon Cloud and Facebook. That means you can view those photos as well. Moreover, it comes with a vault feature where you can keep private images. The design is solid and not difficult to use. It combines Material Design and iOS styles in one look. You can download it for free with an optional pro version available as an in-app purchase. It’s not bad as far as gallery apps go.
F-Stop Gallery
Price: Free / $4.99
F-Stop Media Gallery is one of the older gallery apps. This one has a flatter, cleaner design accentuated by Material Design with some really decent features. You can search your photos by their metadata, which is pretty awesome, and you can add tags to your photos for easier organization. It also reads metadata (including EXIF, XMP and IPTC info) and there’s a Smart Albums feature that lets you sort your stuff yourself. Best of all, it plays GIFs! This is easily one of the flashiest gallery apps for those who like loud things. Some features require the pro version, but the free version is still very functional.
Focus Go is a newer gallery app. It’s a lighter version of Francisco Franco’s popular Focus gallery. It is a lightweight and simple gallery app. You open it, it opens files, you can share them, and that’s really all you need. It doesn’t include a third-party editor to help with app size. In addition, it has an optional 32-bit encoder for better image quality and some customization options. The main Focus gallery app is under development for a major overhaul. So if you want something like this with even more features, it’s best to check that out on Google Play and see if the massive update has already dropped.
Gallery vault
Price: Free / $3.99
Gallery Vault does almost exactly what its name says it does. It creates a private vault for your photos to keep them away from prying eyes. It allows you to hide photos, videos and any other type of file that this app supports. You can also hide the icon so no one knows how to access it but you, get alerts if someone breaks in, and it supports some fingerprinted devices (for now only Samsung devices). It is a good option in terms of gallery apps if you want some privacy and you can try the free version before buying it.
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
As with most lists, here’s the obligatory Google option. The Google Photos app is a cloud storage app where you can upload as many photos and videos as you want. The only downside is that the images and video are compressed in Google’s High-Quality setting. However, the app can also see your device folders to see things you haven’t uploaded. Sorry, Google ended the free part of it from June 2021 so this isn’t quite the easy recommendation it used to be, but it’s still a good gallery app.
Memoria Photo Gallery
Price: Free / $3.99
Memoria Photo Gallery is one of the newer gallery apps on the list. This one offers a good level of customization, generally smooth performance, and even some security features. You get themes, fingerprint authentication, and you can even hide albums you don’t want. The app also comes with an encrypted vault and several display modes. It seems to tick all the boxes, although the app still has the occasional bug here and there. The developers are having a bit of a rough time with this one, but when it works, it works really well.
PhotoMap is one of the more unique gallery apps. Allows you to take photos and save them by location. You can then use a map to view your photos based on where you took them. For example, you have to navigate to the beach to see the photos you have taken near the beach. It’s one of the cleaner GPS-based gallery apps we could find. It’s also just fun to play with. You can download it for free or pay for the pro version for $2.99 as an in-app purchase. There are even AR features to play with.
Paint
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Piktures is one of the simpler gallery apps. However, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any features. You can sort by various things, such as location, and you can hide albums if you don’t want people to see them. It works best on larger screens. That makes it suitable for large phones or tablets. There is also GIF support for those who enjoy it. Looks like Chromecast support is on the way too. It also has gesture based controls which are lovely to use once you get used to it. It’s a solid option everywhere.
Simple Gallery Pro is, well, a simple gallery app. The app is completely offline with no unnecessary permissions. In addition, you get an image and video search function, support for 32 languages, a favorite quick access feature, a recycle bin to recover lost photos and plenty of ways to filter your huge collection. There is also a security feature with a fingerprint unlock for added privacy. There was a free version of the app. However, only the premium version now gets updates. That’s okay, because the app costs just $0.99. Moreover, it is open source and supports most types of photos and videos.
If we missed any of the best gallery apps for Android, tell us in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest android app and game lists.
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