PikturesSamsung Gallery and Google Photos are good apps, and you can keep them. Piktures, a free Android gallery app, is worth adding next to them when your photos also live on OneDrive, Dropbox, Nextcloud or a NAS: it shows those folders as albums beside the phone's own, with no account to create and no Piktures server. Facts checked on 30 October 2026; tell us if an app changed.
Are Samsung Gallery and Google Photos good apps?
Yes. Samsung Gallery is the gallery app of Galaxy phones, and it does the everyday work well: it shows the photos on the phone, and since October 2026 it can back them up to Google Photos from its own settings. Google Photos is a gallery built around a Google Account: with backup on, your photos go to Google's storage, 15 GB shared with Gmail and Drive, and the app edits and searches them with Google AI.
This page is not a reason to remove either of them. It is for the case they don't cover: photos on a cloud or a server of your own, browsed as albums without a copy to Google's storage first.
What changed with Samsung Gallery and OneDrive?
Samsung's Gallery Sync with OneDrive ended on 30 September 2026. Samsung's support page says the feature is no longer supported: the photos already synced stay in your OneDrive account, new photos no longer sync, and the OneDrive app is the way to get them back on a phone.
In its place, Samsung Gallery now syncs with Google Photos. Android Authority describes the setting, Sync photos and videos in the Gallery's menu, and its conditions: Gallery version 15.9.01.7 or later, a personal Google account rather than a Workspace one, and the camera roll by default. Deleting a photo in either app removes it from the other.
So if your Galaxy phone used to send your photos to OneDrive, it no longer does, and the path Samsung offers goes to Google. Piktures is for those who keep OneDrive, Dropbox, Nextcloud or a NAS and still want those photos in a gallery.
What does Piktures add next to Samsung Gallery?
Your clouds and servers as albums. In the Storage tab, ADD A NEW ACCESS connects Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Koofr, Yandex Disk, Nextcloud, any WebDAV server over HTTPS, and a network drive over SMB, such as a NAS on your Wi-Fi network. Each folder appears as an album in the Albums tab, like the phone's folders. Nothing is copied to the phone until you ask. With Google Drive, Piktures only sees the files it uploaded itself. The first access is free; a second needs Premium or Prime. See How to add a cloud.
No account and no server. There is no Piktures account to create, no sign-up to use the app or to buy a plan, and no Piktures server that receives your photos. Your cloud login details stay on the phone. The app does send usage statistics and crash reports to Firebase, and its free plan shows Google ads: see An Android gallery with no account and no server.
Backup to a cloud you own. With Premium or Prime, Piktures backs up your phone albums automatically to a cloud or network drive you connected, your own OneDrive, Dropbox, Nextcloud or NAS, not a Piktures cloud. It sends each album once in full, then only the new photos, and never deletes anything there. See Back up and restore your photos.
A Secret Space behind its own PIN. Photos you move there leave the gallery, and other apps can't open them. The protection is deliberately light: files are renamed and scrambled, not encrypted, and it can be reversed with technical means. The Secret Space lives only on the phone and is erased when the app is uninstalled, so you export it to keep a copy. See Hide photos behind a PIN.
Any Android 11 phone or later. Piktures is not tied to a brand: it works on a Galaxy phone and on any other phone with Android 11 or later.
How do you use Piktures alongside Samsung Gallery?
Keep Samsung Gallery as it is. Both apps read the photos stored on the phone, and installing Piktures changes nothing for the Gallery or its Google Photos sync. Then add the place your photos live:
- In the Storage tab, scroll down to ADD A NEW ACCESS and tap the service, Microsoft OneDrive for example.
- Tap the button of the screen that opens, such as GO TO ONEDRIVE, and sign in. OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox open their own sign-in; the others ask for your login details.
- Tap the new access under CLOUD, or under HOME for a network drive. The first read of the folders can take a while.
See the guides on OneDrive, Dropbox, Nextcloud and WebDAV and a NAS.
Samsung Gallery, Google Photos and Piktures: the facts
| Samsung Gallery | Google Photos | Piktures | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Samsung | Google LLC | Diune |
| Account for cloud sync | A personal Google account; Workspace accounts aren't supported | A Google Account for backup; device photos show without one | None |
| Where phone photos are backed up | To Google Photos, through Sync photos and videos; the camera roll by default | To your Google Account, up to 15 GB shared with Gmail and Drive | To a cloud or network drive you connected, with Premium or Prime; no Piktures cloud |
| OneDrive | Gallery Sync with OneDrive ended on 30 September 2026; synced photos stay in OneDrive | Other apps and galleries are sources to transfer photos from, with backup on | Shown as albums; copy, move and automatic backup |
| Cloud photos shown in the app | Only the photos and videos backed up through Gallery Cloud Sync | The photos backed up to your Google Account | The folders of OneDrive, Dropbox, Koofr, Yandex Disk, Nextcloud, WebDAV and SMB drives; on Google Drive, the files Piktures uploaded |
| Price | Free to install | Free; more storage through Google One | Free with a few Google ads; No ads and Premium (one-time), Prime (monthly) |
Samsung Gallery's column comes from the sources below; Google Photos' from those of Piktures vs Google Photos; Piktures' from Welcome to Piktures, How to add a cloud and In-app purchases.
What Piktures does not do
Piktures has no cloud of its own: its backup goes to a cloud or drive you already have, and needs Premium or Prime. It has no AI editing or natural-language search. The Secret Space is not encryption. And the free Basic plan shows a few Google ads after your first 3 days; the one-time No ads purchase removes them.
Questions
Can I keep Samsung Gallery and Google Photos if I install Piktures?
Yes. All three read the photos stored on the phone, and none removes another's access to them. Samsung Gallery's sync with Google Photos keeps working.
Does Piktures sync my Samsung phone with OneDrive like the Gallery did?
Not as a sync. Piktures shows your OneDrive folders as albums without copying them, lets you copy or move phone photos to OneDrive, and, with Premium or Prime, backs up your phone albums to OneDrive automatically. The backup only adds files; it never deletes anything there. See View OneDrive photos in an Android gallery app.
Does Piktures need a Google account or a Piktures account?
No Piktures account exists, and the app itself needs no Google account. Google Play checks your paid plan if you buy one; a Google account is needed only for a cloud that uses one, such as Google Drive.
Is Piktures free?
Yes. The free Basic plan shows a few ads and allows one remote access, so one cloud or network drive. Your first 3 days are without ads. The one-time No ads purchase removes the ads; Premium, a one-time purchase, and Prime, a monthly subscription, also unlock more accesses and automatic backup. See In-app purchases.
Which phones does Piktures work on?
Any phone with Android 11 or later, Samsung or not.
Sources
All read on 30 October 2026.
- Samsung: How to download or delete photos previously synced with OneDrive, Samsung US support. "The Gallery Sync with OneDrive service ended on September 30, 2026"; the photos previously synced stay in the OneDrive account, future photos won't sync; the OneDrive app is the way to download or delete them.
- Android Authority: Your Samsung Gallery app finally syncs with Google Photos, Pankil Shah, 4 October 2026. Gallery version 15.9.01.7 or later; Sync photos and videos in the Gallery settings; personal Google account only; camera roll by default; deletions apply in both apps; the Gallery shows only the photos backed up through Gallery Cloud Sync.
- Google Photos: the sources listed on Piktures vs Google Photos, read on 15 October 2026.